The Words of the De Borchgrave Family
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The Words of the De Borchgrave Family |
Much has been said or written about Rev. Sun Myung Moon. He was persecuted mercilessly by communists and anti-communists, or those who were always willing to give the Soviet Union the benefit of doubt even when there was no doubt. These are the people who lied about Rev. Moon in order to send him to a federal prison on a trumped-up tax evasion charge. If he had started a liberal newspaper in Washington, D.C., with a less than hostile position on Soviet imperialism, Rev. Moon would have been acclaimed as a hero by the dominant media culture.
Thus, he suffered the abuse of those who were bent on his destruction because he knows, like Winston Churchill, that nothing is more costly, nothing is more sterile than vengeance.
Rev. Moon launched The Washington Times at a critically important juncture in the life of America. The world’s most important capital had been reduced to one newspaper voice. To thrive, democracy requires a multiplicity of voices from right to left through the center. Major democratic capitals -- London, Paris, Brussels, Rome, Madrid -- enjoyed from five to ten daily newspapers. Rev. Moon understood the extent of the danger of one newspaper in the world’s most important capital -- and stepped into the breach.
When Rev. Moon asked me to serve as the Editor-in-Chief of The Washington Times in March 1985, I accepted immediately with the encouragement of President Reagan and Vice President George H.W. Bush. The total editorial freedom I was guaranteed by Rev. Moon was scrupulously respected. We crafted the basic principles of what we thought should be the Reagan Doctrine -- which President Reagan enthusiastically endorsed.
It was the newspaper’s promotion of the Reagan Doctrine and a military buildup that exhausted the Soviet Union so much that it could no longer keep pace. This, in turn, enabled Mikhail Gorbachev to push Soviet hardliners liners to one side and launch glasnost and perestroika. It was the beginning of the end of the "Evil Empire," and we were proud to keep The Washington Times in the vanguard until the Soviet Union imploded and the global communist movement collapsed.
I was in Moscow in 1990 with Rev. Moon when he met with Gorbachev. The Russian leader quickly understood that Rev. Moon was not anti-Russian. In fact, in this post-Communist environment, Rev. Moon’s new crusade for family values found an echoing endorsement from Gorbachev.
Rev. Moon had battled the forces of evil in his native North Korea before continuing the struggle in the U.S. and then in the rest of the world. He has been relentless, indefatigable and unswerving in his ceaseless battle to revitalize the moral and spiritual values of the United States with a view to restoring America as the shining citadel on the mountain for the whole world to admire and emulate.
To accomplish all this -- and much more -- cost a great deal of money, which Rev. and Mrs. Moon and their worldwide movement have raised to the tune of over $2 billion. This kind of money is not generated by selling flowers on the streets of America’s major cities. Thousands of people have answered Rev. Moon’s prayers and contributed to the creation of a new world of shared family values where the Ten Commandments are no longer multiple choice -- but obligatory. Without them, family and the society at large will simply wither away -- or implode.
One little-known fact about Rev. Moon and the media is his dedication to the principle of editorial independence. People have always asked me if Rev. Moon tried to influence my editorial judgment. Not at all. He trusted me to do what was right.
I was proud to see that during my stint at the helm of this great newspaper, our exclusive stories were picked up by the world’s major news agencies and newspapers with credit to The Washington Times and Insight Magazine, a publication which I was proud to launch and direct in 1985. Under my leadership, The Times became one of the three most influential newspapers among the 1,600 dailies published in America.
One can say without fear of exaggeration that without the vision of Rev. Moon, The Washington Times, Insight, The World and I, the television center, the Universal Ballet Academy, the World Media Association, the Ambassadors for Peace, and the Universal Peace Federation would not exist.
Rev. and Mrs. Moon have crisscrossed the globe from north to south and east to west, visiting and preaching in close to 200 countries. I have attended these rallies, and their contributions to world peace and understanding since the end of the Cold War have been immense. For each one striking at the roots of evil, a thousand others hack merely at the branches.
It was Confucius who said, "What the superior man seeks is in himself, but what the small man seeks is in others." Rev. Moon has always called on his formidable inner strength to deploy his awesome energy which leaves small men gasping for breath trying to keep up. Rev. Moon invariably followed Benjamin Franklin’s rule to never turn aside in public affairs through views of private interest, but to go straight forward in doing what appears to be right at the time, leaving the consequences with Providence -- and God.
Great works are performed not by strength, but by perseverance. Rev. Moon always persevered -- against formidable odds. The greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is to see something and then tell what it saw in a plain way. One sage observer once remarked that hundreds of people can talk for one who can think, but thousands can think for one who can see. To see clearly and to have a clear vision is poetry, prophecy and religion, all in one.
In Rev. Moon’s vocabulary, nothing is impossible. He has both the will and the means to prevail, and he has done so time and again against seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
Rev. Moon has also fought tirelessly against all forms of discrimination. He does not want the men of another color for our brothers-in-law, but for our brothers. He reminds young brothers and sisters that all successful business stands on the foundation of morality.
Rev. Moon has shown throughout the twenty-five years I have had the privilege of working for his global media enterprises that the best preacher is the heart; the best teacher is time; the best book is the world; the best friend is God. Rev. Moon has gone far in life -- farther than lesser human beings -- because he has known since the beginning of his life’s journey where he is going. In his perorations, Rev. Moon has taught that us human things must be known to be loved, but divine things must be loved to be known.
Thank you for a great opportunity to broaden my professional horizons in total freedom of expression while honing my journalistic skills.