The Words of In Jin Moon from 2010
|
|
The Words of In Jin Moon from 2010 |
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I hope you're having a lovely dinner. First of all, I would like to thank all of you for coming on this extraordinary evening that we can share together with Dr. and Mrs. Sun Myung Moon, along with the honorees here, represented by their portraits on stage. It is truly a monumental occasion in that my father recognizes the great work done by these men of character, dedication, and purpose. In particular, I'm surely delighted to have with us the family of General Alexander Haig represented here by his son, Alexander, and grandson, Christopher.
We were talking earlier while working on our salad and on to dessert about the friendship of General Haig and my father. I was commenting to Alexander that my father often likes to say that in life nothing is a coincidence and that you can always find the hand of God mysteriously guiding people together: in this situation, two people, two great men who are great ambassadors of peace, like my father and Alexander's father.
I really do believe that they were destined to meet and work together for the sake of peace. I know it began for my father with his experience, when he was 16 years old, of praying on his knees on Easter Sunday morning, asking God, the Heavenly Parent of humankind, to use him as an instrument and seeking guidance in his own life of faith. It was at that time that Jesus Christ appeared to him and asked this young boy, who was fervently praying and crying on his knees, to take up the work that was left unfinished.
Jesus went on to tell this young man, "I did not come to die. In fact, I came to find a beautiful wife whom I could call my own. And I came to build a beautiful family together with this wife. I came to create an ideal family and then to share the good news that we are all one family under God, that in truly honoring the Heavenly Parent, we should honor the most important moments of our lives, such as birth, marriage, and death, as times to celebrate together with our Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother."
I very much believe that 2,000 years ago, had Jesus Christ been given a chance to fulfill his mission, he would have met a fine woman whom he could call his true Eve and he would have had a beautiful family that would have become the paradigm of love and of what a family could be. He would have asked all of us to try to do the same, in honor of the life that is awarded to each and every one of us: to create something beautiful and to leave behind something beautiful in our children, inspiring them to become great men and women of God and to do the same for their own children when they grow up.
My father is famous for a lot of things. He is known as a man of God. He is known as a fantastic businessman. When my father first walked in, the first thing he noticed was the beautiful East River that we have flowing right behind us here. He immediately said, "Striped bass. Great striped bass!" So my father is also known as a great fisherman. But more important than that, to me he is a wonderful father. When Jesus Christ anointed him to fulfill his mission and to live a life of service to others, to inspire the Korean young people, and then go on to the worldwide level and inspire all the world's people to create and develop beautiful families, this was the first step in allowing my father to meet a great many friends over the years, including General Alexander Haig.
It was because of my father's work that he was thrown into the North Korean concentration camp at Hungnam, and it was there, the day before his execution, that his great friend, General Haig, came with the allied forces that liberated my father, which allowed my father to come to this great country. He has thanked this great country of America with over 33 years of his life, dedicating everything that he had to raise up American young people to dream the great dream, not just to have a great life, not just to be a great patriot, but to truly inherit the love of God and what God intended when he first thought about creating the universe for his beautiful son and daughter, Adam and Eve.
So, you see, I feel that this is an incredible opportunity to share with all the luminaries of society the breaking news that Reverend Moon and Mrs. Moon come not just as ambassadors of peace but as the fulfillment or the culmination of the prophecy of Jesus coming again. They are the True Parents that we have been waiting for, that humankind has been waiting for. With their leadership and guidance, all of us can strive to build incredible families, strong and loving families, and have an opportunity to celebrate the three most important junctures of life.
Our parents can be thankful for each and every one of our births in dedication to our Heavenly Parent, truly in gratitude for a life received, a life that will be nurtured with love, and a life that will be empowered by the spirit of true love. Our lives will be encouraged to reach their true potential and true destiny, and in return we thank God and humanity by giving back with love, with great work, and with service.
This is a time when we can celebrate the beauty of marriage. It's a time when we can celebrate the beauty of the international community coming together. The diversity or differences of race and culture disappear under the new banner of true love in each couple's lives.
Today and this evening, we are here to celebrate the passing on or ascension of these great men, recognizing the great work that they have done in their lives, and how many people have been touched by them over the years. At the same time, it allows us as family to honor them and to be happy that they will return back into the embrace and love of our Heavenly Parent up in heaven. So it's a time of rebirth into a new life, and it's also a time of going back, coming home. It's truly a wonderful occasion.
For the young people in the audience, it's a time for them to think about how they want to live their lives and what kind of legacy they would like to leave in their lifetime. Each of our lives is an opportunity, a gift given by our God up in heaven to make something beautiful and to leave something beautiful behind.
As I approach this podium with the heart of a mother, I can only dream of a world where our children and grandchildren will be able to live in peace because the world recognizes that it belongs to one family, that we belong to the same God. I can only dream of a world where I do not have to worry about sending my children to school for fear of suicide bombers or of a terrorist attack. I want to dream of this wonderful generation of young people called Generation of Peace that has purpose, that has ideals, that has integrity, that has moral character. There is something wonderful waiting for our young Americans and for young people all around the world to be just awakened, if they could be so inspired.
My father is somebody who has truly inspired me in my life of faith and as a public servant. I know that he has touched many people all around the world, just as all the great men represented here have touched many people's lives.
I feel like I have the most difficult task at hand tonight because, how do you introduce a man who means so much, who has touched so many, and who has given so much? No words are adequate or enough to express my pride, my love, and my true gratitude for my father -- not just for being a great man himself, but for teaching all of us, including young people and myself, how to honor all the great men and women who have come before us and left legacies that are worthy of our attention and our research.
As I look forward to reading the biography of General Haig that Alexander so captured my rapt attention with at the dinner table, I know that all of these people have their stories, too. So as we continue on our road of discovery in our lives, as we go about our various tasks, I hope that this can be an occasion when we recognize where we are standing. This is the United Nations. This is a symbol of unity; this is a symbol of peace.
So how incredible it is for my father and for my mother, the True Parents, to grace this evening with their presence and with their words! I would encourage all of you to have an open mind, to have a heart of love, and to help me welcome my father to the podium. Thank you very much.