The year of 2001 was one of tremendous changes in the activities and outcomes of the World CARP organization. These improvements did not come about randomly, but as the result of a worldwide effort to fundamentally change our culture. Culture includes the habits, perceptions, and way of thinking of a society or group. It is culture that drives the expectations, the attitudes, and even the very dreams that people have for themselves and for their relationships.

The theme of our annual symposium this year is "Building a Revolution of Heart". Although we'll be learning new ideas and techniques to make our activities more effective, real change cannot come from cognitive learning alone. For a change to occur in the culture of any group of people, it must begin from the heart … with a revolution of heart. This can only happen when the learning and ideas are put into action and each person experiences the impact that those ideas have on the environment around them.

During 2001, I launched the Service for Peace initiative. This involved speaking around the world to audiences totaling over 80,000 people about the simple idea of living for the sake of others. These were not just pep talks meant to be spiritual revival. They were specifically a call to action; a call to the activity of serving others, and to seeing the needs of those who are all around us. The needs were always there, but it is only when someone opens their eyes and changes their heart can they begin to see and feel the needs of others. Is this not at the very root of a cultural change?

Service for Peace is not about changing our activities to be more service related, however. It is about a deeply seated sense of responsibility for others that begins from seeing them as my brother or my sister. Can any of us ignore the needs or the suffering of our own family members? No, we cannot. Family relationships are not merely my personal choice of with whom I relate, but are the defining relationships of who I am, my own identity. So, what is it that ties service to peace? It is identifying myself not as an isolated individual, but as part of the same family as those in need of service. This is what we teach through Service for Peace.

When you seriously take to heart the responsibility for others as your own family members, you must be accountable for enacting that desire, and for taking initiative to serve. These three elements of responsibility, accountability, and initiative are building blocks of what I refer to as the Culture of Ownership. Ownership includes our commitment to a responsible mindset, as well as a conscientious lifestyle. It involves our drive for individual excellence, and the continuous improvement of the environment and society around us. It results in becoming a mature, caring, and genuine human being who can truly say, "I am living for the sake of others."

The mission statement of World CARP defines that living for others is the driving force behind all of the World CARP activities as well. This is the fundamental way of life that my parents have taught to me since childhood, and have taught to millions of others around the world. They have taught it throughout their whole lives, not just by teaching and preaching, but by living and giving. They have been the living example of this way, and have sacrificed everything else in order to follow God's call to build this culture of heart.

I have structured the symposium and convention of World CARP in 2002 to not just be a short, inspirational event, but part of a continuous education process that lasts a lifetime. What I ask of you is that you look into your own heart, and decide whether you will be part of this revolution of heart and culture of ownership that I have been advocating. If you choose to be part of this new culture, it requires that you truly live for the sake of others everyday. When we do that together, it stimulates a cultural change in the environment and society around us, and that is the beginning of building a lasting peace.

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