This is an excerpt from the Faculty Greeting given on the inauguration of Dr. Shimmyo as president of UTS.

In 17 years, UTS has gone through several distinct phases. It is entering upon yet another even as we gather here this afternoon. Although each phase is important, both the good ones and the bad, it goes without saying that the early years marked what may well be as the most important. Even though we expect constant improvement with successive classes, administrations, and faculties, one can never overtake the significance of the early years since they are permanently distinguished by the constant presence of its founder, Reverend Moon.

Recently, I brought one of my current students to a near swoon one afternoon, when during my scheduled class hours Rev. Moon came to the seminary. Students expected to be dismissed in order to prepare themselves to attend his discourse. Just before dismissing the students, I told them, "You know, when I was a student here, Rev. Moon was up here so often that we were forbidden to stay with him if we had classes scheduled at that time." "Get out," one student shouted, obviously so stunned at the notion that an involuntary outburst escaped her. That students would attend to their studies when Rev. Moon was present was simply unthinkable to her. "Really," I insisted, "it was Father's own rule." Of course, times have changed. Father is up here rarely, and it goes without saying that we should stay with him during one of his rare visits. That student as might be expected made her way to the front row (no easy accomplishment) and sat eagerly and attentively for the many hours of Rev. Moon's speech that day. I, however, rarely saw her after that!

There are a number of important things to note from this vignette. The most important is to recognize that the educational vision and traditions which will forever lie at the root of this Seminary's development are Rev. Moon's. For years on end, he spent day after day here establishing by personal example and by abundant explanation precisely what type of education and personal training are necessary for a religious leader. This near unfathomable foundation remains and will be available forever to any future educator who would undertake to train religious leaders. This vision for the Seminary will ultimately be embodied. It is only a matter of time.

The second thing to note is the level of investment necessary for the establishment of anything of importance. For each of us in this room who hope some day to accomplish something of enduring value, we should always remember that this can only be achieved if we are willing to pour ourselves into that thing, 100 percent, over a significant period of time. If that method is necessary for someone as talented as Rev. Moon, then how much more it must be the case for the likes of you and me. Nothing can be achieved in an easy way, or by using clever techniques and shortcuts, and certainly enduring change from a bad world to a good one requires the utmost investment.

The third thing I would point out is that our liberation lies in universalizing in our lives the best behavior of which we are capable. We should do our best in each and every job, even ones we may not like. Take the example of the student described in my little tale about Rev. Moon's visit. Her excitement and enthusiasm, which enabled her to secure the front row and sit for hours in rapt attention, should be her own personal standard for each and every task and obligation she faces. Or take another example of someone who loves volleyball. That feeling and heart that wells up when the score is 14-14 and the serve is sailing down from the sky towards me should be the same heart with which I approach each and every task and commitment with which I am engaged. When I clean out the hall (once I choose to do so), when I listen to someone's troubles (once I choose to do listen), and so on. When I take a course-once I choose to do so. Once we choose or accept an obligation, we should carry that out with the same heart and enthusiasm which naturally arises for my favorite thing, or for the person I love most.

Anyone who believes that some things are worthy of my best, while others are unworthy, violates the fundamental wisdom of every great religion and high teaching. Jesus promised to entrust with great things those who were faithful over a little. "As you do to the least of these, you do unto me," he explained. And Confucius responded to a great king who postured before the teacher, asking for the secret of great governance, "Learn first to govern yourself!" God and the universe know us truly by observing us through the small and the unwelcome obligations, not at all from our behavior on special occasions.

My second thoughts this afternoon again relate to small, basic things, those things God studies so that He can decide how much to entrust to any given individual. I had a long talk with Hyo Jin Hyong Nim yesterday, the eldest son of Rev. Moon. I discovered that he, like his father, clearly sees the ideal. Such people who clearly see the ideal naturally abound with great love. By the same token however bad behavior is confusing, troubling and almost incomprehensible to them. He brought up the issue of the imminent dawn of the universal dissemination of knowledge and education through mass communications. This, he explained, will set each individual free. No longer will we be beholden to elitist institutions and abusive powers for the acquisition of knowledge. Each and every person will have direct access. Each and every one will be free. "I'm for that," said Hyo Jin Hyong Nim, "we just have to be sure that people know right and wrong. That's all."

We should all know that those people who truly lead us on our religious path, Father and the heirs of his vision, live to bequeath us unfettered freedom. How much then has God longed for us to live in the state of original freedom. For each person, from top to bottom, all that is necessary to enter unbounded freedom is the simple knowledge and practice of right and the shunning of what is wrong. Thus, the second thing I would urge as we step into all that awaits us, and set out to achieve all that we would like to offer, is to establish simplicity and constancy in doing what is right, and what is good. Those with the wisdom to live simply and consistently choosing right will be free, and will bear fruits worthy of God. People with complexity in this area of their lives will lose all of their energy in the entangled swirl of rationalization and uneasy conscience.

Finally, let us not forget that in this short life we must accomplish at least some thing well, no matter how small. Let us never think that we will be content with ourselves at the end of our lives, if all we can have said was that I worked hard pursuing some grandiose task that I never really understood, and never really believed for a second that I would achieve. No, those who go peacefully to meet God all bring with them something in which they believed, tried with all their heart to achieve, and in the end, by the grace of God, did it. It does not matter how small.

Supposing you become a great little league coach. Or a violinist, or an exciting published scholar. The actual achievement is secondary. What is important is to have discovered something we believed in, loved, gave it our all, overcame obstacles and difficulties, and with a pure heart with simple love and with the dream that my lifework will be carried on, and done better and better. We bet our lives and pour out our hearts to achieve some substantial offering. Now is the time for seminary graduates, and all people of conscience, to settle upon some goodness that is consistent with their own nature, talents and passions. We should study with great care Rev. Moon's simple pattern of challenging and winning, and then ourselves give our all and win at something. That thing, no matter how great or how small, is what we give to the world, give to others. With such a thing we can excite God Himself, if even for a moment. When we have such a thing, we have peace and true happiness.

Let us do our best even in small unseen things; let us choose what is simply right and good consistently, and let us achieve some enduring good by living with passion and investment. Such people are free, happy, helpful to others, and pleasing to God.

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