After spending two weeks in Korea in conjunction with the Blessing of 360,000 couples, I want to share some experiences and reflections from that time.

Three days after the August 25 Blessing, Father held a general membership/leadership meeting at the Sutaekni Training Center. About 5,000 persons were in attendance.

At that meeting Father emphasized the fulfillment of our responsibility. He stressed that He lived his own responsibility 365 days a year and suggested that that should be our pattern.

I had gone to the meeting seeking to gain an ever fuller sense of Father and, as always, a more complete connection.

During the many hours that Father spent pouring himself out to the members that day I realized in a new way the enormous public commitment that stands as the guiding star of Father's life. The day reminded me of Father's teaching that God is the most public of all persons. Father has sought to emulate Heaven in this regard. Should we not, as followers of Reverend Moon, seek to reproduce that same quality in our own lives? A public life is a key to our growth. Through a public life, we can knit the world together.

As you may know, Father intends to bless 3.6 million couples at the next Blessing. Toward the end of the August 28 meeting, Father asked for commitments from the various nations/regions for this goal. Reverend Kwak pledged 1.2 million couples from Korea and the Reverend Kamiyama pledged 2.1 million couples from Japan. Representing the Family Federation and as the senior American representative at the meeting I was asked to make a commitment on behalf of the American movement.

On my way to the blackboard where the numbers were being written and obviously seeking to challenge me, Father commented to me that the United States had two and a half times the population of Japan. In response, and seeking to keep our commitment out of the stratosphere, I pointed out that there were already commitments totaling 3.3 million. Accordingly I initially wrote the number 120,000. And as it turns out, I was the first among many representatives whose numbers father did not accept. Indeed he proved very tough as he insisted on some leaders making higher and higher pledges.

In any event, the number that I ultimately pledged and which He accepted was 360,000 couples, representing 10% of the total. So that is the goal for our American movement for the next Blessing. We will do serious thinking and planning toward this goal.

On a related matter, I want to take this opportunity to testify to God and true parents regarding my own children's Blessing. Our oldest son Matthew was blessed with a young Korean woman Yun Heeg Jee and our daughter Cara was blessed with M., the son of the president of the Japanese Family Federation. Without going into details, I will simply say that my wife and I were enormously impressed with the wisdom and love to our hearts underlay these matches. Each of the spouses seem wonderfully suited as a complement to the personalities of our children and my wife and I are confident that together they will create a beautiful whole. The Blessing of our children was not just their Blessing but a blessing for us. It is a profound comfort for a parent to feel that a particular child's life's partner will be a good complement for him or her.

Finally, I must say that I feel that our children's own activities and spirit have much to do with shaping their Blessing. Influenced greatly by True Parents children and older second generation brothers and sisters, both of our children have sought to apply the Principle in their lives and have been active in second generation matters over several years. I believe that the conditions they set themselves definitely affected their Blessing, their destiny.

While obviously my wife and I had much to do with the direction of our children's lives, I believe this direction would not have been fulfilled without there being exposed to older second generation role models. I would encourage all parents to try to connect their children to blessed children communities and especially to older exemplary second generation brothers and sisters.

By the time you read this, Father will have completed his 16 city American speaking tour. He continues to set a high standard of public life and to give to our nation. As a movement, I believe we must all become more public. Let us follow that way.

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