Julian Safi is a renowned journalist with a prestigious career in newspaper editing and publishing in New York and his native country of Uruguay. He is also a businessman, an advisor, and a facilitator to both the private and public sectors in Uruguay and for international corporations. He worked closely with Dr. Pak for man, dears to establish, among many other publishing and commercial enterprises, the Ultimas Noticas newspaper and the Victoria Plaza Hotel.

A leader. I wondered how I could describe Dr. Bo Hi Pak and I concluded that the word "leader" is the most accurate, although it cannot embrace completely Dr. Pak's rich personality.

The Uruguayan writer Alicia Garcia Lopez asserted in one of her recent essays that leadership is the result of charisma, power, and a captivating personality. Dr. Bo Hi Pak has all these attributes. Among them, charisma is the most outstanding quality of this extraordinary man.

Dr. Pak, in fact, stands out for his capacity to love, for his immediate understanding of the needs of others, for his conviction (as well as being convincing), for provoking richness of values, and for being a man who generates happiness. Therefore, there is no person who has known Dr. Pak or worked with him who has not been captivated by him and felt a deep admiration and a profound love for him.

I am included among that legion of admirers. And I think no one admires him more than I because during the 20 years that I have worked with Dr. Pak, more than having a leader, I have had a soul brother, who though his home is far from mine is always close to me. We live at opposite ends of the world in totally different cultures, but there is no distance that can separate a brotherhood like this. We have a total empathy. I know exactly how Dr. Pak thinks and what his decision would be when faced with any situation. And I know that his decisions are always the wisest, the most generous, the most visionary. I have had the blessing of having such a valuable guide in my life, and I know that I owe him in great measure for the triumphs I may have enjoyed. Dr. Pak has been the great advisor, not only through his words but fundamentally through his example.

During 20 years of work, we accomplished some incredible things together, such as the creation in a record 30 days of a Spanish newspaper, Noticias del Mundo, published daily in New York for the Hispanic community. After that, in my homeland of Uruguay, we created another newspaper, Ultimas Noticias, which became number two in the nation. We built the first five-star hotel in the country, the Victoria Plaza Hotel, that is, without doubt, the best and most luxurious hotel in Latin America. We bought a bank-yes, a bank, the Banco de Credito, which was ranked third in Uruguay after being in business for 80 years. Today it is second. And we worked together on many other ventures, such as Impresora Polo, which became the largest printing company in Uruguay, and L'Ecoile, a very refined carousel restaurant in the tallest building in the exclusive resort city of Punta del Este.

In forming these companies, we were always motivated to support the national good. More than 500 Uruguayan families-which is a very large number in a nation of three million inhabitants-live today on salaries they earn in those companies, and many thousands more indirectly benefit as suppliers of goods and services to those companies.

Thousands of memories, thousands of anecdotes, the most intense and saddest moments of my life, but also the happiest and most successful moments-these are part of the history of the 20 years since I met Dr. Pak. These years are impossible to describe adequately. No words can reflect all the sadness and deep frustration that an aborted project causes, or the overflowing joy that comes from achieving success in the face of immense difficulties. And we certainly had both!

The fact is that the achievements are here to be seen. How great it was to experience all those moments with Dr. Pak. What a road companion! How great to share good news with him from half-way across the world. And how comforting to receive his support when the news was not so good. Like a soldier who carries his wounded buddy upon his shoulders through enemy territory, Dr. Pak has supported me throughout all these years, in the midst of all the extraordinary projects we carried out. Today when I look back and see all our achievements, my admiration for Dr. Pak doubles-for his inspiration, his effort, his trust, his loyalty, his support, and his teaching.

But it would not be fair to Dr. Pak, and would not fulfill what I know are his deepest wishes, if I did not speak of the inspiration of his life, the reason for his efforts, the persons to whom he dedicates himself to serve unconditionally, in body and soul: the Reverend and Mrs. Sun Myung Moon.

One time during a brotherly talk, I expressed to Dr. Pak the admiration I had for him. He thanked me, and I know he appreciated what I had shared. But immediately he added that he was only a grain of sand in the desert, and that desert was Reverend Moon. "Imagine how he is," he said. "What I am doing is nothing compared to what he is doing. And what I do, I do thanks to his inspiration and support. Without him, nothing that we have done would have been possible. You must give him your admiration."

I heard and saw similar testimonies from Dr. Pak on many occasions. They have always reminded me of the literary technique used by Homer in his famous Iliad to convey the beauty of Helen of Troy. Actually there isn't any physical description of Helen anywhere in the book. Homer only mentions the effect that Helen's beauty had on others, so the reader can imagine how beautiful she must have been. In the same way, the many friends of Dr. Pak have learned to value and honor Reverend Moon through the admiration he engenders in Dr. Pak. Because if such a wonderful man as Dr. Pak, in his wisdom, experiences such strong feelings toward Reverend Moon, his outstanding virtues must be beyond our imagination, since we do not have the opportunity to share his life.

Finally, I will tell the reader that this compilation of speeches by Dr. Pak will be no doubt a wellspring of inspiration for all of us. We will be uplifted by the depth of his ideas and principles, the clarity of his concepts, the grace of his narrative, and the timeliness of his topics. With this conviction, I recommend a deep and attentive reading. You will be richly rewarded.

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