Tenth Anniversary of WFWP

Hak Ja Han
April 10, 2002

Distinguished guests, leaders of women s organizations, members of the Women's Federation for World Peace: Today; as I stand here before you; I am filled with many deep emotions. In particular, I feel a deep sense of gratitude to God, who has guided our federation with true love for the ten years that have passed since its founding.

My husband, the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, and I jointly founded the Women's Federation for World Peace with the purpose that it would proclaim the arrival of the era of women and function as a pivotal organization for the women's peace movement.

This federation was not founded simply as another women's organization amongst the many that already exist. Rather, the first and foremost characteristic of WFWP is that it was founded for the providential purpose of realizing God's ideal world, a world which centers on the ideal of True Parents.

Moreover, WFWP is not an organization for the recovery of women's rights, and is fundamentally different from such women's organizations that exist chiefly to influence men. Such organizations seek primarily to expand women's rights, to promote equality of the sexes or to improve working conditions for women and are, for the most part, external, political and con­frontational in nature.

According to Reverend Moon's teachings, women do not exist to confront or struggle against men, but rather they exist as individual embodiments of truth, representing one side of the two aspects or dual characteristics of the invisible Creator, God. In other words, women represent one aspect of God's internal and external characteristics, and the one aspect of God's original masculinity and femininity.

According to the principle through which God created the universe, all things exist in couples, as an initiating subject and a responsive object team. A woman is thus a whole and perfect partner through whom a man can achieve harmonious unity in the ideal of God's principle.

Likewise, a woman does not exist to be a man's assistant or simply an object of his protection, but rather is an independent entity who brings completion to a man by standing in a position that represents the other aspect of God. In the ideal of true love, a woman exists as a man's noble partner, as the recipient who can reciprocate his love. From the perspective of value, a man and a woman are equal.

A man and woman who are united through the power of original, true love acquire entitlement to a single common status. They also share entitlement to participate together and be with each other, whatever the situation or location. Moreover, a man and woman united in true love also share an ideal right of inheritance; they share ownership of each other's things, for she is his second self just as he is hers.

Thus, a man and woman united in God's true-love ideal share fully and totally all rank and position, all rights of participation and all rights of possession. Men and women were created to be equal in terms of value when they are centered on true love.

Naturally, then, a man and woman should not exist in a relationship of hostility or opposition, where the characteristics and qualities of the other are to be mimicked or coveted. There is no need for that; because man and woman belong to each other; their relationship is designed to be one where all their qualities as well as possessions are shared with each other so as to bring each to completion and perfection, and thus together become something greater than the sum of the two.

Women have the important role of bearing children, raising them, and guiding the family as God's representatives -- with the uniquely feminine sense of affection and love that God has granted to women. This original feminine nature is something God endowed each woman with.

By nurturing the fruits of love and investing in her children s upbringing, a woman connects and extends the traditions and lineage of her family. For this reason, although her external efforts are important, the role of the mother in cultivating character and raising her children to have healthy, wholesome natures is the highest function of motherhood. In fulfilling this role, mothers truly represent the heart of God.

As the future unfolds, humanity will have no option but to live interdependently in a pluralistic, global society. A culture of peace will be established all across the globe. When this happens, the precious role of women who are grounded in the love of God will be recognized as an absolutely essential ingredient not only for the family, but also for society, for the nation and on the global level as well.

That is because women play a sacred role that is both historical and related with the blood lineage. We carry the future of humanity in our wombs; we give birth to and nurture humankind's potential. If the role of mothers is ignored, where will the hope and future prospects for humanity come from?

In the worldwide peace movement led by WFWP, women play the central role. Members of WFWP should feel proud that the work we are doing across the globe deals with such a unique area and has such providential significance. We should also be grateful that WFWP can carry out its work under the direct guidance of the True Parents.

Over the past ten years, I have been privileged to give talks and keynote addresses in the parliamentary halls of many nations across the globe, from the UN headquarters to the U.S. Congress and Japanese Diet. We have held hundreds of international meetings where I delivered the message of the Women's Federation. Sometimes the audience comprised several hundred people, sometimes ten thousand, and sometimes more than a hundred thousand people.

I have been fortunate to have been able to carry out a number of global tours embracing North and South America, Europe, Asia, including Russia and China, Oceania and Africa. During these tours, my message has always been the proclamation of the era of women and an emphasis on the role of women in bringing about world peace.

We have addressed the serious crises facing modern civilization, including decadence among youths, family breakdown, teenage and single parenthood, AIDS, drug abuse, crime and national instability. Moreover, we have the raised the issue of ethics and morality centering on the family, and shown the need for the establishment of a new value system aligned with God's truth. In short, we have rung the warning bell.

Consequently, in each nation across the globe, movements for:, national reformation and social restoration are being led by inspired and enlightened women motivated from within. These movements are creating a foundation of hope throughout the world.

So once again, I would like to take this opportunity to thank and congratulate the members of the Women's Federation for World Peace. In more than 180 nations around the world, and particularly in South Korea, Japan and America, you have participated with fervor and accomplished many tangible results for our cause.

What should be the central direction and activities of the women's peace movement during the coming ten years? Reverend Moon has focused on the year 2012 as the year in which the ideal world of peace -- the hope of humanity and God alike -­ needs to be substantially realized. To that end, he is at this time heading up a global movement for the practice of true love. Likewise, for the Women's Federation for World Peace, the next ten years will be a very important period.

The world of peace is not initially accomplished on the global or even national level. Peace must first be realized in the individual and in the family because these form the basis for all human organizations and systems. Core issues of world peace essentially depend on the question of how peace can be attained within the individual and the family.

The original ideal of God's creation was to accomplish the Kingdom of Heaven on the earth, and beyond that, a world of the ideal of love that also embraced the spiritual dimension. Thus, a Kingdom of Heaven both was to be formed in both the spiritual and physical worlds. This ideal was to be achieved by expanding the model of an ideal family to the world level and then the cosmic level. For this reason, a family of true love is the fundamental unit and basis of an ideal world of peace.

When true parents, a true husband and wife, and true children all attend God and form a true family of peace, and when that family expands to form a clan, nation and world, true world peace will be realized. The role of the mother and wife in creating peace in the family is an absolute and eternal one.

Today, immorality and decadence are spreading over the world and the family is crumbling under the influence of soaring divorce rates and increasing self-indulgence among youth.

In these circumstances, the true family blessing movement and the pure love youth education that WFWP is promoting worldwide are, in the fundamental sense, movements for peace. They are movements that can save the nation and save the world unique peace movements of the highest dimension driven by the power of God's true love.

I believe that we members of WFWP need to have a special sense of mission in our work. Based on the moral laws and principles of the universe, we need to make our families whole and sound in accordance with the heavenly way of life. We have to point our societies in the right direction and make our nations righteous and strong.

Thus, participation by women is needed in all aspects of society, from diplomacy and politics to the economy and legal system reform. Women also need to be active in education and culture, in sports and the arts, not to mention the diverse activities of NGOs.

However, I want to emphasize that before all these things, the highest priority for our activity needs to be education of our society in a righteous value system, and the True Love and True Family movement. We need to encourage and foster the practice of living for the sake of others.

Moreover, we women have to be the vanguard of the movement for unification. It has always been a clear objective of our federation to carry out a number of activities that will aid the reunification of the Korean peninsula, for example. Women have to take the lead in both national and global unification by providing an example through education based on a true value system and the practice of true love.

War and conflict arise when we attempt, from selfish motives, to acquire things, such as land or possessions that belong to others. Conversely, peace is realized when we invest ourselves for the sake of others; in other words, when we practice true love.

For some time now, our federation has invested its heart and soul in developing our Service and Sharing for the Neighborhood and Society activities. These activities will surely become a precious foundation for peace in the future.

This year, we initiated the 1% Love Sharing Project to practice true love and help our compatriots in North Korea; particularly women and children. In my view, this campaign exemplifies the spirit with which WFWP was founded. As a campaign that emphasizes the practice of true love and sharing, this project is being developed in many nations around the world. Transcend­ing religion, race and nationality it is rising above the established conflict-centered framework to bring peace in a tangible way.

In recent years, WFWP has worked hard to build bridges of peace between nations in many parts of the world, under Reverend Moon's guidance. An example of this is the creation of sisterhood relationships between 320,000 South Korean and Japan­ese women. Sisterhood ceremonies between women of different nations have now firmly taken root as an integral part of many international conferences and as a concrete practice for the realization of peace.

In the future, WFWP will pursue the growth of our active efforts for peace by developing a joint platform embracing many different fields, including education, culture, sports and the arts. This will be achieved through cooperation that transcends nationality, race, religion and different NGOs.

Moreover, bringing together women from all over the world in harmony and cooperation, we will further volunteer activities based on true love-so that more and more people can become the recipients of love in a tangible way.

My dear members of the Women's Federation! In the twenty-first century, men and women together must become the main players of world history, cooperating as the driving force for the realization of a world of peace. The central role of women is all the more vital if the unfolding century is to be characterized not by power and technology, but by culture and by love.

It is my fervent hope and expectation that the members of WFWP will take the lead in guiding the movement for restoring true families. That movement is the basis and foundation for the realization of a world of peace.

Enlightened women are the centre of the love, peace and service that preserve the family, and a sound, healthy family is the school of love and virtue. The starting point of world peace lies with the mothers at the centre of such families, families that per­fect and bring to fruition God's true love.

We must all push ahead in the conviction that no matter how wounded and scarred this world becomes, it can be healed and cleansed by the substantial work of a women's federation united in the vision of God's true love. If we have that determination and if we make that effort, then God's absolute authority will be with us, as will be the blessing and guidance of the spiritual realm.

Let us all stand up and be counted; let us complete the build­ing of an ideal world of peace both on earth and in the spiritual world.

In conclusion, let me thank you, both our distinguished guests and federation members, once again for taking the time from your busy schedules to allow us the pleasure of your presence today.