As a Peace-Loving Global Citizen

Sun Myung Moon

Forward

(Page ix)

Already spring rain fell all last night,

ending a winter drought. 

 It was so nice to have had the rain

that I spent all this morning

walking about in the garden. 

The ground had that fragrant aroma

of moist earth I had missed all through the winter,

and the weeping willow and cherry trees

were showing signs of new spring buds. 

I felt I could hear the popping sounds of new life

sprouting here and there around the garden. 

Before I knew it, my wife,

who had followed me out,

was picking young mugwort shoots

that had managed to poke their heads up

through the dry lawn. 

(Mugwort is a medicinal shrub

with a wide range of healing properties.) 

The night's rain had turned the whole world

into a fragrant spring garden.

No matter how much commotion

there may be in the world,

when the calendar turns to March,

spring is on its way. 

The older I become, the more it means to me

that in nature spring follows winter

and brings with it flowers in full bloom. 

Who am I that God in each season,

allows the flowers to bloom

and the snow to fall,

so I might know the joy of being alive? 

Love wells up

from within the deepest recesses of my heart,

and I am overcome with emotion. 

I am moved to tears

to think that everything of real value

has been given to me freely.

(Page x)

In my life

I have circled the globe many times over

in my efforts to bring about a world of peace,

and yet it is here in the garden in spring

that I am able to taste real peace. 

Peace too was given to us by God,

but we lost it somewhere

and now we spend our lives

looking for it in all the wrong places.

To bring a world of peace,

I have spent my life

going to the most lowly and secluded places. 

I met mothers in Africa

who could only watch helplessly

as their children died of hunger,

and I met fathers in South America

who lived by rivers full of fish

but could not support their families by fishing. 

At first, all I did was simply share my food,

but they granted me their love in return. 

Intoxicated with the power of love I went on

to plant seeds and cultivate forests. 

Together we caught fish to feed hungry children,

and the trees were used to build schools. 

I was happy fishing all through the night,

even as mosquitos bit me all over. 

I was happy

even when I was sinking knee deep into mud,

because I could see the shadows of despair

disappear from the faces of my neighbors.

Seeking the shortest path to a world of peace,

I devoted myself to inspiring change

in the political process

and to changing people's ways of thinking. 

I met then President Mikhael Gorbachev

of the Soviet Union

as part of my effort to bring reconciliation

between communism and democracy,

and I met then President Kim Il Sung

of North Korea

for a serious discussion

on how to bring peace to the Korean peninsula.

I went to the United States

that was in moral decline

and played the role of a fireman

responding to a call

in an effort to reawaken its Puritan spirit. 

I dedicated myself

to resolving various conflicts in the world. 

In my work for peace among Muslims and Jews,

I was not deterred by rampant terror. 

As a result of my efforts,

thousands have gathered

for rallies and peace marches,

with Jews, Muslims, and Christians

all joining together.

Sadly, however, the conflict continues. 

I see hope, though,

that an age of peace is about to be

inaugurated in my native land of Korea. 

The Korean peninsula has been trained through

endless suffering and the tragedy of division,

and I can feel in every cell of my body

that a powerful energy has been stored here

and is ready to burst out. 

In the same way that no one can stop

a new season of spring from coming,

no human power can stop heavenly fortune

from coming to the Korean peninsula

and spreading throughout the world. 

People need to prepare themselves

so that they may rise with the tide

of heavenly fortune when it arrives.
 

I am a controversial person. The mere mention

of my name causes trouble in the world. 

I never sought money or fame

but have spent my life speaking only of peace. 

The world, though, has associated

many different phrases with my name,

rejected me, and thrown stones at me. 

Many are not interested

in knowing what I say or what I do. 

They only oppose me.

I have been unjustly imprisoned

six times in my life

by imperial Japan, in Kim Il Sung's North Korea,

by South Korea's Syngman Rhee government,

and even in the United States

and at times I was beaten so hard

that the flesh was torn from my body. 

Today, though, not even the slightest wound

remains in my heart. 

Old wounds disappear easily in the presence

of true love. 

True love is a heart that gives and gives

and wants to continue giving. 

True love is a love

that forgets it already gave love

and gives love again.

I have lived my entire life intoxicated

in such love. 

I wanted nothing aside from love,

and I threw my entire being into the effort

to share love with my impoverished neighbors. 

At times, the path of love was so difficult

that my knees buckled under me

but even then I felt happy in my heart,

dedicated to loving humanity.

Even now,

I am filled with love

that I have not been able to give. 

It is with a prayer

that this love will become a river of peace

saturating the drought-stricken land

and flowing to the ends of the earth

that I now place this book before the world.

Recently, a growing number of people

have been seeking to know more about me. 

For the sake of those who are curious,

I have looked back on my life

and recorded my candid recollections

in this book. 

As for the stories

that could not be included in this volume,

I hope there will be other opportunities

for me to convey them.

I send boundless love

to all those who have put their faith in me,

remained by my side,

and lived their lives with me,

especially to my wife, Hak Ja Han Moon

to whom I am deeply grateful

for struggling with me

to scale the most difficult peaks.

Finally, I would like to express

my heartfelt gratitude to Eun Ju Park,

president of Gimm Young Publishers Inc.,

who poured out much sincerity and dedication

in the process of bringing this book to publication,

and to everyone in the publishing company

who labored in editing the words I spoke

so that the often complex content

could be easily understood by readers.

Sun Myung Moon
Cheongpyeong, South Korea
March 1, 2009