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N. Gingrich: Address to World Summit 2022, Sunhak Peace Prize Award Ceremony
Written by Hon. Newt Gingrich, Speaker of the House (1995-1999), United States
Saturday, February 12, 2022
Address to World Summit
February 11-13, 2022
Thank you very much for that warm welcome. I’m not sure which is harder, to follow these fine speeches or to follow that very emotional music, but I can tell you that this is a remarkable day and a remarkable ceremony.
I want to start by thanking the person whose genius and passion and dedication has made all of this possible, and that is Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon. Thank you for your leadership and for your courage.
I also want to thank my good friend Michael Jenkins and The Washington Times team who do an amazing job of communicating to Americans the important things that we need to learn. And I’m grateful to be here for the Sunhak Peace Prize Award Ceremony and to be on the Sunhak Peace Prize Committee.
The moment we’re in is very challenging. In some ways, it’s remarkable. You just heard, for example, that the entire effort on worldwide vaccinations has dramatically reduced the death rate for children.
You’ve heard about a genius, named Sarah Gilbert, who has created the opportunity from a lifetime of work to respond to the crisis of COVID-19. You’ve heard from a dedicated patriot, Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen, who is committed to dialogue and who brought his country from a terrible civil war. And yet here we stand at a turning point for the human race. There are other diseases that are terrible. The number of children who die annually from malaria is an example.
In my own country, a country which should have extraordinary opportunity, we lose about 46,000 people a year to drug overdoses and another 46,000 to suicide because we have lives of despair. And that’s why it’s very important to come back to one of the key messages, that we are a family of children of God, and that God fills up a space which, when it’s empty, leads all too often to tragedy.
It’s very important to understand why we need to reach out and encourage young people to think about the career of Dr. Gilbert, who had this instinct that someday we’d have a threat big enough that spending her lifetime learning to be ready was a reasonable commitment. So it wasn’t one week or one month or one year. It’s her whole life. And, as she said in her fine speech, if we can recruit enough young people to realize what a difference they can make, whether it’s in music or in medicine or going into space or inventing new products, whatever it is, that they should seek lives that give them joy, that challenge them, and that give them a better future.
The Vaccine Alliance is amazing. It’s something the United States has participated in with very substantial resources. And it’s amazing because it brings together people who have resources to help people who don’t. When you realize the number of people—800 million children vaccinated—that 50% reduction in the death rate is an astonishing thing.
I find when I come here—and I’ve been privileged to be here several times now—that I’m always inspired. I always go back to America thinking new thoughts. I’m, frankly, always impressed with Korea and the extraordinary job of recovery and building and prosperity that has occurred here. I think if you take today’s presentations and today’s speeches, all of us can learn lessons to create a better future, to recognize that we are one human family under God, that peace, prosperity, safety and freedom are possible. And there I would say that the prime minister’s speech was particularly powerful and particularly moving because I know what he had to go through as a young man and how he persevered when it seemed hopeless.
The Sunhak Peace Prize is a building block of that future of peace, prosperity, safety and freedom. I’d like to close where I began, by reminding all of us that it’s the vision, the commitment, the 365-day a year work of one person, Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, who has driven forward and created an opportunity to bring the human race together. Thank you very, very much.
To go to the World Summit 2022 Schedule page, click here.