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D. Burton: Address to Summit 2022, Session VIa
Written by Hon. Dan Burton, member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1983-2013); international co-chair, International Association of Parliamentarians for Peace (IAPP)
Saturday, August 13, 2022
Address to Summit 2022 and Leadership Conference,
Seoul, Korea, August 11-15, 2022
Thank you very much. In 1983 I was a new congressman, and I had been active in anti-communist movements all over the state of Indiana, captive nations and other organizations. And I got a call from somebody who worked with Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon, and they invited me to come down to Florida to give a speech.
That was the first time I met Reverend Moon. I was so impressed with that gentleman and his love of peace and freedom and his fight to stop tyranny and communism around the world. He and I became friends. I didn't see him a lot of the time, but I heard from him, and I always knew that he was in the fight every single day. His goal was to make sure peace and freedom prevailed around the world. Just like Mother Moon. Mother Moon has carried on that fight so well.
Today we're faced with problems around the world: wars and tyranny and famine and disease and everything you can think of. If we ever needed strong leaders like you folks here tonight, like all of you, we need it now. The fight for freedom and the fight for peace are a never-ending struggle. There are wars going on right now in Ukraine, in Africa, and other parts of the world. It just goes on continually. And that's why we need people like you to preach the message and get out there and get other people recruited in the fight for freedom.
You know, I'm a student of history of the United States of America. And one of the things that I'd like to mention to you today is about George Washington, the father of our country. He was in Valley Forge with his soldiers, and he was losing them. They were deserting, and some of them were dying of dysentery. They had horrible problems. And George Washington went out in the woods and gave prayer after prayer. And he supposedly had a vision of what America would look like in the future.
When he came back, a message had come from a man who was a real patriot, a man named Thomas Paine. George Washington was so impressed with that. He read what this gentleman wrote. And here's what Thomas Paine wrote in 1776: “These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country. But he that stands with it now deserves the love of man and woman.”
That's just as true today, only not just for the United States but for the whole world. Mother Moon has worked so hard, going all over the world, having conferences and conventions to get the message out that we all need to work together for love, family and peace. She's done a tremendous job. But she needs help. That's why we're here today. She needs help to get more and more people involved. Now you're here and you're patriots, and I'm proud of each and every one of you.
But you need to also be soldiers to go out in the hinterlands, in all of your countries, all over the world, and preach what Mother Moon talks about, love and peace and family, and try to recruit other people to be involved with organizations like we're talking about today, like the International Association of Parliamentarians for Peace. Freedom, love, family is what Mother Moon has been preaching and has been all about forever. And we owe her a great debt of thanks.
So today I'd just like to say thank you to Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon for creating the Universal Peace Federation. I want to thank Dr. Thomas Walsh, my friend, for all the hard work he puts forth. And I challenge each and every one of you as we leave here today, to carry on the fight for freedom, love and family. Thank you very much.
To go to the World Summit 2022 Schedule page, click here.