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Honoring the Life of Rev. Sun Myung Moon
Saturday, August 31, 2013
London, UK - Father Moon was a man of endless compassion, courage and love. He was a man with a vision, ‘to liberate humanity through the liberation of God.' Ambassadors for Peace gathered in London Aug. 31, 2013, in commemoration of the one-year anniversary of his passing.
From a very young age he devoted his life to not only vocalizing this message but also acting on it. It is easy for people to simply say that they believe in peace, unconditional love or human rights, but to go out into the world and endure hardship and barriers both social and political is something to be commended. Father Moon traveled the world visiting one hundred cities in one hundred days without taking a break. In each country he left an imprint of his message by changing someone’s life be it supporting the Jerusalem Declaration or clearing bad blood between old enemies. All who spoke at the Memorial Day did not fail to 
highlight the tribulations that threw themselves in Father Moon’s path. When in North Korea, he was arrested and sent to a hard labor camp, which notoriously tends to break many of its victims and in some cases leading to insanity. But not Father Moon. He was an exceptional man. He fought the pain and agony by holding onto his love for God and refusing to give in 
to his physical suffering. How many times do we give in or at least contemplate the latter when one element fails to go our way?
A man of such courage and perseverance has shown that when a human is armed with spirituality, love and
compassion for his/her God, her or she can overcome any hindrance to achieve their goals. Such love led him to meet Kim Il Sung, a man who once tried to kill him. Wherever he went he inspired. When in the US he won the support of many Americans especially the Black Christian community. Proof of such support was demonstrated in 1976 when Father Moon staged a huge rally in the area of the Washington Monument.
Although it has been a year since Father Moon’s passing, his legacy has remained intact.
In the celebration of his life and his achievements, many were enlightened and inspired to do their bit for humanity. Ollie Davis emphasized that although Father Moon was no doubt an exceptional man, the power of compassion and unconditional love that drove him was not exclusive. It is an innate characteristic for some and for others it is acquired through experience. But once one has obtained such ability, once channeled in all the right places, we can really make a difference. He went on to put this into perspective by saying that if one man guided by an 
unconditional love can achieve so much, what a whole country or generation can achieve is surreal. To achieve this would of course require much sacrifice. Christa Kamga, co-Director of the UK UPF Youth, has started dedicating 75% of her time to UPF and has begun to see that the positive result outweighs any sacrifices. So if we are willing to be selfless we too can aim to accomplish and help humanity as Father Moon did.
In commemoration of 
Father Moon’s life, Jack Corley the National Director of the Family Federation for World Peace, brought the message home with his phone analogy. He interestingly stated that although one could successfully use a phone as a door stopper, it would not be doing what it was truly capable of doing. Bringing this into context he inferred that many of us are not living our lives to the fullest in that we are not utilizing the gifts God has blessed us with to help and aid humanity. If we are blessed with wealth we should donate our money, if we are blessed with a beautiful voice, we should use music to put forward our message. Only when we utilize our gifts efficiently will we truly reach our fullest potential and only when will we make a difference.
World peace seems far too immense at times to comprehend and with all the violence and death around us one may even dare to suppose it impossible. However, Mr. Corley presented this in an indisputable manner making global peace seem within our realms. He believes that it all comes down to family. If one can achieve peace at home and teach such morals to ones children, then this will move on and transcend through generations. This means ones does not need to look at over complicated peace models. Instead one should look at the nature of the family model to find the foundation that the world needs to finally put an end to all the needless deaths, bloody borders segregating brother from brother and sister from sister.
Humanity needs to stop and realize that racing forwards and developing new technical and complicated ideas is not the answer. The answer has been around for as long as life has existed. Family. Some such as Father Moon realized this and dedicated their lives to spreading this message. Sometimes in order to progress one must look back, reminisce and remember a time when straight rigid lines did not define us. Father Moon may have passed away but his message, his work and his legacy are still here and do not plan on leaving any time soon. His life may have come to an end; however, his vision and the work needed to be complete it, still remains on this earth. Ready and waiting for us to take it further so that one day the words ‘them’ will cease to exist and world peace will finally return.