FOLLOW US
K.V. Rajan: Address at the UPF Founders' Birthday Celebration
Written by Amb. K.V. Rajan, President, Association of Indian Diplomats
Monday, January 23, 2012
During the past few days, as the old year gives way to the new, thinkers and leaders from around the world have gathered to discuss prospects for peace.
The prognosis is not a promising one. It is astonishing that despite the desperate yearning of the vast majority of human beings on this planet earth for peace, the prospects for peace continue to be so bleak.
The crisis is multifaceted, widespread, and complex. It is at once political, economic and moral.
At a geopolitical level, old conflicts refuse to go away; new ones are proliferating with each passing day. The unipolar world is ending, the only superpower faces a decline, and a new one, unpredictable and not very reassuring, is on the rise. Institutions have collapsed one after another—the family, the school, the church, the state. Democracies are undermined by their own distractions and shortcomings. The individual prizes self interest over values. The environment is ever more fragile, and climate change is an enforced threat for future generations brought on by the insatiable greed of today. Religious intolerance and extremism have made a clash of civilizations a real possibility, even as the world’s governments deliberate on issues of war and peace without allowing the potential of major religions to make a constructive contribution.
It is, in T.S. Eliot’s words, a world of violence, lunacy, stupidity, and greed. As mankind’s boat rocks in these increasingly choppy waters and as the gathering clouds warn of greater turbulence, there is it seems only one voice of wisdom, sanity, hope, and leadership in a leaderless world.
Father Moon’s simple but powerful message of boundless love and unconditional compassion, of service and sacrifice, of family values and spiritual leadership, is like a lighthouse which beckons the world.
Rev. Sun Myung Moon is a truly exceptional being. He has walked the surface of the earth for more than nine decades. By his side has always been his great and wonderful wife, Dr. Mrs. Hak Ja Han Moon. She has given a lifetime of dedication and devotion to her husband, as he has pursued, struggled, suffered, and sacrificed for a great and noble cause—the cause of world peace.
His answer to conflict is the realization that we are one human family created by God. Living for the sake of others is the only road to real happiness. Peace is unachievable unless the religions of the world recognize their responsibility and potential, cooperate with each other, and are given their space in considering issues of concern at the United Nations.
We are meeting today on a very special, a very auspicious occasion. We celebrate a moment of great joy, a great life of great achievements. This is also a moment of thanksgiving and prayer.
Happy Birthday, dear Father Moon!
Happy Birthday, dear Mother Moon!
And many, many happy returns of this day.
For the world needs you more than ever before.
And the best birthday gift we in the UPF family can give them is to rededicate ourselves to spreading their message of love and peace, of sharing and caring. And we will surely reach a critical mass of men and women, young and old, who are willing to be agents of change.
Then, from individual to family, from family to community, from community to nation, and from nation to the world, we will see an irreversible process towards achieving a better world.
Father Moon, you have cared so much for us, given so much to us, sacrificed so much for us, and for so long. We want you to know that those sacrifices will not have been in vain.