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T. Walsh, Address to One Million Rally of Hope
Written by Dr. Thomas G. Walsh, Chairman, UPF International
Sunday, September 27, 2020
Address to One Million Rally of Hope, Seoul, Korea, September 27, 2020
It is a high honor and privilege to have this opportunity to share a few words with you at the outset of this Rally of Hope. With its powerful and inspiring vision, the Rally of Hope is providing much needed insight, broad perspective, and a roadmap for a path forward during a time of crisis. The Universal Peace Federation is proud to be a primary sponsor of this Rally of Hope.
In the era of Covid-19, the entire world is confronted with challenge, disruption, and uncertainty. During the first Rally of Hope, UPF’s Founder, Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, called us all to abandon the one-sided pursuit of materialistic and self-serving interests. Instead, she called us to embrace and put into practice spiritual, moral, and altruistic ideals.
She underscored the principles of interdependence, mutual prosperity and universal values, indicating that by applying these core principles, we will not only prevail during the current crisis, but we will learn to thrive together, charting a course of creative development for the whole human family. This message struck a chord with millions.
With this in mind, on the occasion of its 15th anniversary and in honor of the eighth anniversary of the ascension of Rev. Sun Myung Moon, UPF recently convened its first virtual International Leadership Conference, ILC2020. ILC2020 featured more than 30 high-level sessions over the course of three days, running day and night and moving from time zone to time zone. With 250 expert speakers, ILC2020 was viewed by hundreds of thousands from over 170 countries.
ILC2020 explored at a deeper level the core principles of interdependence, mutual prosperity and universal values, drawing out their applicability to the search for solutions to our world’s critical problems. ILC2020 also highlighted the broad reach and outstanding capacities of UPF’s global network, showcasing its fleet of primary associations, each of which engages leaders in key sectors: current and former heads of state (ISCP); First Ladies and women leaders (IAFLP); parliamentarians (IAPP); religious leaders (IAPD); media professionals (IMAP); academicians (IAAP); and business leaders (IAED).
UPF and the Rally of Hope are increasingly recognized worldwide as bearers of desperately needed inspiration, insight, analysis, and innovation. For this historic achievement we are indebted to UPF’s Founders, Father and Mother Moon.
Over many decades, without any reservation, they invested their blood, sweat and tears, and certainly their treasure as well, pouring out all their passion, creativity and spiritual energy in service to God, the Heavenly Parent, seeking to fulfill the hope of all ages, a unified world of peace. In such a unified world of peace, as Dr. Moon says in the subtitle of her memoir, Mother of Peace, “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” This is our dream. This is our hope. May this Rally of Hope hasten that day, as I truly believe it will.
Thank you very much.
To go back to the report on the Rally of Hope, click here.