Dr. Jun Sook Moon delivers the inaugural address for the launch of Global Peace Women in 2011. Seoul, Korea.
At the close of the Global Peace Convention 2011 in Seoul, Korea, Dr. Hyun Jin Moon launched Global Peace Woman, an initiative to engage women as crucial participants of peacebuilding.
He said, “The dream of peace cannot be achieved without the support of women who constitute half of the world’s population. The original nature and the experience of women strengthen social activities and are essential to realizing the dream of establishing One Family under God.”
Below is the address given at the launch by Dr. Jun Sook Moon.
I would like to share with you just briefly, some of my thought and hopes of what we as women can do to build a more just and peaceful world.
I’m sure that you would agree that women have increasingly important roles to play today in our communities and nations. In fact, many today talk about this as the age of women. I believe that you would also agree that women bring unique qualities, aptitudes and talents to whatever roles we play. It has been said that women hold up one half of heaven, without our support, heaven would crumble, and the dream of peace never be realized.
We live today in a world of rapid and often confusing transformation, yet, there are some things that do not change. No matter how far we might travel, most of us have a special place in our hearts for our hometowns, and even more so for our homes. When I say home, what comes to your mind? Perhaps some thoughts of warmth, comfort and nurturing, all within the embrace of family. Home after all is where the heart is.
And our thoughts and feelings about home are interrelated with family. However grand or humble the external circumstances, what is most important to us is the heart that we feel within our family. Who is the center of the home, the source of nurturing within the family? It is the mother.
My husband, as you know is very passionate in promoting the vision of One Family Under God, a vision that we sorely need to bring our fractured world together. Recently he has been urging me to get involved in the critical role that women must play in making this vision a reality. In fact, women have tremendous practical gifts, and a unique role in helping this vision take root and become a settled way of life.
After all, every man emerged from a womb, and every adventurer strode out of his lover’s arms to make his mark on the world. Women, as mothers, wives, sisters and daughters, have a natural gift to create an environment and experience of home and family. With those gifts they must take a lead in translating the vision of One Family Under God into a living reality, one family at a time.
That is why we are launching Global Peace Women. We believe that we can make an indispensable contribution to realize the dream of One Family Under God, by engaging and empowering women of all backgrounds and stations in life in this great endeavor.
Our first task, I believe, is to encourage and empower women in their unique roles in the family. Mother’s nurture and educate the next generation, and invest the heart that binds the family together. Ideally they instill in their children the seeds of hope and peace. To me, empowering women means providing information, understanding and tools that enables them to make positive advances in their daily lives. I want to connect efforts and share the successes that we achieve locally to our growing global network.
As all women know, and wise men understand, we women are tremendously resourceful. Give us a won and we will make it go a long away.
Last year at the GpF in Nepal I visited one of the community libraries that we had set up. Women were learning to read for the first time in their lives, and that experience was transforming to not only themselves but their entire families and communities. Those who could read wanted to teach their neighbors, especially other women who had not yet learned. Lesson such as this learned in Nepal, for example, could then readily be shared with women in the Philippines or Kenya, seeking new opportunities.
Motivated by the vision of One Family Under God, I believe that Global Peace Women can become a significant contributor in communities and nations around the world.
But experience shows that our work should not just be about engaging women from comfortable backgrounds in good homes, but reaching out to women in the poorest circumstances and giving them the little they need to elevate themselves and their families.
In conclusion, I would like to share with you our vision statement for Global Peace Women, which I believe encapsulates the spirit with which we begin this vital work.
“The patient heart of a mother, the sympathetic heart of a wife, the supporting heart of a sister, the devoted heart of a daughter, bringing humankind together into One Family Under God.”
Our troubled world surly needs our commitment, our effort and most importantly, our love. I hope you can join with me in this noble effort.
May God bless you and your family. Thank you very much.