The School of Love: Cornerstone for Peace

Presenter and participants pose for a selfie.

“The family is the school where love for humanity is taught and learned. When children who are raised in the warm love of their parents go out into the world, they will care for people in difficulty in the manner they learned in their home. People raised in loving relationships with their own brothers and sisters will go into society and share their caring hearts with their neighbors.” – Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Just as surely as we inherit our parents’ eyes, nose, or hair, we also inherit their characteristics and habits, both positive and negative. As a parent of two young children—ages 2 and 5—I am often faced with my own shortcomings when they mimic what they see in me.  It is quite confronting. In this critical dynamic, children can learn to be kind and giving or harsh and judgmental. Thus, as Mother Teresa said, “If you want to change the world, go home and love your family.”

Though almost all parents do their best with what we learned from our own parents, it is still quite challenging to feel we are setting our children up for their future spiritual, emotional, and mental wellbeing. The good news is there is always a chance to change, reset, and break any cycles of toxic behaviors. We can build our families into that school of love, a school to learn the love of the great saints and sages, Jesus, Mother Teresa, Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Buddha, and many others.

This topic of how we can start that journey of transforming ourselves and our families was explored most recently at the Cornerstone for Peace seminar hosted by WFWP Brooklyn, NY on June 18. There were many lively discussions about the challenges of building a happy family, the elements which make a strong foundation for a healthy marriage, and the formula for resetting spiritually in these important relationships presented in the Marriage Blessing. It was a wonderful experience to communicate heart-to-heart; all could feel hopeful in meeting with other like-minded women.