TOWARD A CULTURE OF LOVE AND PEACE

Mrs. Graciella Rompani surrounded by the ladies

BRIEF REMARKS BY MRS. GRACIELLA ROMPANI DE PACHECO

FORMER FIRST LADY OF URUGUAY

It is a great honor for me to have been named by Rev. In Jin Moon to address such a selective audience. This conference was very special; it took place in Costa Rica as a symbol of peace, democracy, and freedom. I want to especially greet the International President of WFWP Prof. Lan Young Moon whom I met previously in my country. I fortunately see her once or twice a year somewhere in the world.

I must congratulate Mrs. Angelika Selle and all the staff for the organization of this event. As you can see, the congress under Rev. In Jin Moon's wings are very different from others. There was a very special energy I felt that I wish you could have felt too. The conference was dynamic and full of joy without compromising its real aim. In my opinion, serious matters must not be sad; you can face them with a smile. I have been to religious services that are absolutely boring while in others you can hear joyful and optimistic songs and prayers that fill your heart with love.

"Women's Role in Leadership in the 21st Century toward a Culture of Family and Peace," was the best title that could have been chosen for this conference. When we look back to the beginning of time, we see that man hunted and women stayed in their houses because of their own nature, their condition as a mother that had to nurse, feed, and take care of the children. Since the Industrial Revolution at the end to 19th Century, the beginnings of great change affected not only women but families and of course, society as a whole. And that has no end. But since then, women have advanced in their goals, rights, and also in their responsibilities.

In my country, universities have a significant majority of women mainly in the most advanced courses. Women, on average, are four times more likely to graduate than men. It proves that the women's advance cannot be stopped.

But we also can't ignore that there are millions of women who still do not have access to the most basic rights such as food and water, however, this is another topic of conversation for another conference. Those women are still fighting for their rights.

I always talk about a special chapter in Rev. Sun Myung Moon's autobiography, and you will see why. He says that when he was a little boy he used to go to the forest as soon as he finished his breakfast. In that forest of streams and meadows he learned more about nature than he did from any university. He would often fall asleep in the forest and his father was forced to go for him. When he heard his father call him he pretended to be asleep with only one purpose: to be carried on his father's back. That feeling he had as he was carried was the feeling of peace and of love. He was safe. And thez were those feelings that he later wanted to transmit to the whole world beginning with his own family. And he learned it "on his father's back."

Here and now we have the privilege to be with his daughter who has incorporated, in her own life, her experiences and thoughts. And she knows how to tell them in a way that only she is able to do. She tells them in her own way, fresh, strong, and convincing, preaching based on her life attitudes and experiences.

That is why we are here as she is here: to keep pushing toward a culture of love, peace, and safety that has the family as its center. We must maintain a foundation of society that leads us to a perfect equilibrium between the people we love and the world around us.

Thank you very much and God bless you all.