AN INCOMPARABLE INNER BEAUTY: HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY TO THE MOTHER OF PEACE
As we take the time this month to express our love and gratitude to the mothers and mother figures in our lives, we at WFWP would like to take a moment to thank the woman who has made such an impact in our lives and those of countless others around the globe. Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon has come to be known as the ‘Mother of Peace’ with the messages of peace that she shares wherever she goes. It is not just her words, but also her actions that convey her deeply caring mother’s heart, and to offer a glimpse into the kind of woman she is, we invite you to read the excerpt below written by her husband Rev. Sun Myung Moon and published in 2010 in his autobiography “As a Peace-Loving Global Citizen”.
My wife has such a tremendous heart of love and care that she even gave her wedding ring to someone in need. When she sees someone in need of clothes, she buys that person clothes. When she comes across someone hungry, she buys the person a meal. There have been many times when we have received presents from others that she would give away to someone else without even opening them.
Once we were touring the Netherlands and had a chance to visit a factory that processed diamonds. Wanting to express my heart of regret toward my wife for all her sacrifices, I bought her a diamond ring. I didn’t have much money, so I couldn’t buy her a large one. I picked out one I liked and presented it to her. Later, she even gave away that ring. When I saw the ring wasn’t on her finger, I asked her, “Where did the ring go?” She answered, “You know by now I can’t keep something like that when someone has a greater need.”
Once I saw her pulling out a large wrapping cloth, and she was working quietly to pack some clothes. “What are you going to do with those clothes?” I asked her. “I have a use for them,” she said. She filled several wrapping cloths with clothes without telling me what she planned to do with them. When she was finished, she told me she was getting ready to send the clothes to our missionaries working in foreign countries. “This one’s for Mongolia, this one’s for Africa, and this one’s for Paraguay,” she said.
She had a slightly self-conscious smile that made her look so sweet when she told me. Still today, she takes it upon herself to look after our overseas missionaries.
My wife established the International Relief and Friendship Foundation in 1979. It has done service projects in numerous countries, such as Zaire, Senegal, and Ivory Coast. The foundation gives food to impoverished children, medicine to those who are sick, and clothing to those in need. In Korea, she created the Aewon charity organization in 1994. Its activities include managing a canteen serving free food to the poor and supporting low-wage earners, the handicapped, children taking care of families in place of parents, and others. It also provides aid to the North Korean people.
My wife has also been active in women’s organizations for some time. The Women’s Federation for World Peace, which she established in 1992, has branches in some eighty countries and is in general consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations as a nongovernmental organization. Throughout history, women have been persecuted, but I predict this will change. The coming world will be one of reconciliation and peace based on women’s maternal character, love, and sociability. The time is coming when the power of women will save the world. Unfortunately today, many women’s organizations apparently believe that standing in opposition to men is the way to demonstrate the power of women. The result is an environment of competition and conflict. The women’s organizations my wife leads, on the other hand, seek to bring about peace on the principle that women should work together, take initiative, and empower one another across traditional lines of race, culture, and religion to create healthy families as the cornerstone of the culture of peace.
The organizations she works with do not call for a liberation of women from men and families. Instead, they call for women to develop and maintain families filled with love. My wife’s dream is to see all women raised as true daughters with filial hearts who can create peace at home, in our communities, in our nations, and in the world. The women’s movement being carried out by my wife serves the goal of true families, which are the root of peace in all areas of life.
