“MY” BRIDGE OF PEACE
The Bridge of Peace for me is not only the signature event of WFWP, it is a way of healing the universal historical trauma that all people of this world suffer.
Where and how did it originate?
Rev. and Mrs. Moon were especially concerned with the deep historical trauma and its devastating effects on the lives of Korean and Japanese women and men from the 40 years of atrocities the Korean people endured under the annexation of Korea by Japan through the Ulsa Treaty of Protection from 1905 to 1945. At that time Koreans were forced to worship at Shinto shrines and renounce their Christian faith and values.
Koreans who refused were tortured and some were crucified by the sides of roads to encourage others to renounce their faith or die a similar death. Some escaped to the mountains or underground, others suffered a similar fate; others capitulated. All were severely traumatized during these 40 years. The resulting animosity towards the Japanese people was and in some cases still is palpable.
In March 1994, Rev. and Mrs. Moon began sisterhood ceremonies inviting mainly Japanese women to come to Korea and accept each other in sisterhood and brotherhood to confront and begin the healing process from the resulting historical trauma.
The roots of the Bridge of Peace Ceremony that we perform today in WFWP are in that deep healing of historical trauma. Today we celebrate the Bridge of Peace throughout WFWP USA with the deep desire to confront and overcome similar historical trauma that besets the US. Those who came to the American continent sought to exterminate America’s First People to make room for those who were disenfranchised by their own countries. They came to this continent to find relief and a new place to inhabit and carry on their dream; but unfortunately, it was done at the expense of those who were already living there. Those original inhabitants were thought to be subhuman and, therefore, expendable. The resulting deep historical trauma and ancestral pain need a profound movement for re-humanization and healing in substance.
On another side, Africans were ripped from their loving families, put into heavy chains, and brought as slaves to the US from their native countries by those who didn’t want to work, but wanted to become rich at the expense of those they deemed to be inferior to them, 5/8s human they said; those of African ancestry. They were dehumanized and treated as possessions, as less than animals and forced to submit and work. This inhumanity must be confronted and acknowledged, and reparations made.
People were brought from China to build railroads and left to die. People from Ireland were abused and looked down upon by those in power in the US. Muslims are currently being treated as terrorists. Those from Mexico and Central and South America are being exploited as underpaid housemaids and farm workers. Ladies and young girls are being brought from the former Soviet Union and the Philippines (to name only a couple of countries), as sex slaves and casino or club workers to make money from feeding the depravity of people who frequent those places.
Performing the Bridge of Peace Ceremony is an opportunity to address these wrongs and so many others that not mentioned. How can we bring peace where there has been so much inhumanity inflicted by people who call themselves human?
We need to acknowledge our and our ancestors’ participation in these inhuman acts, and bow in repentance for what was done for all people are God’s children. Then substantial steps need to be taken to forge appropriate relationships among people of different races, religions, and cultural and national backgrounds.
At the Bridge of Peace informal ceremony in Washington, DC on March 25, those who forged sisterhood/brotherhood relationships with each other made a resolution to become substantial sisters and brothers by signing a resolution. Because of lack of time, each of the attendees was asked to search the room to find someone of a different background to be paired with: a sister or a brother. Once they found their sibling, each pair had the opportunity to connect on a deep level, to acknowledge their and their ancestors part in inflicting pain on their partner and their ancestors. Then they bowed to each other and offered loving energy to each other in an embrace. The pairs then read together and signed a resolution as follows:
I accept and embrace you as my sister/brother in heart and in substance. Together we will:
Challenge our differences and learn to see them as gifts and blessings instead of barriers.
Meet at least once to break bread and share our stories.
Do something together to heal historical trauma that impacts each other.
Visit your place of worship.
I am following up with them by email to ask them if they would like to give me a testimony of their unique experience with their new sibling and how they put the resolution into practice. When I receive these testimonies, I will pass them along in the Logic of Love News.
