Happy Father’s Day!

This Father’s Day, June 19, we celebrate all the fathers and father figures in our lives, including our own True Father! A tradition observed in more than a hundred countries worldwide, Father’s Day is a holiday that is dear to many people — ranked fourth as the largest card-sending occasion, generating some $17 billion spent celebrating the day in 2021. But Father’s Day is also about family, and it reminds us of the parental role that often shapes our lives and serves as the backbone of society.

Below is an excerpt from True Father’s autobiography, As a Peace-Loving Global Citizen (2009), where he shares about the gift of fatherhood and its influence on children, and ultimately, the world.

Excerpt:

I have lived my life with just one thought. I wanted to bring about a world of peace, a world where there are no wars and where all humankind lives in love. Perhaps some may say, “How is it possible that you were thinking about peace even when you were a child?” Is it so astonishing that a child would dream of a peaceful world?

As a child, I thought of the meadows as my home ... I would often fall asleep in the hills after playing there. My father would be forced to come find me. When I heard my father shouting in the distance, “Yong Myung! Yong Myung!” I couldn’t help but smile, even as I slept. My name as a child was Yong Myung. 

The sound of his voice would awaken me, but I would pretend to still be asleep. He would hoist me onto his back and carry me home. That feeling I had as he carried me down the hill—feeling completely secure and able to let my heart be completely at ease—that was peace. That is how I learned about peace, while being carried on my father’s back...

The responsibility of a leader, above all else, is to keep the peace. Yet leaders often seem to do the opposite and lead the world into confrontation and violence ... The truth of the universe is that we must acknowledge each other and help each other. Even the smallest animals know this ... Anyone who deviates from this principle faces certain ruin... 

But we are not without hope. Clearly there is hope. I have lived my life without ever letting go of that hope and always kept alive the dream of peace. What I want is to completely wipe away the walls and fences that divide the world in myriad ways and to create a world of unity... 

To heal a world where there is no hope, and which is lacking in love, we need to go back to the pure hearts that we had as children. To shed our desire to possess ever-increasing amounts of material wealth and restore our beautiful essence as human beings, we need to go back to the principles of peace and the breath of love that we learned as we were being carried on our fathers’ backs.

You can celebrate this Father’s Day with a copy of True Father’s autobiography available here.