Building A United World With Our Own Hands

In just four short years, the rapidly growing international Peace Starts With Me movement launched by Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon on July 15, 2017 has touched millions of lives across the globe. From the jam-packed venues of Madison Square Garden, Nassau Coliseum, MGM Grand Hotel, and Prudential Center, to virtual rallies held in 2020 and 2021, people of all backgrounds have joined Dr. Moon’s call for a world of peace beginning with each one of us.

“A world of genuine freedom, equality, peace, unity, and happiness is not far off,” Dr. Moon said in her 2017 inaugural remarks at Madison Square Garden. “When all of you gathered here today become one with True Parents and practice living for the sake of others with true love toward those around you—your tribe, your church and your nation—we can build a united world with our own hands.”

True Parents is an affectionate term for the late Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon and his wife, Dr. Moon, who co-founded Family Federation for World Peace and Unity (FFWPU) in 1954. They have shared that a peaceful world requires a revolution of heart as one global family centered on God. Reaching audiences in the Middle East, Africa, and throughout Asia, Europe, and the Americas, Peace Starts With Me has brought together numerous citizens, politicians and faith leaders advocating for peace and international unity.

“America was supposed to take responsibility as a nation blessed in relation to Heaven’s providence,” Dr. Moon said in 2017. “But it was suffering from so much individualism, family breakdown, and youth issues that one could not bear to look an inch into America’s future.”

However, today we have the opportunity to change our direction. The recent Peace Starts With Me: Peace and Blessing event, and a corresponding Blessing America campaign, enables all people to revive their lives, marriages, families, and ultimately, the world. A range of tools, resources, and education classes are just some of the support materials available, making Peace Starts With Me a very powerful, actionable concept that is both life- and world-changing.

“We’re not waiting for change; we bring change,” Pastor Paula White-Cain reminded the 2017 audience as she took the stage at Madison Square Garden. Rep. Yvette D. Clarke (D-NY) noted that “What affects anyone directly affects us all indirectly,” as she encouraged the audience to rededicate themselves to creating peace in their homes and communities.

“I’m convinced no one pastor can perfect the church,” said Bishop Noel Jones in his 2019 remarks at Prudential Center. “There has to be other voices and denominations have to come together. None of us have had a vision as wide and as grand as Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, with Christ as her head.”

On this fourth anniversary of Peace Starts With Me, let’s internalize this phrase and recommit to creating peace in our daily lives and wherever we go. 

You can learn more about the Peace Starts With Me movement here.

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