The First Breath of Life

As discussed last month, the spirituality called forth by the Divine Principle makes abortion virtually unheard of within the Unificationist community, just as is birth control (and smoking, and drinking, and robbery, and adultery). And yet this ethic is not established through a legalistic, let us say, heteronymous, regime. In fact, on the strictly legalistic level, abortion has sanction.

Referring to the three stages of life, human-instigated removal from the second stage of life, i.e., suicide, is deemed in spirit world a criminal action resulting in damnation to the lower reaches of hell. The consequences of human-instigated removal from the first stage are not spelled out. Here is where the tale is told.

The Tradition states that "the spirit self is not with the embryo in the mother's womb. The mother's womb grows only the spirit base, not the spirit itself. Abortion destroys that spirit base; therefore, the Unification view is that abortion cuts the relationship this unborn child has with God and God's divine love." This teaching tells us that spirit and flesh do not join until the first breath. Prior to the first breath into the second stage of life, the human person is not eternal.

We recall the biblical passage concerning the creation of Adam: "the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being." (Gen 2:7) Prior to God's breathing spirit into Adam, he was simply a part of the creation, not a "living being." Following this biblical analogy, since we all are "Adam," prior to the breath of life, which " unless compelling arguments are presented otherwise " would be at the time of emergence from the womb, the body is being formed from the "dust of the ground" in the mother's womb, just as God formed Adam. (Reverend Moon has stated, cryptically, that Adam and Eve were born the same way as the rest of us don't ask me anything more about that.)

The spirit is forming as is the body, but in a miscarriage or abortion, the spirit, as I understand it, "dissipates" much as the nascent body is lost. In this case, there is no eternal soul and no human person. In other words, there is no passage to the second stage of life. The created entity is not eternal, hence is not a human person.

We may be wanting explanation about the origin of the spirit. Is it being formed simultaneously as the body is being formed? If so, "where"? At this point we reach the precipice visited by Job and John Calvin: you are asking too much. Wait upon God's good time for such knowledge to be revealed, for which you are now unprepared.

Not Legalistic

Thus there are beliefs and convictions tending in different directions within Unificationism with regard to abortion. While these countervailing understandings within the Unificationist teachings do not contradict each other, they do betray different tendencies, pro- choice and pro-life. It was with high interest that I noted a statement published by a recent group of Blessing participants stating that their Blessing pledge entailed a commitment "not to indulge in adultery, abortion or divorce." We see that, theological doctrine notwithstanding, the spirit of the Blessing stands firmly against the practice of abortion. Similarly, we have no church legislation banning the use of illegal drugs or contraceptives. Again, it is an unspoken ethic, a "self-evident truth."

Now keep in mind that I appreciate an unexpected pregnancy no more than the next man. Abortion is an awfully convenient way to keep one's life in order, from a pragmatic perspective. Sometimes a baby is just not advantageous, financially and health wise. But, as they say, these things should be thought of before conceiving the child, not after. Abortion can never, never be considered as a form of birth control. And here is where the American society stands condemned in front of God. In the words of Peter Kreeft, Professor of Philosophy at Boston College, "abortion means the willingness to murder for the sake of the willingness to copulate. " Why does anyone want an abortion? Abortion is demanded as a form of birth control, backup birth control. And why is birth control demanded? Birth control is the demand to have sex without having babies." (Peter Kreeft, Ecumenical Jihad: Ecumenism and the Culture War [San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1996], p. 16-17. Hence I am blessed with five children. The Tradition specifically repudiates abortion taken out of perceived economic necessity or estrangement of the couple.

And yet, The Tradition calls abortion "appropriate" if conception took place under any circumstance "involving a break in the spiritual order." Two examples are provided: rape and incest. Conception is an absolute act, in which the couple put themselves in the hands of God. It is an absolute act, an eternal act, because it is, or is meant to be, an act only of absolute love, an act of perfect responsibility and freedom. If not undertaken under those conditions, it is a sin, unprincipled, evil, a crime.

Is Abortion Murder?

Consider the reason murder is a crime. Is it because God created us? No, because by that reasoning, to end the life of anything created by God, including plants and animals, or even to tamper with a stone, would be a crime, because these are created by God.

Murder is a crime because it violates the purpose of creation. Of all created beings, man is created in the image of God. This means that we are created to achieve divinity, and have that potential. To abort that potential is a violation of God's purpose of creation; hence a crime. Lower orders of the creation, however, have the purpose of harmonizing for the fulfillment of the unity of all life centering upon man who is the image of God in the physical world. Thus, to harvest the creation for man's purpose is to fulfill its God-given purpose, and that includes the consumption of created entities into our physical bodies, and the use of created entities for our clothing and shelter and transportation.

From the viewpoint of cutting short the fulfillment of the purpose of creation, abortion is murder, a crime, because the fetus has the potential to become a perfected image of God. On the other hand, once the abortion is performed, there is no victim, because there is no eternal soul; the person, fully defined, never existed. Thus the Unificationist position, on the technical level, is ambiguous. But on the spiritual, social and political level, it is clear.

I understand, though I am not well-informed about it, that the fetus passes through all stages of the creation of the universe while in the womb: from single-celled organism, to fish and animal. If this is the case, and it certainly seems typical of God's greatness and the centrality of man in creation that man-in-formation would recapitulate the creation of the cosmos, then of course the fetus feels pain so do plants and may writhe in agony so do insect and animals. Pain racks the sentiments, but does not turn moral arguments.

The Unity of the Family

An ontological argument can be gleaned from Genesis and in Jesus' citation of Genesis in his teaching about marriage. Genesis states that God has determined that man and woman "shall be one flesh." Jesus did two interesting things in connection with this Genesis passage (Mt 19, Mk 10). One, he stated that the reason that man and woman are "no longer two, but one flesh" is that "at the beginning of creation, God 'made them male and female,' (quoting Genesis 1:27).

Here Jesus is revising Genesis, for Genesis stated that the reason they become one flesh is that God created Eve from Adam's flesh, but Jesus says the reason is that God made them from Himself as male and female in His image. That is, the two are one in God, for that reason they again become one as husband and wife. To violate marriage is to violate God's own unity.

The second thing Jesus does is to decree that "they are no longer two." (Mk 10:8b) This I have heard echoed in the view expressed by our elder, Rev. Chung Hwan Kwak, that it has no meaning to discuss the priority of husband versus wife, because there are no longer "two" persons there, essentially, but rather one; the two have become one in the marriage bond.

In essence this was argued through by Christian thinkers in the discuss of Christology, in which they concluded that in Jesus, God and humanity are one, not two, and in the Trinity, God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are one, not three. However, the marriage bond is an even stronger unity than that of the Trinity, because the Trinity is still in some sense three, but the husband and wife are "no longer two." This implies, and Jesus must have been extreme to make a point, that there is no sense in which they are two.

Paul elaborates this theme for us, echoing Rev. Moon's teachings: "The wife's body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband's body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife." (I Cor 7:4, cf. 11:11-12; Eph 5:22-33) Thus even to conceptually separate husband and wife is to "murder to dissect." The couple constitutes a higher ontological being. If abortion is murder, then so is divorce. As Rev. Farley Jones told us, "to divorce is to destroy a small civilization."

This has useful implications for the abortion issue. The child in the womb is the substantialization of the love of God, husband and wife. If the family is an ontological unit, then the status of the fetus as a person is not the issue, as it is not the issue for the husband or wife anymore, for the two are one; two persons have become one greater person. Now the two who have become one are three who have become one. The new ontological person exists from the moment of conception.

Allow me a moment of personal testimony. I received word of my engagement to my wife-to-be over the phone. The moment that I heard that word, I had a change of consciousness. It was palpable, a change from being one person to being "one-half of a marriage," with my wife being the other half. Again, the moment that my wife and I had confirmed by a doctor of her first pregnancy, I had a palpable change of consciousness that we were now three. We were three-in-one, even though that third party was but a mite within my wife's womb.

In Unification terms, the love, life and lineage is contained, embodied, in the child. Love is unique, and the child, the new person, is unique, irreplaceable. It has recreated the couple into a family.

But then, when does the child become an individual, a new discrete "one"? Never; for all intents and purposes, never. God, and Jesus, said that a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife. The leaving and the cleaving are connected. Here's a new sound- byte: don't leave until you cleave.

We begin life as part of our mother's body (visible effect), implanted by our father's seed (invisible cause). We establish maturity as a husband or wife in a marriage. We inherit a lineage and procreate it. Something greater is working through us. It happens in the physical world. Spirits are created only on the base of the creation of physical bodies. Angels cannot have children. Only God and man can have children.

The Puritans, at the root of the American civilization, had some notion of this. No single people were allowed in the Puritan commonwealth. Everyone lived with a family, if not as a biological relation, then as an apprentice, employee or servant. Human existence is radically social, based in the family.

We might ask, where do I stand as "I"? I stand as "I" in front of God and my own conscience. This is the court before which the status of abortion is to be resolved. The courts of man, and categories of his mind and heart, for choice or life, fall short.

The "Latin American Ministers' Conferences" Providence - Christian Ministers Explore the Principle

by Dr. Frank Kaufmann-NYC

Against all odds, and in the face of enormous adversity, Reverend Moon achieved the historically unprecedented mission to educate over 3,600 Latin American, Christian Leaders, in the unthinkably short period from February 22 - April 22, 1996. This providence occurred under the direction of Mr. Dong Moon Joo. Behind this victory lies a tale of miracles and striving at unimagined levels. Also behind this miracle lies the revelation of the ever intensifying spiritual reality with which providential activity is infused at this time.

It is natural to ask when and how this project began. Without wanting to sound too dramatic, it might be legitimate to say that this project began in 29 AD (with the crucifixion of Jesus, and the beginning of awaiting the parousia), or in 1945 with the challenge to prepared Korean Christians to consider the teaching of Reverend Moon. One could also say the project began in 1952, when Reverend Moon found himself alone in the Satanic world with no foundation, or perhaps in 1974 when Reverend Moon delivered his Christianity in Crisis message in Madison Square Garden explicitly identifying Reverend Billy Graham in connection to the John the Baptist mission. Or in 1985 when Reverend Moon called upon an internationally renowned Baptist leader to provide 3,600 North American Christian leaders for seminars such as those just completed in Montevideo.

This unusual list of dates is meant to suggest that these Montevideo conferences represent a possible starting point at the very least for Unification - Christian cooperation (an undeniably important ecumenical development). If Reverend Moon's publicly declared self- understanding is true, then a far more important development for world-wide Christendom has occurred.

In simple terms, the starting point for these conferences can be said to have developed during the December IRFWP/Washington Times conference for Christian Ecumenism in the Americas, which involved Christian ecclesiastical and scholarly leaders from North, Central, and South America. This meeting occurred successfully under the Blessing of God, with over 120 international Christian leaders convening in Montevideo, Uruguay from December 11 - 15, 1996.

During that conference for Christian Unity in the Americas, Reverend Moon held private meetings with a number of top Christian leaders, including Dr. Jerry Falwell, of the Thomas Road Baptist Church, and Reverend Dr. Nilson Amaral Fanini, world president of the World Baptist Federation. (Both men incidentally were delighted to see one another there in Montevideo, an occasion which provided them with the opportunity to catch up on their long time friendship.)

It was during a luncheon meeting with Dr. Fanini that the agreement for the seminars for 3,600 was set. Reverend Moon made it clear that he sought to have an opportunity to share his beliefs and his teachings with mainstream Christian leaders, and both men strongly agreed that this seminars would exhibit a rigorous commitment to the highest standards of ecumenical respect and cooperation. The environment was utterly without conversionary purpose. This pledge and mutual agreement was maintained to the satisfaction of all involved.

Reverend Moon explained that his desire to share his beliefs and teachings grew out of a desire to cooperate with traditional Christianity for the of sake better serving the world. If Christian leaders could learn first hand about Reverend Moon and the Unification Church, there would be none of the obstacles for cooperation which have plagued the many years of persecution and disinformation suffered by Reverend Moon throughout the course of his ministry.

Reverend Moon explained that this providence was to be completed by mid-April, which intensified the momentum of the activity into weeks of sacrifice and sleepless nights.

In order for the project to be completed on time, it was necessary to run a five day conference for approximately 800 ministers every other week for seven weeks. This includes funding (!), managing all educational preparations, safeguarding the mobilization, arranging all travel, meals, and accommodations, and retaining a thorough administration and archival record-keeping procedure from beginning to end. Much of the administrative achievement must be credited to Frank LaGrotteria (UTS '94). It is not exaggeration to say that these conferences not only turned Montevideo on its head, but shook Brazil to its very foundations.

The mobilization began under Brazilian Evangelical leaders, later expanded to include the cooperation of Unification State leaders in Brazil, and eventually spread to eleven other Latin American countries. Conference by conference an exact count of participants had to be kept. Also a complete record of all participant evaluations was kept on file. This was in no way meant to be a passing and careless event. All participants have the opportunity to continue in all future cooperation for uplifting Latin America, and for pioneering Christian Ecumenical activity throughout the region and the world.

In addition to the serious commitment to follow up and future activity, careful attention was paid to every aspect of the conference. Furthermore constant revisions were made throughout the process, always seeking improvement wherever possible.

Not surprisingly, no one was more committed to the conference than Reverend Moon himself. Reverend Moon's dedication to his guests was astounding. He studied the lecturers and met with them personally. He reviewed the daily schedule of each conference, and made revisions as fine as half hour differences. At every conference Reverend Moon delivered the speech A View of the Principle of the Providential History of Salvation, and met with the leaders personally. Reverend Moon would practice his speech tens of times each time before delivering it to the Christian leaders present.

The most overwhelming evidence of Reverend Moon's deep personal attachment to these conferences came at the final conference. By this time Reverend Moon had already secured the shocking victory on April 16, 1996 at the Washington Hilton before 1,000's of North American leaders including over 80 Congressmen and Senators. Also millions across the nation and world could enjoy four hours of live C-Span coverage of that event. With this victory, the crucial providential demands for April deadlines had been met. So Reverend Moon asked his Uruguayan representative, Reverend Yu, to deliver his speech at the 5th and final conference. This would leave Reverend Moon free to tend to the many obligations that arose in North America following the Washington speech.

Despite these clear plans to remain in North America Reverend Moon found himself strangely drawn to the final Ministers' conference. To the amazement of everyone, from the youngest staff member to the highest VIP participant, Reverend Moon's passionate commitment to his Christian guests was overwhelming. At 5:00 pm in the afternoon he left his home in New York for Montevideo. He flew through the night rehearsing his speech five times en route. He arrived in Montevideo at 2:00 pm the following day, and was driven straight to the Victoria Plaza where he had but a moment to change his clothes and meet with the VIP's from the head table. By 3:00 pm the Plenary session had begun, and by 4:30 it was finished. Following his speech Reverend Moon warmly greeted each VIP and gave a big farewell wave to the 700 guests who filled the room. Reverend exited from the stage, but rather than returning to his hotel room, he walked straight out of the front door, entered his car and flew directly home! Reverend Moon traveled 38 hours so that he could be with and teach his guests for just one hour!

How could anyone resist such uncommon degree of self giving? At the final session of this last conference I asked the participants how many would like Reverend Moon to visit them in their homes, and all cheered wildly. How different was their response from those of just a few weeks earlier many of whom came with suspicion and resistance. Week to week, the bond of friendship between Unificationists and the mainstream Christian leaders grew deeper and deeper. At the end we parted in tears.

In fact everything evolved progressively from beginning to end. The lectures were given by three Brazilian leaders, Cesar Zaduski, Mauricio Baldini, and Simao Ferabolli. At the first conference they came with the best collection of old slides they could scare up from around their headquarters. By the time of the fifth conference, however, they were teaching the Divine Principle from powerful, state of the art computer generated text and images. This final presentation made the Principle vivid and captivating to a gathering of 800 people simultaneously.

The response of the participants evolved as well, as I have indicated above. The earliest groups had suspicion, and sometimes even hostility. Furthermore, there were so-called Christian leaders in Brazil who deliberately sought to sabotage the conferences by sending agents to disrupt the conference and assail the lecturers and to persecute the other sincere participants. Indeed there was strong attack throughout. Sometimes through purely spiritual challenge and obstacles, and other times through badly motivated people.

By the time we had finished conference four, a total of 2997 Christian Leaders had participated, and 828 new leaders had signed up for the final conference. A great tribute must be paid to Dr. Francisco Squizatto, and Reverend Hideo Oyamada, for the success of this result. Furthermore we must praise a small handful of Christian internal leaders who worked closely with us from beginning to end, despite have borne severe persecution and attack at home. History will record the courage of these few leaders. As we anticipated the 100's of leaders for the 5th and final conference, we were pleased that Reverend Moon could fulfill his goal together with those to took the torch from Pastor Fanini.

Suddenly, however, we received a call from Brazil that the Brazilian government had canceled our charter flights, which meant that over 700 participants could not come. It was the weekend and the government would not be open again until after the official conference starting time. From the moment of this call and for nearly a full day beyond, all was literally lost.

With unspeakable desperation and despair, we sought any way in heaven or earth to save the conference. Without going into details, suffice it to say I visited Hell. From there a ray of light shone, and by Sunday morning miracles had occurred. Much of the conference was salvaged, but the effect of the changes and cancellations cause the loss of over a hundred Ministers. Eventually 641 participants arrived. As we looked over the past 8 sleepless and desperate weeks we saw a battlefield of glory. 3638 Christian leaders came, studied, and committed themselves joined the providence to serve their nations and the world, for the sake of building a new world and seeking God's Kingdom.

Tampa WFWP Hosts First Women's Interracial Friendship Conference

By Donna Fusco Howell-Tampa, FL

On April 13 the Tampa, Florida chapter of the WFWP sponsored the first Women's Interracial Friendship Conference in the nation. For us it was an idea whose time had come, and we felt strongly that it was the right thing to do and the right time to do it. It wasn't until we were two weeks into the planning stage that we learned from Nora Spurgin that we would be the first city to host a Sisterhood Conference between black women and white women. Somehow, learning the historical significance of our event made us even more determined to make it successful.

Although we were patterning our conference after the Japanese/American Sisterhood Conferences, there were several changes we knew we would have to make in order for this event to truly reflect healing between the races. The first adaptation we made was to have two guest speakers, one black and one white.

As our white speaker we asked Rev. Tanya Beck, one of the first women in the world ordained as an Episcopal minister. She's a local priest with a very outgoing, bright spirit, who had given the invocation at a previous WFWP event last year. She likes our WFWP members and is not concerned about the connection with Rev. Moon. We knew she would be a great speaker, and our excitement about the conference escalated when she said she would be happy to speak for us, gratis. However, one week later she called to say that her bishop was sending her out of town on the day of the conference and she wouldn't be able to participate. My heart sunk, and we scrambled to find a new speaker. It was then that we realized that Murphy's Law might take over this conference and our only defense was prayer. We started a prayer condition for both the internal and external success of the conference, with a special emphasis on trying to achieve the quality of heart we had each felt at the Japanese/American conferences. Miraculously, Rev. Beck called me back a few days later saying that her bishop had postponed her trip for two weeks, so she would once again be available as a speaker for our conference.

As our black speaker, we contacted Dr. Babs Phillips, a black minister who used to work with Martin Luther King, Jr. and has done considerable work with the WFWP in Atlanta. She was thrilled at the thought of a black/white conference and agreed to speak without a fee, provided we paid her expenses to come to Tampa. We readily agreed to that arrangement.

It was very important for us to get speakers who both knew something about what we were trying to communicate with the Sisterhood ceremony and who would also speak out of their enthusiasm for the project, since the money for this conference was coming out of our own pockets and therefore quite limited.

We were grateful that both keynote speakers conveyed the essence of the WFWP message in their addresses at the conference. We even had them participate in the conference as the first pair to cross the bridge and as the representative pair leading the Sisterhood pledge. This helped both the speakers and the participants feel more connected to each other and to the spirit of the Sisterhood ceremony.

Another adaptation we made was to shorten the whole program to four hours and have only one meal. We decided the best way to present the program was to start in the morning, conclude the regular program by lunch and serve a banquet lunch that would last for an hour and a half to give the participants time to get to know each other. We scheduled the conference for a Saturday morning beginning at 10:00 and concluding at 2:00 p.m. This schedule worked very well and we were able to keep to it even though we had all participants crossing the bridge. By having lunch instead of dinner we were also able to lower the cost but not the quality of the meal.

By sheer luck and perseverance, I was able to find a hotel that was very nice but reasonably priced, owing to the fact that the hotel had recently switched management and was eager for new business.

Because of the relatively low cost of the meeting room and meals (about $10 per person), we decided to charge only $15 per participant. We thought, naively, that we would break even at that price. As it turned out, the conference really cost about $25 per person and if it were not for the donations of the members, we would have been in a financial hole if we relied solely on registrations to pay for the event. However, the plus side of having it cost more than we were charging was that many participants recognized this immediately, and were impressed that we were so committed to the project, we were willing to lose money to make it work.

What we did not fully realize going into this project was all of the little things that had to be done so that it would be both beautiful and tasteful. The first hurdle to get over was designing an invitation which would adequately explain the concept of the Sisterhood Conference. Fortunately for us we didn't have to reinvent the wheel. Only a few days after I told Nora Spurgin about the project, I got a call from the Boston WFWP telling me that Nora had conveyed to them our plans, and that they, too, were planning a similar conference for the week after ours. They had already designed an invitational pamphlet and chosen a name for their conference - Beyond the Dream. We thought the name was terrific and with Boston's permission used the same name and duplicated most of the material that was in their pamphlet. This saved us a lot of time and energy, so we were able to begin sending invitations a good six weeks prior to the conference.

My computer was not idle for a moment during the preparation for this event. There were cover letters and press releases to write, public service announcements to put on the radio and TV, my MC remarks to coordinate, a WFWP informational pamphlet to design, and all of the program flyers, brochures and name tags to create. Fortunately my husband runs his engineering business out of our house, so I had a fully-equipped home office at my disposal, saving us a lot of time and money. While I was busy taking care of much of the external conference coordination, our sisters, Robin Debacker, Jan Breslin and Evelyne Drake were busy on the phone contacting and recontacting people who had been sent invitations. We were especially lucky that Robin loved the phone and kept thinking of new people to contact and new ways to contact them. While phoning she even found two singers to entertain at the conference. This phoning effort was very helpful in getting the pre-registrations to come in and reminding people of the event.

Altogether we invited about 3,000 people in hopes of getting 100. We thought those were good odds, but in the end we accomplished only 2/3 of our goal, bringing 64 participants. We were amazed and grateful, however, that we had an even number of blacks and whites (except for one black woman who came very late who was happy to get a Japanese sister, and another who showed up just before lunch who shared that time with another pair and had a great time.)

The Monday before the event, we only had 21 pre-registrations and I was beginning to panic. That day, however, something significant happened. The Tampa Tribune, which is the largest daily paper in the area, printed an article about the conference on the front page of their "Tampa Bay Life" section. Since the paper printed both Robin's and my phone number, we resolved that one of us would always be by the phone to take the calls which were coming in regularly as a result of the article. That article generated a lot of interest and I estimate at least 30 participants came as a result of it. The article also prompted several radio stations to announce the event, and one television network station to inquire about the conference. We never did learn the full extent of the media coverage, since news organizations don't tell you when they print a press release or make an announcement. We do know that besides the Tribune article, both minority newspapers in the area printed the press release, some smaller locals printed announcements, one radio station broadcast an interview with Robin, and several more made public service announcements.

On the day of the event, we were well-prepared, having eaten, drunk and slept this conference for six weeks. We added as many special touches to the conference as we could; having young blessed children act as usherettes, providing every participant with a rose to exchange with her sister, putting a flowered arch on the bridge for the pairs to walk through, placing roses on each lunch table and corsages and flower arrangements everywhere. We even had a pottery display of Robin's hand-made ceramics which were on sale as a WFWP fund-raiser. And Nora had given me the idea to provide a photographer with a Polaroid camera to take pictures of the pairs. (Fifty people took advantage of the Polaroid snapshots even though we charged for the snapshots, and Robin sold several of her pottery pieces.)

These little touches gave everyone the feeling that they were being treated as special guests at a special event. To further set the tone, we showed the film "Bridges of Peace" (about the Japanese/American conferences) right after the orientation. We felt strongly that the film would open people's hearts and prepare the way for everything that was to follow. We were right. After the film several people were wiping their eyes. By the time we started the Sisterhood Ceremony, the women were ready for it. One woman remarked that we should have provided Kleenex boxes around the room for all the tears that were flowing.

At first we only had the first two rows participate in the bridge crossing. We then said the pledge and had the sisters exchange pictures and information sheets. While this was going on, several women approached me and requested that everyone be allowed to cross the bridge. Since we were ahead of schedule and were a small enough group, I immediately responded and announced that we would have a second bridge crossing. Those who had not crossed previously, jumped out of their seats and began lining themselves up on the appropriate sides of the bridge, without any further direction from us. This second crossing was even more moving than the first, since each woman had been anxiously awaiting her turn.

After the second crossing, our keynote speakers addressed the group. Both moved the hearts of the audience, and as I looked around the room, I saw many people again wiping their eyes. What struck me, too, was that every speaker that day mentioned God several times, and people united with that spirit. Dr. Phillips had even mentioned that God had pre-ordained this day and that this was a historical event that we should never forget. Many participants remarked that they felt the historicity of that day.

Over lunch the atmosphere was further heightened when our two singers, one black and one white, gave their rendition of "Love Can Build A Bridge." As they were finishing the song our keynote speakers pulled everyone at our table to their feet and soon the entire room was linked arm in arm singing that love can build a bridge. It was a spontaneous action which left everyone feeling connected to each other.

The one question that almost everyone posed to me during lunch was, "Where do you go from here. What's next." I realized that we would have to do this again. Our goal now is to do two more conferences before the end of the year. Now that we have a group of people who have experienced the Sisterhood ceremony, we can turn to them to help us plan the next two. Two of the attendees are administrators at the University of South Florida and offered the University as a staging ground for another conference. Both pledged that they could bring hundreds of participants from the University. One woman said that this conference was so significant we should have filled the largest ballroom in Hillsborough County, and if we did it again, by God she would help us fill it. With that kind of enthusiasm, we are sure that this is only the beginning.

Donna Howell is the Tampa Chairperson for the WFWP, and a seminarian from the Class of 1983. She has lived for eight years in Holiday, Florida with her husband Lloyd, and their three children. The Howells are expecting their fourth child in May, and are grateful that Donna did not go into early labor during the conference.

Service Project in Kingston

by Gareth Davies-Barrytown, NY

An area which had long lost its original identity as a picnic grove began to appear again on Saturday, April 21 as 15 UTS students participated in a three day clean-up project at Forsyth Park, the oldest of Kingston's recreational areas. Other participants came from the Junior League, the city's Parks and Recreation Department, the Ulster County Alternative Sentencing Program and the Kingston branch of the NAACP.

The UTS participants were working under the auspices of the International Relief and Friendship Foundation and the Family Forum whose director, Dr. Shawn Byrne coordinated the UTS effort along with Jesus Navarro who is featured in this month's student profiles. By cutting away branches, pulling out roots and digging up trunks, the participants revealed an area of rugged beauty amid the park's trees. City Parks Commissioner Ron Woods said the clean-up was part of an ongoing effort by the city to return the parks to their former splendor. "The picnic grove was quite the place to be years ago," he said. "People would get to the park and stake out their table. It was very popular." In addition to improving the appearance of the area, Mr. Woods said that the trees and brush were also removed so that parents could more easily keep an eye on their children.

Dr. Byrne said that future plans call for the planting of flowers on the newly cleared slopes which could provide a perfect venue for the celebration of the nationally recognized Parents Day in late July.

On the day after the conclusion of this project, President Clinton and Vice President Gore celebrated Earth Day by helping to clear overgrown brush from a park in Washington D.C.

On-line Interview: The UC on the Web

by Damian Anderson-Montgomery Village, MD

A reader of the Unification Home Page on the World Wide Web, a student in Alabama, sent me some questions and my answers ended up being a discussion on the history of the Unification Home Page and its use in evangelism on the Internet.

Dear Mr. Damian: My name is Jenise Jacques and I am a senior at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama. I am currently working on my senior seminar project about religious groups on the Internet. I was looking through the Internet and found your Home Page. I am using the Unification Church as one of my examples and would greatly appreciate any information I could get from you on the following points. I am not having much luck finding the kind of information I am looking for and the Internet is my sole source of information.

I hope that this is not too much to ask. Quite, frankly I am little bit overwhelmed by this project, but I am doing my best at trying to keep my sanity. Where are you located by the way?

I live in Montgomery Village, Maryland, and currently work in Washington DC, close by. As a software development consultant in the computer industry, my place of work frequently changes.

Here are some of the things that I am trying to find in order to complete my seminar:

1. How many people access this page (domestic and worldwide) and your Home Page?

I do not have recent statistics, but the most recent show about 780 items downloaded per day, on average.

You can look at recent statistics at: http://www.cais.com/unification/stats.html

My server currently is not providing me with statistical information, so I don't know the figures for the last two months.

2. Has the Internet been a successful tool in advertising and recruitment? When people e-mail you or contact you for information, how do you respond or do you respond?

I believe that it has been very successful in making people aware of the church, and has given a worldwide audience the ability to research the church for themselves, unassisted.

Depending on their level of interest, I usually ask them whether they would like to be on my mailing lists, which are listed in my signature. If they want to visit a church, I attempt to put them in touch with someone near them. I have had information requests from every continent. People on my mailing lists read Unification Church literature on a daily basis as a result of this Internet ministry. Many more have said that they read my posts on the Usenet newsgroups daily, and that they enjoy them. I usually answer any legitimate question from the Internet. In the beginning, there were a lot of people sending me abusive mail, but that has largely stopped. I had more staying power than my detractors.

Questions from my audience give me an idea of what people are interested in, so that helps me. The Internet allows me to be something like a talk show host, with a 24 hour a day audience, in every time zone. And the cost for being on the air is truly minimal, compared to any other form of mass communication.

As the lightning strikes from the East to the West, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. The Internet is perfectly suited to spread God's word in these chaotic tribulation times.

3. Is there a way to track people once they have contacted you or tapped into the Internet?

You can know the network address of the server they are coming in from, and with the right software, I could probably capture even e- mail addresses. However, I prefer that people contact me on their own. I have quite enough to do as it is. One beautiful thing about the Web is that people can study about something anonymously, which can be an asset.

4. When did the Unification Church decide to go on the Internet?

This is my personal ministry, not an official project of the Unification Church. However, when it became known within the church, church elders were pleased and encouraged by it. They did not know about the technology or understand it until I set up the Unification Home Page. I am an expert in this field. This was a ministry uniquely suited to my talents and situation. From those to whom much is given, much is expected. I began the home page on March 1, 1995, after a couple of months of thinking and praying about it. I have been evangelizing on the Internet in other ways since 1993, before anyone else I knew of had any knowledge or interest in it.

Do you think that the Internet and this widespread coverage of the Unification Church has had a great influence on people and have your numbers risen significantly because of it?

I only have direct knowledge of about the 110 people on my mailing list who read my mailings daily. My Usenet posts may well have a very much larger audience, but I have no way to track that. Then, the Home Page is getting quite a lot of traffic too. In addition, several people have been taking the feed of my daily articles and putting them on bulletin boards in various parts of the world. I know of at least two of those. Others say that they print out this material daily and read it with their friends. A representative of a group of religious education teachers in Germany asked me for every file on my web server so that they could put it on their BBS. I sent them much of what I had in English and German. Some of it was unfinished, so I did not send it.

Also, I know of people in various places who have contacted the church as a result of this ministry. I know of only one person in Idaho who has actually joined the church. Many more have begun studying its teachings. My philosophy is to sow seeds wherever they fall, and then from the fertile soil, fruit will grow. I certainly have the capability to reach millions of people through this medium, if people care to read what I write. A rising tide raises all boats. What the world needs most at this time is a clear sense of God's will for our age, and the power to fulfill it. The Unification Church teachings are strongly altruistic, transcending the denominationalism of past traditions, attempting to bring diverse groups into unity and harmony with God at the center through elevating the spiritual standard of everyone, and through intermarriage between racial, religious and ethnic groups. We need to establish a worldwide family ideal. That is the Kingdom of God.

It is difficult to assess the impact of what I am posting on the Net, but it must be a positive impact, in my view. Our numbers have not increased significantly to date, to my knowledge, as a direct result of it. However, I see my role as providing mass education to the public with regard to authentic expression of religion and the desire to serve God. Much of the discourse which passes for religion on the

Internet is merely bickering over inconsequential things under the guise of religion. I maintain respect for my audience and my questioners, no matter how abusive they become, and that does happen.

5. Do you follow-up on people that request info. and by what means do you go about doing this?

I follow up with e-mail, or a response on Usenet if that is how they contacted me, or put them in touch with someone else. My audience is worldwide, so I cannot physically attend to everyone. I was interviewed over the phone last year by a newspaper reporter in Montreal for my postings of Rev. Moon's teachings in French on the French speaking newsgroups.

6. How many people have accessed you page and other Unification Church's pages since its inception?

Since I started the Unification Home Page on March 1, 1995, my estimate is that 500 items per day on average have been downloaded. So, in one year, perhaps 180,000 items have been downloaded. I have no way of translating that into a number of people. Maybe in the ballpark of 30,000 people. For some reason, I have an unusually large amount of traffic from people in large corporations and universities in Japan, though I only have a few items in Japanese. If you look at the access statistics on my web page, you will see that my audience is from almost every country on the globe.

7. Do you keep records on people who tap into the Unification Church pages and your personal one? If so, what kind of records do you keep?

I kept e-mail from people who contacted me, but then I wiped out my hard disk by accident and lost much of it. I keep a running FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section on my web page which consists of my answers to many people's questions and comments.

8. Besides the e-mail address, how can people gather more information and further explore the Unification Church?

They can go to the Unification Home Page on the World Wide Web at:

http://www.cais.com/unification

They can contact a church in the USA through one of the churches listed in:

http://www.cais.com/unification/misc/uc"directory.html

In other countries, I have contacts all over the world and can put people in touch with local churches upon request. Soon, there are to be Web pages for churches representing every major language group in Europe. I currently have web pages in 9 languages.

To sign up for my mailing lists:

Send "subscribe unification-texts your name" to listserv@garcia.com Send "subscribe world-scripture your name" to listserv@garcia.com

I send out one or two items of Rev. Moon's teachings on the unification-texts mailing list daily. Then I send out one article from the World Scripture daily on the world-scripture mailing list. These are both send-only lists. Both of these lists are cross posted to the Usenet newsgroup alt.religion.unification and some other newsgroups. I frequently respond to e-mail and if people have good questions, as you do, I post my response publicly, with the name removed, like Dear Abby. If the question was on a public forum, I make the response public too.

9. Is there any other existing forum that the Unification Church advertises on that reaches as many people as the Internet?

Not that I know of. We have newspapers which have global reach, but they are secular newspapers. Our network of churches worldwide reaches virtually every country on the globe, but the Internet can reach places that are restricted to human travel due to totalitarian governments, or whatever reason. Also, these web pages are the work of about a dozen people at most. It is a very efficient use of manpower. Rev. and Mrs. Moon have conducted several worldwide speaking tours in the recent years reaching a worldwide audience and the highest levels of society. In a recent tour of South America, Rev. Moon met with 8 heads of state on his tour. We also have many international organizations which reach significant leaders, who then in turn can influence their countries.

10. Are there any restrictions placed on what you can and cannot put on the Home Pages. If so, what are some of them?

There are some restrictions regarding sensitive diplomatic negotiations that we are undertaking in various trouble spots in the world, such as North Korea, but those are self-imposed.

11. How do you personally feel about the Internet and its effectiveness in portraying the Unification Church as well as the number of people who joined as a result of it?

I think that my ministry on the Internet has brought many people to know about the Unification Church who previously knew nothing or very little about it. That is especially gratifying to me and I am proud of it. Even my detractors in many cases have come to respect me because of the way I responded to their hostile questions and accusations. More than that, before, most publicly available information about the Unification Church cast us in a very negative light, as some kind of cult or fringe group. Now, if you do an Internet search for "Unification Church" or "Sun Myung Moon", you will get a great deal of information originating from the Unification Church itself rather than its detractors.

People need to know that the Unification Church is a world wide movement of intelligent men and women and their children who are dedicated to an unusual degree to the creation of God's Kingdom on the Earth, and to the elimination of ignorance, disease, hunger, poverty, and exploitation worldwide, and to the liberation of God from worrying about saving His children, to enjoying His life with us.

The day is surely coming when we can all say that God has wiped the tears from their eyes and the dwelling of God is now with men and women. It will take place with God's power, but with our own hands!

In case you did not know, Unificationists believe that Rev. Moon and his wife fulfill the biblical prophecy of the second coming of Christ. The true role of Christ is as the True Parents of all mankind, as the male and female representatives of God on Earth. Now is the time for the vanquishing of evil on the Earth and the establishment of God's reign on Earth, forever. Through God's representatives, the True Parents, all mankind will be unified as one family, with God as the head and heart. We can be adopted into their family through the Blessing in marriage. Rev. and Mrs. Moon will officiate over the wedding of 3.6 million couples in Washington DC and broadcast worldwide by satellite in November 1997.

I am sorry about the many questions and would be grateful for any information you could give me because I am not having much luck in retrieving it in other places. I thank you for your time and look forward to hearing from you.

Hey, I LOVE to talk, in case you hadn't guessed.

Sincerely, Jenise L. Jacques

Sincerely, Damian Anderson +1-301-921-0082 Home damian@cais.com DamianAndr@aol.com Unification Home Page http://www.cais.com/unification - Web pages in English, French, Spanish, Korean, Japanese, ... and more, 13 languages and counting. See daily articles on alt.religion.unification, or to receive by e- mail, Send "subscribe unification-texts your name" to listserv@garcia.com Send "subscribe world-scripture your name" to listserv@garcia.com

PS. Note that since this article was written, there was another confirmed entrant to the Unification family as a result of this Unificationist Internet ministry, a professor in Prague, Czechoslovakia, and two more former members, through this ministry, came back to the church, one in Hawaii, the other in Australia.

Also, since this article was written, I was hired at the Systems and Advanced Technology Group at America Online. I am working on applications of artificial intelligence, telecommuting from my home in Maryland.

If you go to my web page, you will see that it contains information in 13 languages, and it has received the Magellan 4 Star Award for excellence. The next addition may be Hebrew. I also want to write web pages in Russian, Arabic, so that through the Internet, we can reach all the corners of the world, where we can teach 5 billion people using this mass medium that God has raised up for our use to proclaim the message of True Parents.

You may also be interested in the book "God on the Internet" by Mark A. Kellner, IDG Books Worldwide, Foster City, CA, 1996. It contains a two page section on the Unification Home Page.

North Korea Accepts Humanitarian Relief From Rev. Moon

Fact Sheet on the Summit Council's Humanitarian Relief Fund for North Korea

Information for this report was provided by the Summit Council for World Peace in Washington DC. Since this report was written, the U.S. government donated a further $2 million in famine relief aid money for North Korea.

* According to authoritative United Nations agencies, severe food shortages and possible starvation will affect millions of people in North Korea (DPRK) in coming weeks and months unless substantial food aid is soon provided. Severe summer floods, causing extensive agricultural and infrastructural damage, and now bitter winter temperatures, have greatly aggravated an already deteriorating food supply situation, creating conditions bordering on famine. In January, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that large numbers of North Korean children will die of malnutrition if more food aid does not soon materialize. A December joint Food and Agriculture Organization / World Food Program crop assessment report indicates that 2.1 million children and 500,000 pregnant and nursing women are most at risk.

* Thus far, donor response to appeals by international humanitarian relief agencies has been very limited. The World Food Program issued an unprecedented worldwide appeal for help to victims in the DPRK but thus far has received donations to only provide little more than 5,000 tons of food -- enough to feed just 360,000 people for a month, yet, most of North Korea's 23 million population is affected. The WFP estimates that North Korea needs 1.2 million tons of grain to cover its shortfall and adequately feed its population.

* The World Food Program and International Federation of the Red Cross have appealed for immediate aid from both governments and the private sector. In response, The New York Times and The Washington Post have urged the United States to do more to provide humanitarian assistance to the North. The U.S. donated $225,000 through UNICEF for North Korean famine relief -- however, that is the maximum it can give under current law. Therefore, the U.S. is encouraging international relief organizations to raise funds for humanitarian assistance to the DPRK. As a result, the Summit Council for World Peace was granted a Treasury Department license to seek funds to be transferred to the World Food Program for relief to North Korea.

* The United States has more than just a humanitarian interest in assisting flood victims in the DPRK. Famine can easily lead to serious instability -- both internal and regional -- where war on the volatile Korean peninsula can break out without warning. Any hostilities unleashed in Korea will inevitably draw in Korea's neighbors, Japan, China and Russia. The U.S. maintains long-standing security commitments with both South Korea and Japan. Moreover, the U.S. signed a vital political agreement with the DPRK in October 1994 for the North to give up its nuclear program in exchange for proliferation- resistant reactors. It is in the American interest to maintain peace and stability in Northeast Asia by encouraging food relief for North Korea.

* The Summit Council for World Peace is an association of former heads of state and government from around the world promoting international peace, reconciliation and humanitarian assistance. It has been very active in fostering and facilitating inter-Korean dialogue and reconciliation for the past six years. Founded by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the Summit Council believes it is ideally suited to appeal for humanitarian relief in the DPRK. It makes no profit in soliciting donations other than to cover modest administrative costs.

* The World Food Program has opened an office in Pyongyang, North Korea's capital, and stationed international personnel in the country to monitor the entire process from the arrival of food at the port to final distribution to the hungry in the countryside. All beneficiaries have been farmers whose homes and food stocks were washed away by the summer floods. While the DPRK Ministry of Food Administration handles the distribution of food aid, the WFP is the only organization in the country permitted and with the capacity to monitor the distribution of food aid to ensure that it reaches those most in need. The WFP is satisfied that no food aid had been diverted by the DPRK to other than the intended beneficiaries.

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To add to this, The Summit Council for World Peace was approached by the government of North Korea (DPRK) because they did not want to accept the aid through the South Koreans or the Japanese. The SCWP has a track record of dealing with the North Korean government since Rev. Moon went to visit the late President Kim Il Sung in 1991. Since then, Rev. Sun Myung Moon, who was born in North Korea, has agreed to assist the North in development of their resources. Rev. Moon is the only survivor of the North Korean concentration camps who has gone on to become an international figure, yet his attitude is not one of revenge, in contrast to his South Korean counterparts, but one of seeking resolution and the peaceful reunification of his homeland. This is the manifestation of his religious teachings in practice. He is the founder of numerous organizations dedicated to creating dialogue between world leaders in various fields, which is an expression of his vision for world peace based on Godly men and women creating true families in which God can take delight.

The SCWP is the only private organization at present permitted to administer aid in North Korea. This was worked out with the United Nations, the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Treasury Department and the U.S. Department of Defense and the White House. The reason for the sensitivity of this matter is that helping North Korean comes under the laws governing aiding the enemy, since there was no peace accord signed as a result of the end of the Korean War in 1953, but only a truce. The problem in North Korea goes way beyond these floods. There is a systemic problem which is now taking its toll in near starvation of large segments of their population.

IRFF Report from Ukraine

Thomas Phillips-Kiev, Ukraine

On April 23, 1996, Massimo Trombin, Cosimo Rizzi and Juan Manuel Mbile-Biba, representing International Relief and Friendship Foundation (IRFF) of Italy and the Global Exchange, came to Kiev, Ukraine, bringing a donation of medical supplies and clothing to "Oberik", a humanitarian center serving patients in Kiev using homeopathic and natural herbal medicines. Of course, it would have been more cost-effective if they had simply put everything on a plane to Kiev. However, beside giving material support, the spirit of IRFF is in sharing friendship and compassion across cultures through personal contact with those in need.

On the first day in Kiev after their 3-day journey they went sightseeing and felt that it was an important condition to go to a Catholic church. As they came into the church, they saw a small exhibition for "Children With the Mark of Chernobyl." They were immediately struck by the suffering of the mothers who were the organizers of the exhibit and on the spot chose 22 children whom they will connect with sponsors in Italy. This is one example of the spirit that our brothers from Italy shared with us in the Ukraine.

They stayed for five days, helping the processing of the aid through customs and delivering the aid directly to the humanitarian center. During this time, we also held two seminars on IRFF. The seminars presented the philosophy of IRFF, which specializes in micro-projects that directly address people in suffering, bringing material and spiritual support.

As we move toward the third millennium, IRFF is taking on more importance as True Parents' efforts move toward ending world hunger and alleviating the suffering of humankind. True Parents have often spoken to us of their painful hearts as they look at the world and see injustice and suffering among God's children.

IRFF has now established a branch in the Ukraine. Those interested in supporting humanitarian projects can touch the lives of those suffering for a little as twenty or thirty dollars a month. For example, your donations could be used to sponsor a child affected by the Chernobly disaster. You would receive a picture of the child and be able to correspond through letters. Those interested in contributing to projects in the Ukraine or other countries of the CIS can contact me c/o IRFF, Dr. Kathy Winings, 4 West 43rd Street, New York, N.Y., 10036 or on the internet: tp@glas.apc.org.

Thomas Phillips is the executive director for IRFF Ukraine / Russia

Exercise, Exercise, Exercise

Over the last ten years or so, I have noticed a rather troubling development in the physique of quite a few Unificationists. We used to be a movement of slim, trim, almost athletic, people. Now I see many familiar faces residing on top of bodies with increasingly bulging waistlines. Part of the reason surely lies in the unhealthy eating habits of many Unificationists and the accumulation of waste products in their bodies. It is for that reason that over the last 8 months I have shared with you my Internal Cleansing and Food Combining Program. It has given a new lease on life, abundantly lived, to so many people around the country and overseas as well.

This month, however, I want to focus on another aspect that many Unificationists are ignoring: EXERCISE!

In a recent article I spoke about the lymph system and how it is responsible for the nourishment of internal organs and the removal of waste products from the body. I stressed, that the lymph system lacks one important aspect of the circulatory system"a pump. Whereas blood is pumped through our arteries and veins by the heart, the lymph fluid moves only by means of massage and especially exercise.

As a nation we are crazy about sports"as long as it does not involve moving our bodies beyond changing TV channels. The cost to us as a nation? Billions and billions of dollars are lost due to ailments, beyond mere weight gain, that could be easily avoided by regular exercise. Studies have shown that a mere 20 minutes of extra activity per day can reduce an individual's risk of heart disease by 50%! Studies, however, also show that 60 percent of Americans are sedentary and that we are a nation of excuse-makers. We are ""too tired, too busy, and too lazy," says a report by the President's Council on Physical Fitness. One of our favorite excuses is to say that aging simply brings with it unavoidable health problems. I pointed out before that this is simply not so. Rev. Moon is going on 80 years, but who can keep up with him? Having a strong spirit is not the only reason why he can be so active.

A study in Colorado showed that active women in their 60's had the same total heart output (heart beat per minutes, amount of blood pumped, and total blood volume) as active women in their 20's! Sedentary women in their 60's, however, were a sorry lot in comparison. Women can suffer a lot from PMS. A moderate exercise program has been shown to help alleviate a number of symptoms associated with it.

Diabetes is ravaging an ever increasing percentage of American adults. A study from Hawaii suggests that opening the door to a health club may be just as important as closing the door to your refrigerator. Adult onset, or Type II, diabetes occurs primarily in adults over the age of 40. Over a 30-year period, the folks in Hawaii discovered that sedentary adults had more than twice the rate of diabetes than their active counterparts.

I wonder; are Unificationists now like the rest of America? Whatever happened to mind-body unity? Please don't think that you have to engage in strenuous exercise until your body is drenched in sweat in order to gain health benefits. Not at all. Last year, a seven-year study finally was concluded with the announcement that men who are regularly active in household chores, including mowing the lawn and taking walks, significantly lowered their risk of heart disease. Imagine, getting healthier and improving marital relations all at once. So take some brisk walks. That is what I have been doing for quite a few years. I get up early in the morning and drive to a nearby park where I walk for 45 to 60 minutes. You may say that you don't have that much time. Then try a shorter walk and combine your walk with morning service. I had some of my best prayer experiences while walking through a beautiful park, in the early morning hours, surrounded by God's creation. I believe that we can agree that prayer does not have to take place by kneeling in the prayer room.

How is your blood pressure? If it's too high Exercise. About 20% of all Americans have high blood pressure. Blood pressure medication is quite expensive and has some pretty nasty side effects including exhaustion and sexual dysfunction. The New England Journal of Medicine reported that over a 8 month period, blood pressure dropped by about 5 points in adults who exercised, but rose by 2 points in adults that took blood pressure medication and did not exercise. Exercise may not bring your level down to where it should be, but it most certainly will help.

Physicians at an international symposium in Ulm, Germany, called on people who live in high rise buildings to use the stairs rather than taking the elevator. One of the participants, had this to say: "It is plainly life threatening to just sit on the sofa and drink beer." He may have been addressing the average German soccer fan, but you can judge your own situation in light of his remark. One other very serious point of discussion during the symposium dealt with the sedentary lifestyle of an ever growing number of children. Children used to spend a lot of time outdoors, running around. Now, many opt for imitating their parents (shall I say dads) by spending too much time in front of the tube, which has been shown to lead to a buildup of aggression. Some studies found that overweight in adolescence is a predictor for problems with arthritis later in life.

The list goes on and on. People with weakened immune systems become healthier when they exercise, insomniacs sleep better when they start exercising while they are awake (remember, it's not a matter of exhaustion,) and amazingly enough, when people with certain emotional problems start exercising, they show an increased ability to better deal with their problems.

Of course, if you suffer from any serious ailment, start an exercise regimen under the supervision of your family doctor.

To sum it all up: If you want to live longer and live better EXERCISE.

"Evil people resist the awareness of their own condition. A mark of the spiritually advanced is their awareness of their own laziness."

Scott Peck (The Road Less Traveled)