Sun Myung Moon
March 1, 2009
As a Peace-Loving Global Citizen, Pages 301-303
Photo date and location unknown
I like to use the phrase "Alaskan spirit". By this I mean the habit of getting up at five o'clock in the morning, going out to sea, and not returning until well after midnight. The person stays out on the ocean until he catches the daily allowance. One cannot become a true fisherman unless he learns how to endure this way.
Catching fish is not a pleasure cruise. No matter how many fish may be in the ocean, they are not going to just jump into the boat. It takes specialized knowledge and much experience. A person must know how to mend a net and how to tie an anchor rope. Once a person receives intense training to become a fisherman, he can go anywhere in the world and become a leader of people. Learning to be a fisherman is good leadership training.
Dominance at sea will require ships, including submarines, that can go anywhere in the world. Korea is already the largest shipbuilding country in the world. It has the ability to become a great sea power. What Korea needs now is more people willing to go out to sea.
Koreans are the descendants of Chang Bo Go, a wealthy man of the ninth century who ran an international maritime trading business and was called the "Ocean King." We have a long tradition of going out to sea on ships, fighting the waves, and winning battles.
People fear the waves. When waves catch the wind, they become swells. The formation of waves and swells is needed for oxygen to be mixed into the ocean. If the ocean is calm for an extended period, without wind or waves, it begins to die. When we realize the value of waves, they are no longer something to be feared. Even if a strong wind blows and the waves become fearsome, we understand that this is the way to help the fish live. Then the waves become part of the attraction of the sea.
A hundred feet below the surface of the ocean there are no waves. If we were to take a submarine to the bottom of the ocean it would be so cool that there would be no need for air conditioners. The fish choose the depth that has the temperature that is right for them and then perform wonderful dances as they swim in schools in their favorite waters. Similar to our Little Angels dance troupe with their fans, the fish have their colorful outfits and gently wave their fins. It is a beautiful and peaceful environment that they live in. The world, too, will soon be as peaceful as this.
The fact, that an oceanic era is coming means that Korea will soon have the opportunity to change the world. People, who in peninsular countries have had to contend with invasions from both land and sea, throughout their history, learn that to survive they have to be brave and develop a steely national character. It is not by coincidence that civilization developed in peninsular countries such as Greece and Italy. Civilization could blossom in these counties because they had the enterprising and tough, adventurous spirit needed to spread their influence across both continents and seas.
Have you heard about the Black Stream, a boundary current in the western part of the North Pacific Ocean? It travels four thousand miles a year, based on the gravitational pull of the moon. It is an oceanic gyre that revolves all the way around the Pacific Ocean. To describe it simply as "tremendous" is not sufficient.
All the oceans of the world move by the same power that moves the Black Stream and other ocean currents. If these currents did not exist, the ocean would not move and would die. Just as even the largest and mightiest rivers, eventually must flow into the sea, so also even the largest oceans must move in accordance with currents like the Black Stream.
The Korean people must become like the Black Stream and cause the flow of their peace-loving culture to influence the whole world. We must become a source of strength in the world, the place where all of life's forces come together in a peaceful concentration.