Federation of World Peace and Love

Celebrating United Nations Day
Practicing Peace, Realizing Human Rights, and
Enhancing Our Collective Well-being
with Love and Conscience

 

Dr. Hong, Tao-Tze
President of Federation of World Peace and Love
Vice-President of Association of World Citizens
Zhang-men-ren of Tai Ji Men
Oct. 24, 2021

United Nations Day is observed on October 24 every year to commemorate the UN Charter's entry into force in 1945. Faced with a global health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the immense threat of unilateralism, protectionism, and bullying, the world is undergoing an upheaval that hasn't been seen in a century. As a result, UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged global citizens to foster human dignity, protect human rights, uphold international law, and save humanity from war. He said, “We must also make peace with our planet,” adding, “Around the world, we must do more to end human suffering from poverty, inequality, hunger and hatred - and fight discrimination on the basis of race, religion, gender or any other distinction.”

The United Nations' strength alone is insufficient in this critical period of transition and transformation. We must unite every citizen of the globe to protect the immortal values of the United Nations Charter, encourage people in all fields to work closely together, and take proactive actions to achieve the United Nations goal of maintaining world peace and security. The United Nations and the leaders of all nations should uphold justice, maintain the rule of law, promote cooperation, and focus on taking action. Through multilateral cooperation, we should promote economic, social, and cultural development and human welfare, and develop friendly relations among nations. It is imperative that all nations and all people unite and work together to tackle all of today's challenges and take positive action to protect all living things and achieve sustainable development.

The chaos of the world comes from human greed, as many people are obsessed with the pursuit of power, fame, and fortune, masking their conscience and causing human sorrow and suffering. Among the world’s people and living creatures, there are people who are not aware of the suffering of the world; there are people who do wrong things; there are people who are lonely and have no one to turn to; and there are people who have no joy in life. Every moment, there are people crying for help. Who will lend a helping hand and save them from their suffering? Evil thoughts are at the root of the chaos, and the solution to the suffering lies in conscience, courage, and good deeds. A culture of conscience and peace is essential to society, and we need to eliminate disputes arising from differences and resolve problems through dialogue among all parties. A culture of conscience and peace is essential to every government, which needs to respect human rights and protect its people's right to live and work in peace and happiness. Only when government officials act and implement policies with conscience can they ease people's suffering and benefit all living things. To ensure the continued existence of human beings and all other living things, we need to revitalize the culture of conscience and peace and set a good example so that future generations will be able to follow in our footsteps and pass it down from generation to generation.

Humanity and the Earth share a common destiny. We should follow the guidance of our conscience, treat each other with kindness, and cherish the environment. We should think about how to benefit all living things in everything we do. That is compassion. True compassion guides us to distinguish good from bad, right from wrong, and true from false. Our thoughts and intentions should be guided by our conscience, and we need to take actions to help others and ourselves, which will bring us happiness. By allowing more people to recognize the positive impact of true acts of conscience, we can achieve a sustainable and peaceful future.

United Nations Day serves to remind people of the UN’s goals and objectives, as well as to urge everyone to practice solidarity and peace and continue to support the common objectives. If the United Nations is a building, the UN's designation of April 5 of each year as International Day of Conscience in 2019 is a way to reinforce the steel frame of this building, encouraging the international community to promote harmony, tolerance, inclusion, understanding, and solidarity in order to build a peaceful world of conscience, love, and human rights. Everyone is a world citizen. It is an important responsibility of global citizens to participate in public affairs with a good heart, connect with one another through technology, share resources, appreciate and learn from one another, and make the world free from discrimination and misunderstanding. Through quality conscience education, we raise public awareness, make such education accessible to every family, school, community, and nation, as well as promote a culture of peace with love and conscience, thereby contributing to the sustainable development of the Earth and humanity.

Conscience, love, and human rights are the most important factors in calming ourselves, balancing families, and stabilizing the world. They are also the most important values in life for everyone. To make positive impacts on the world, we need to start with our thoughts. A small step taken by each person will eventually affect the whole world, and this is the butterfly effect. In a turbulent world, only love and conscience, which are the most precious things to human beings, can heal the pain, inspire hope, transform the future, and create peace.

After 76 years of efforts by the United Nations, world peace remains an unrealized goal. We hope that the citizens of the world will muse over the true meaning of "The world of one heart, a wellspring of happiness, back to origin, restoration of your true self, one is the beginning, and one is the end.” There is a saying: “Those who want to go far must start from near.” If everyone acts with love and conscience to unite families, communities, and nations, then sustainable development and world peace are not out of reach. As long as we use our true hearts and take immediate actions, we will definitely reach our goals.

Courage is essential to true good deeds. I would like to thank all of the warriors of conscience for their heartfelt contributions to the world! Let us continue to strive for a more peaceful world. We pray that global citizens’ conscience will be awakened, and that they will protect their conscience. We also pray that there will be fewer disasters as a result of global solidarity, that there will be more happiness as a result of true love and mutual assistance, and that global peace and sustainability will be attained as a result of conscience and good deeds.

May you all be blessed with peace, safety, and health!

Thank you all!

 

*Presented at the ICDAY’s virtual event in support of UN United Nations Day