God’s Will and the Ocean: Episode 94

God’s Will and the Ocean
Excerpts from Published Speeches, page 310-314
1974-1983

Two weeks ago, I was in Alabama, which is known as the shipbuilding capital of the United States, looking around to buy a shipyard so we can build our own vessels. Would you want our factory to be mediocre or number one? That is easy to say, but not to fulfill. We have to work harder than anyone in order to be number one. It is going to be a tough job, but I will push you. There were no women working in the Alabama shipyards, and I thought that this is one way we can make history. We will have women shipyard workers. If you women become welders, your fingers and faces will get marked up, but is that all right? Now, at 7:42 a.m., on November 1, 1977, the women have pledged that they want to be welders at the shipyard in Alabama. All you men are out of jobs today! If the women are willing to do that much, then you men have to work harder, even into the night.

I knew years ago that unless I intervened in the shipbuilding and fishing industries with my own resolve and determination, this nation could have no hope for those two industries to survive. I met two wonderful individuals in Alabama, a father and son who have spent their lifetimes in the business. They said that the boat-building business is in a boom period, with many people going out to sea. I answered, "That may be true, but what about a few years in the future?" They replied thoughtfully, "Reverend Moon, we didn't think about that, but you are absolutely right. The men have no deep motivation and American women just cannot wait patiently for their husbands to come home from the sea."

Often in the past, the wives of fishermen have betrayed their husbands. What shall we do in order to reverse the trend? I will make you welders and fishing captains, and our fishermen won't have to worry about their wives running off. If the Moonies are doing that, the rest of America will not want to face being defeated and having to give everything up to us. Once they decide to compete with us, the marine industries will be revived. I am determined to give vision and hope to the American young people so they will be motivated to go out to sea. The oceans are a vast, untapped area waiting to be utilized by courageous men and women, and we want to initiate that. There is a chance for America to become great by conquering the sea, but if your countrymen ignore the sea and only want to lead complacent lives, then America has no hope to lead the world. America is blind to this.

I am leading the way in this field and the Unification Church will follow through. I would truly like to see you beautiful sisters become fishing captains and go out to sea, being so knowledgeable and dedicated that men won't mind taking orders from you. Then, people will recognize Moonie power. I want to make our women the presidents of many companies so that the employees who just graduated from Harvard and Yale will all have to listen to you. You may look tiny and weak, but when the men on the ship are scared to death, you women will take command and give orders to rectify the situation. You might even take your own babies with you! I am very excited about this idea. I was planning to travel around and look at businesses in Alabama, for instance. Mother was somewhat hesitant and said, "Father, you know that's a man's job, so you go and I will stay home." However, I told her she should come along anyway.

I will establish a system in which you women will be the captains and your husbands the first mates. You men will have to say, "Yes, ma'am," when the captain gives orders, even though she may be your wife. Do you men feel good or bad about that? If you are a seasoned captain, then whether you are man or woman doesn't make any difference; the crew has to obey.

We are not seeking millions of dollars for ourselves by starting businesses; we are looking at the world and this nation and preparing to spearhead change. Imagine the time when we have thousands of vessels and I can say to the American government, "There are so many farmers sitting idle and receiving government subsidies for doing nothing. What kind of ridiculous system is that? You pay them for not growing crops, but in the meantime millions of people are starving in other parts of the world. Let the farmers grow their crops and let us transport that food all over the world to feed the poor. We have the boats to do it."

Fishing has seasons and doesn't last twelve months a year, so why shouldn't we transport things all over the world in between seasons? How would you feel being the captain of a boat loaded with grain and headed for a nation where many people are starving? I would select the tiniest of all women to be the captain of such a boat and have her wear a special hat with official decorations. We must all have a dream to live for. I have more dreams than anyone else, but the difference is that my dreams become reality.

Our Newborn Selves
November 1, 1977

I was fishing for tuna at that time, but just catching fish was not my purpose. My mind was totally concentrated on the Washington Monument and I thought of nothing else.

Anniversary of Washington Monument
September 18,1978

We did not start our fishing businesses only to make money, but to start rebuilding America's economy. For five years, I have worked every day to set the tradition and find the best way. Now, some officials in the government have heard what I am doing and they remark at what a perceptive man I am to see that America cannot afford to abandon her fishing industry. For fifty years, that industry in America has been desolate, but in time it will feed America. I have started far in advance of everyone else. In the last three years, our investment of millions of dollars has not made a penny, but do you think we should give up?

Our Position
January 2,1979

If I go to the farm I am a good farmer. When I go into the fishing business I become one of the fishermen. I can eat raw fish and even their guts out of my hand. There is nothing I can't do. If I go to a mine, I will dig day after day just as if it were my vocation. I can go to the slums and talk to the people and win their hearts. Without doing all these things, how can you know what your objective is?

Eternal Happiness
February 25,1979

Although the Unification Church was founded in Korea, it was not begun for a local purpose, but with a religious meaning for the worldwide dispensation. A drop of water can originate deep in the mountains and trickle down the hillside, gathering with others and becoming a brook, then a river, finally to join the ocean, and in that way travel around the world.

Cultures mix and mingle, and out of this can come something good which will advance and elevate all people. This also happens in religious development. At first a few people gather, like drops from different mountains. Then, more will come together and a river will form, flowing down to the ocean, all the time enhancing man's standard.

If I go tuna fishing this summer, who will volunteer to go with me? What about the women? I have one boat and there is a limit to how many can get on it, so I will have more boats built for all of you to get on and we'll have an armada. We will have women as captains. Then, you women would like your future husbands to be captains too, right? Does that mean you want to marry fishermen? Jesus told Peter he would be a fisherman; being a fisherman is not bad at all. Often American women are somewhat stronger than men, so I think the 200 mile limit was reserved by God for American women. I don't just believe that, I know it! When you have a full boatload of fish, I will recognize and accept you.

Did you know we recently acquired new property for a shipbuilding industry? What would you do to become rich? Fishermen in this nation are some of the poorest-paid professionals, so we will create the best schools and best living standards for fishermen. Now, people visit the seashore for fun, but someday soon, they will come to the sea to work and go to the mountains instead for recreation. If that trend doesn't appear automatically, I will create it.

Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Unification Church
May 1,1979