God’s Will and the Ocean: Episode 72

God’s Will and the Ocean
True Father Speaks on: Tuna Fishing and the Way of Life, page 233-237
July 5, 1984, Morning Garden 

Reviving the Fishing Tradition

In the very beginning, tuna was only ten cents per pound, when I first started. Now it is over $4.00 per pound, going up to $5.00 per pound and someday it will reach $10.00 or $20.00 per pound. You will see that day. If we can farm the fish, hundreds of fishermen can hope to make a good living out of tuna fishing. I have been paying the price for that to happen, literally. Our movement has invested millions of dollars to bring the foundation up to this level. We lost all that money in a real sense. It was just a sacrifice in order to bring things to this point.

The middle men who exploited the whole situation were really angry when I came on the scene. However, the fishermen know a different story and many have come to care about us. Not all of them see what is going on. Many fishermen don't look very far beyond their own boat, but some even love us and look for us to come each year.

The consumer will come to find out about tuna and they will begin to like it very much. Just last year, the price began at $1.25 per pound and it went up to $3.00 per pound. The buyers were upset about that, but you know how hard the fishermen work. They get up so early every morning and face the difficult weather. Did the buyers ever have to work so hard? No. They have never worked like that, yet they get most of the profit. That is why the fishermen really loved what we did. Because we paid more, the other middle men had to pay more too; they lost some of their profit margin. They are the only ones who complained. We wanted more of the margin to go to the ones who worked for it. That was our motivation. Those middle men don't have the right to take what belongs to the fishermen. Someone had to come in and fix that situation.

At one time Gloucester was a great export city for cod and other kinds of fish. When I came here the situation had gone so low that many fishermen didn't leave until the afternoon. They didn't even get up until noon! I really wanted to bring back the spirit of Gloucester. I wanted to change it. So, I started going out very early in the morning, as early as 4:00 a.m., and I would bring back a tuna by 9:00 a.m. This motivated them to start going out earlier.

When I saw they were leaving by 4:00 and 5:00 a.m., I started leaving at 2:00 and 3:00 a.m. When some of them even challenged that, I determined not to even leave the tuna grounds and just stay awake all night long on the boat. However, no one left earlier than 2:00 a.m., and so they gave up in a spiritual sense. Also, they had larger boats and they thought they were better because they had more expensive equipment. We proved it is not the size of the boat which brings success; it is the spirit of the man. We proved that.

After a few years of fishing, something like a morning ritual began to occur. In the early morning there would be a tuna strike and everyone's eyes would go searching to see which boat had dropped anchor. They would look for the red anchor ball and see which boat was moving away. Almost every morning, the first boat was a Moonie boat. We had fewer boats than all the other boats. Out of proportion to the number of boats we had, and the number of boats in the entire fleet, we came up with the first catch in the morning. This is the tradition which we built up with our own effort. Don't disregard this. I don't want to hear, "Well, Reverend Moon didn't come fishing this year so the Moonie boats are only doing a mediocre job." I don't want to hear that. They are thinking that we will be discouraged because I am going to jail. Why should we do less this year than any other year? Why should we be outdone this season? After ten years, we have built up the standard. Now, we can go way beyond that. Will you keep the standard really tight, or will you be defeated this year? How? How will you keep the standard? You have to catch up with my spirit. Whatever you do, do it in my spirit.

The essence is this: put all your heart into it. Talk to God and talk to the tuna. For the sake of the world, for the sake of God, do everything with all your heart. For ten years, we have fought against injustice. We have fought here in Gloucester and now we are beginning to win. Morning Garden has been returned to us, the fishermen are beginning to understand us and the mayor has apologized for Gloucester's earlier unfair treatment towards us. In all these ways, we have won a victory.

We have fought on all three coastlines. When we started building steel boats in Alabama, 3,000 people came and demonstrated against us. At that time, there were thirty-one other shipyards. Now, what has happened? We are the only ones to survive there and we continue to contribute to the economy there. Can you believe that? It has only been five to six years since we began working there. If we hadn't gone there, no one would have survived the crisis.

It was the same way in Alaska. Everything we try to do, the people come and try to stop us, but they have no real reason to do so. You can imagine how it is for me to hear all the reports coming in from everywhere in the United States. Every report that came in when we first started something was very bad. 

I have put so much energy into this country. Our movement has invested so much time and money, bringing so much from all over the world and investing it into the United States. I often thought I should give up everything and go invest in someplace else. However, since God truly wants to use America, I have persevered. Everything I have done in this country began under full opposition. No one tried to understand or help me. Still, I have gained a tremendous foundation to uplift America. And you are Americans. You will inherit all this. No one will oppose you as they have opposed me.

They will welcome you. From now on, people will begin to see our motivation more clearly. We will win every fight. We have that foundation. First, you must save your nation. Second, you have to secure the future of the ocean. There used to be at least forty large fishing vessels working out of Gloucester. Now, there are only a few. There is no hope in this country for the ocean. We are bringing hope to this nation.

You cannot complain about anything. You are inheriting everything. The ocean has a great and wonderful future. I know it. You believe it. Who is that future for? For who? For us? For America. You came here, not because of your leader, but because God was calling you. You are here because of God's calling. You have to know how special it is to be here. Don't complain about being here.

I have already endured this course. I have already invested long and tedious hours. Not for myself. I didn't do it for myself. I did it for you. I know young people will come here every year. I did everything for the sake of the young people of America. You represent those young people. You have to receive and inherit all these things from me. If you complain, you won't be able to get what I am giving to you. I am concerned about this.

The One Hope is made with everything equipped to catch a tuna. It was made for you! I don't need all those boats. I designed them with you in mind. Before you came, I was working hour after hour.  Will you go this course? Will you do everything that I am asking you to do this summer? Think about the tradition that I laid down here with my own sweat and tears. Everyday, working on the boat, I was thinking about you.

I spent ten years preparing everything for you. From now we really have to go out on the ocean and inherit everything that is there. It is there, waiting for you. If you miss this point, you will miss something great in the future. I have been so serious to make the standard—for you! Please remember this. If you don't make a foundation, then someone else will come and take it from you.

I did not pioneer all these areas for that. I have pioneered Gloucester, the Gulf and now Alaska. Many people already stayed here, but they never thought about my effort. No matter how early, I woke up and worked hard all day. Many young people would never work as hard. If you Americans don't take this from me, I will give it to the Japanese. If they don't want it, I will bring Korean members to inherit everything. If they don't, I will get the blessed children and make them take the inheritance. Do you understand? Are you clear about this point? Do you know what I mean?

From this moment, make up your mind. We start the program from this moment. Each day is a step towards the future. May God bless you.