Rev. Sun Myung Moon
As a Peace-loving Global Citizen is the autobiography of Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the founder of the Unification Movement. It was published in 2009 in both Korean and English by Gimm-Young Publishers of Seoul, South Korea. The book was released in South Korea on March 9, 2009 and debuted at #3 on the Businesss bestseller's list. It has ranked in various bestseller lists since then and was ranked 15th on the General bestseller's list as of October 14, 2009.
CHAPTER ONE - FOOD IS LOVE
Loving Nature to Learn from It
My personality was such that I had to know about everything that I could see. I couldn’t just pass over something superficially. I would start thinking, “I wonder what the name of that mountain is. I wonder what’s up there.” I had to go see for myself. While still a child, I climbed to the tops of all the mountains that were in a five-mile radius of our home. I went everywhere, even beyond the mountains. That way, when I saw a mountain shining in the morning sunlight, I could have an image in my mind of what was on that mountain and I could gaze at it in comfort. I hated even to look at places I didn’t know. I had to know about everything I could see, and even what was beyond. Otherwise, my mind was so restless that I couldn’t endure it.
When I went to the mountains, I would touch all the flowers and trees. I wasn’t satisfied just to look at things with my eyes; I had to touch the flowers, smell them, and even put them in my mouth and chew on them. I enjoyed the fragrances, the touch, and the tastes so much that I wouldn’t have minded if someone had told me to stick my nose in the brush and keep it there the whole day. I loved nature so much that anytime I went outside, I would spend the day roaming the hills and fields and forget about having to go home. When my older sisters would go into the hills to gather wild vegetables, I would lead the way up the hill and pick the plants. Thanks to this experience, I know a lot about many kinds of wild vegetables that taste good and are high in nutrition. I was particularly fond of a member of the sunflower family called sseum-ba-gwi (scientific name Ixeris dentata). You could mix it with seasoned bean paste and put it in a dish of gochujang bibimbap, and it would have a wonderful flavor. When you eat sseum-ba-gwi, you need to put it in your mouth and then hold your breath for a few seconds. This is the time it takes for the bitter taste to go away and for a different, sweet taste to come out. It’s important to get the correct rhythm to enjoy the wonderful flavor of sseum-ba-gwi.
I used to enjoy climbing trees as well. Mainly I climbed up and down a huge, two-hundred year-old chestnut tree that was in our yard. I liked the view from the upper branches of that tree. I could see even beyond the entrance to the village. Once I was up there, I wouldn’t want to come down. Sometimes, I would be up in the tree until late at night, and the youngest of my older sisters would come out of the house and make a fuss over how dangerous it was and try to get me to come down.