HPI
KAUAI, U.S.A., May 11, 2003: H.H. Bodhinatha, Mahasannidhanam of Kauai Aadheenam, gave this brief talk at an interfaith breakfast yesterday on Kauai honoring Kauai citizens serving in Iraq and discussing world peace. “Conditions in the world today are certainly troubling. Wars between countries, wars within countries plus a serious threat of international terrorist acts. One of the immediate consequences of the 9/11 terrorist attacks was the presence of television coverage depicting people in a number of countries who strongly hate the United States, some to the point of wishing violence upon it. Watching these shocking reports on television, we were quite impressed by the extent and seriousness of the problem of prejudice in the world today. Attitudes of prejudice toward those who are of a different race, nation, or religion can start simply as distrust which can then deepen into dislike and deepen further into hatred which can turn into a desire to inflict injury. Are we born with these attitudes? Certainly not. We are taught them at home, at school and elsewhere. The solution for greater peace in the world, though a long-term one, is that humanity needs, in the century ahead, to teach its children tolerance, openness to different ways of life, different beliefs, different customs of dress and language.
“Humanity needs to stop teaching its children to fear those who are different from themselves, stop teaching them hatred for peoples of other colors and other religions, stop teaching them to see the world as a field of conflict and instead instill in them an informed appreciation and a joyous reverence for the grand diversity we find around us. It is in the home that we can change the world for the better. It is the qualities we cultivate in our children that create the world of the future. Therefore, the most effective form of protest to the violence in the world today is for parents to raise their children to be tolerant of those who are different from them. Parents indeed are the ones who are empowered to bring more peace into the world. Instead of teaching children to be intolerant and to dislike and distrust, hate and inflict injury on those who are different, parents can teach them to be tolerant and like and trust, befriend and help. Secondarily, the efforts of parents can be further strengthened by religious leaders in our houses of worship. Kauai already sets an excellent example for the rest of the world of a tolerant multi-ethnic society in which the various communities function well together. We pray today that it continues to do so by raising future generations of its children with a prejudice free consciousness. As the granite sign installed at Lydgate Park says so wonderfully: ‘One Island, Many Peoples, All Kauaians.’ Indeed, by being a living example of tolerance, the Kauai community can influence other communities to be more tolerant and in that way help change the world into a more peaceful one.”