On October 23rd, 2021, CPFWP-USA held a One Thousand People Rally honoring Three-Generation Families of Filial Piety.
The purpose of the event is to honor families who have “three generations (三代同堂）“ of demonstrating exemplary filial piety and harmonious relationships with their parents and grandparents. Meanwhile, we celebrated the third anniversary and the second anniversary of the founding of CPFWP-USA and CPFWP-Canada, respectively. Before the event, we were recommended families and chose 12 to award a crystal plaque.
The event was held online on Zoom, Youtube and Facebook. The number of participants combined from these three platforms was about 1,000. The event included speeches, performances and an award ceremony.
We had eight speakers. Prof. Thomas Hwang offered the opening remark. Hon. Vincent K.E. and Prof. Amb. U. Joy Ogwu gave congratulatory remarks. They emphasized the importance of family to form a stable society. Dr. John Ching offered the keynote speech. He explained the meaning of Chinese character “孝” in an interesting way, and introduced the concept of filial piety from the Bible. In addition, Mayor Eric Ching and Rev. Dr. Perry Wooten gave their speeches about God’s love and connecting to family. Hon. Louie M. Valdivia and Dr. Chung Sik Yong gave us closing remarks. Hon. Louie M. Valdivia encouraged us to offer filial piety to our parents while they are alive. Also, he testified about True Mother for her vision to a peaceful world. Lastly, Dr. Chung Sik Yong addressed the four great realms of heart, and shared about his experience in a four-generation family.
During the award ceremony, we showed each awardee’s family photo and their stories on the screen. The awardees are from across New York, New Jersey, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Canada. They all attend their parents well, and many of them have made a great contribution to their community. One of the awardees, Stoyan Tadin, has a four-generation family. He is living with his over 90 year old mother, as well as his children and grandchildren. The Great-grandma’s needs and well being is the central concern of the whole family.
The other awardee, Dohi Ang, expressed his appreciation to his parents: “I have always been grateful for their nurturing heart and spiritual protection. Each day, they pray quietly for my family’s welfare. My children always felt a warm spirit when they went to Grandma & Grandpa’s room to relax and be loved unconditionally. There really is no replacement for that kind of spiritual stability.” Their stories touched people and show examples of filial piety.
Between the speeches and award ceremony, we had performances, including a Hong Kong filial piety dance, a dance performance from the New York Chinese school and a musical performance from Mr. He Bin’s three-generation family. The celebration ended with a Taichi performance from Toronto, and the participants all rejoiced that night. They learned to practice filial piety in their own family.
Onlly Kastilong: Filial piety is very important and must be practiced in the family.
Lilian Tan: I am inspired by the smooth flow and high standard of command in both Chinese & English as I am a teacher myself. Many of my Christian friends are inspired and at first they thought filial piety is only for Buddhists or Chinese alone. The direction leading us to connect filial piety to God our invisible Parent in Heaven is really amazingly wise & like a revelation from Heaven.
That was a great event and inspired people very much, especially the speeches. I felt it is a Blessing to join this event.
