Prince of Jordan Receives First Community Builders Prize
By ANGELA HARRIS, BEVERLY REMLAND and LISA WATTS
ATLANTA CORRESPONDENTS
On April 8, at the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse
College, the first Gan-dhi, King, Ikeda Community Builders Prize was awarded
to His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan. Nearly 2,000
people filled the chapel with cheers and high spirits, inaugurating what
will be an annual event.
SGI-USA was a co-sponsor of the ceremony, titled Century Sunday. More
than 1,300 SGI-USA members gathered from all over the Southern Zone, including
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina and Tennessee.
Larry Draper, an SGI-USA member from Memphis, Tenn., commented that "this
wonderful event is a fitting tribute to three great leaders. That one
of them is SGI President Ikeda makes
me even more proud to be an SGI member."
The prize was created by Dr. Lawrence E. Carter Sr., dean of the King
Chapel, to reflect the common vision of Mahatma
Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr. and SGI President Ikeda, and
to encourage others striving toward peace to continue their valuable work.
After his meeting with President Ikeda in September 2000, Dean Carter
said he realized that President Ikeda was "the living embodiment
of the ideals of Gandhi and King."
Prince Hassan, the prize's first recipient, is widely recognized as a
world leader in the areas of peace, human rights and inter-cultural dialogue.
He is a pioneer of peace efforts in the Middle East, bringing together
Muslims, Jews and Christians to discuss peaceful solutions to the problems
facing humanity. He is also the third president of the Club of Rome, of
which President Ikeda is an honorary member.
In his acceptance address, titled "On
the Ethics of Reconciliation and Tolerance," Prince Hassan expressed
the realization that "possibly the longest distance in the world
is from the mind to the heart." He asked the audience if they, through
their own efforts, can help society "move from a culture of existing
to a culture of participating. The cornerstones of such a movement are
surely the respect for life, a responsibility towards future generations,
protection of the human habitat and, most of all, to move from acquisitiveness
to altruism…. We must stop working against something and start working
for something, working for a sharing of cultures and perceptions."
Also celebrated was the induction of a portrait of President and Mrs.
Ikeda to the Martin Luther King Jr. International Hall of Honor. "We
do this today," said Dean Carter, "in recognition of the fact
that Dr. Ikeda is now widely believed to be the world's leading proponent
of international peace."
-Nicole D. Collier, Eleanor Hunter and Quan Sullivan contributed to this
article.
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