Contributed by Masaho Shimobayashi
On December 4th, CARP New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) hosted a campus wide event titled Peace Starts With Me: Standing for True Love. The event’s main purpose was to introduce students to CARP’s view of love and family as described in the CARP curriculum. Dr. Robert Beebe, National Board member, was invited to give two presentations. The two presentations he gave were Love & Sexuality and Universal Principles & Life Goals.
The event started off with a welcome from the emcee, CARP NJIT president Keisetsu Nakamura. He welcomed Vice President, Masaho Shimobayashi, to give a short introduction about CARP.
Next, Dr. Beebe was invited up to give the first CARP curriculum presentation on Love & Sexuality. After giving the background on sexual ethics and how attitudes and behaviors changed leading to unfavorable consequences in our society, Dr. Beebe stressed the importance of starting a new sexual revolution where people should keep their abstinence until maturity and have one devoted partner. A Q&A session and group discussions followed the presentation.
“Before, I’ve never really thought about these topics, such as the change in the views of sex throughout the history and the purpose of relationships and their effects, both mentally and physically. In the group discussions, I specifically remember talking about how there is a statistic that 90% of males and females have a plan to get married yet most of their behavior and attitude do not reflect their strive to achieve this goal.” - Ashwin Kurian, CARP NJIT member
“The event explained and showed how destructive today’s society is and how we can solve it by keeping our purity and disciplining ourselves to be able to commit to our future spouse.” - Yasuhiro Ozawa, CARP NJIT Secretary
“It can be easy to be infatuated with someone and not adhere to your feelings, while it is harder to intimately get to know someone who you'd genuinely come to know and love. However, the latter is definitely worthwhile.” - Sergio Zurita, CARP NJIT member
Dr. Beebe’s next presentation was Universal Principles & Life Goals. The basic premise of this topic was to encourage people to use their skills to positively impact others. There are many students that go to college to learn more about their desired field of study, but Dr. Beebe stressed the importance of having a plan after graduating that can help the world. Money and fame can be good goals to have in life, but working to make the world better can be more fulfilling. The presentation also showed the importance of relationships, especially in the family. Another Q&A session and group discussions followed the presentation.
“Going through this event, it made me see how life is tremendously better if we all dedicate ourselves to a higher purpose and not focus on the worldly things around us like fame and riches. You start to realize that life is so much more beautiful and fulfilling once you pursue goals with love at its center.” - Erik Fernandez, CARP NJIT member
“What I liked most was that it didn't just end telling us what is wrong with our society but in the second lecture Dr. Beebe helped us think about our goals in life, what we can do to create a better society, not just career wise but also think about what kind of person I want to become and what kind of family I want to create.” - Kana Ishii, CARP NJ member
When people follow their conscience, which guides them towards true love and universal principles, they can experience true happiness. All the attendees were reminded to take responsibility for their sexual choices and to adopt a new sexual ethic based on absolute values.
See more of CARP NJ on their Facebook page. Share your story to jennifer@carplife.org!