He cannot urge upon you all sufficiently, and through you
the American believers, the importance of Baha'is realizing that direct,
concentrated and efficiently carried out Baha'i work is not only their supreme
duty but the best way they can serve interests of humanity and
hasten the day when at least the Lesser
Peace will become a reality. We must always bear in mind that Baha'u'llah's
Order is the sovereign remedy, and all other measures, inaugurated by the
United Nations or various governments, are in the nature of palliatives,
however sound and progressive they may be. We must concentrate on perfecting
our characters as individual Baha'is and on maturing our still embryonic, and
as yet imperfectly understood World Order; on spreading the Message, according
to the provisions of the Divine Plan; and on building a tightly-knit,
world-wide Baha'i community. We are relatively few in numbers, and have such a
precious, unique and responsible task to carry out, we must concentrate our
full forces upon it.
(From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, Canadian Baha'i News, No. 232, August 1969)
