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Near the end of my graduating year at the University of Wisconsin,"
relates Peterson, "I was on my way to lunch one day when I had to
pass through a recruitment area and was stopped by a very well-dressed
man who asked, 'Wouldn’t you be interested in joining the Peace Corps?'
It turned out to be David Rockefeller of the Chase Manhattan Bank, who
told me that he volunteered one day a year to serve in this way. 'It’s
almost lunch time,' he said, 'and you are my candidate!' " Peterson
did join the Peace Corps and served in Brazil from 1964 - 66.
In 1965, he realized the total ineffectiveness of the project to which
he was assigned and proposed an alternative that would bring more immediate
benefit to the local people. His recommendation was denied, and so was
his subsequent request to institute a program to help street beggars in
a southern region of Brazil.
Disillusioned by the bureaucracy he was encountering, Peterson wrote a
letter to his mother saying he was seriously thinking of quitting the
Peace Corps. Coincidentally, on the day his letter arrived, a famous congressman
happened to be sitting in the living room of Peterson’s parents.
On reading his letter, the congressman, a staunch supporter of the Peace
Corps, decided to intervene.
As a result, Peterson was granted the assignment in southern Brazil and
helped to create the country’s first public welfare program. Appropriately
dubbed S.O.S., the privately-funded venture ingeniously circumvented a
lot of endemic corruption and helped eliminate the need for begging in
the 'smaller' Brazilian cities of 100,000 to two million people. The program
was so successful that it spread throughout the country within two years
and is still in effect today.
The helpful congressman, Melvin Laird, went on to become Secretary of
Defense under President Nixon.
Toward the end of his Peace Corps tour of duty, Peterson was approached
by the American ambassador and other diplomats at the embassy in Rio who
were impressed with the S.O.S. project, as well as Peterson’s ingenuity
and determination. They urged him to become a career diplomat and return
to the embassy in Rio. With their enthusiastic support, Peterson passed
the qualifying examinations and was accepted into the U.S. Foreign Service
even before his Peace Corps term was over.
For the next 13 years, he served in various diplomatic capacities in Latin
America, Southeast Asia and, finally, Africa. Returning then to Washington,
he became a director of the Fulbright Scholarship program, which is administered
through U.S. embassies overseas and which gave him a huge international
exposure over the next 17 years.
"Perhaps it was a coincidence that I was in Washington in 1982 when
I heard a man speaking on the 'Merv Griffin Show' with Gore Vidal,"
says Peterson. "It was author Benjamin Creme, describing brilliant
scientific and technological advancements soon to be released, such as
the discovery of cold fusion. He talked of profound economic and political
changes as well, stating that a group of very advanced men, perfected
men, were guiding these changes and helping humanity at this critical
time from behind the scenes.
It was not long afterwards that I was contacted by a representative of
this group, in a most unusual manner, and offered the chance to meet their
leader Maitreya, the World Teacher. That one-hour meeting changed my life
forever," says Peterson, "and it was so profound that I was
reluctant for many years to talk of this and subsequent meetings with
members of this remarkable group. Gradually, however, as I began to open
up at private meetings and dinner parties in Washington and abroad, I
found that my experience was not so unusual. I was able to discuss Maitreya
and his ideas with personal friends of the Pope, businessmen close to
the U.S. president, foreign government leaders, and a number of influential
people both in the U.S. and overseas. Many of them have had special experiences
similar to mine."
My understanding is that Maitreya has been preparing not only influential
people but a large corps of journalists, and that he will soon begin to
appear on a series of major TV interviews and shed his remarkable insights
on the means to solve the current world impasse.
As one who has had the privilege to be aware of some of the preparations
for these broadcasts, I feel that the time is ripe to relate my experience
outside of government circles and share the knowledge I have gained. If
what I have to say can help dispel the cloud of angst so prevalent now,
then coming forward will have been worth it.
I can assure you: the future is bright."
Wayne
Peterson is author of the book "Extraordinary
Times, Extraordinary Beings, Experiences of an American diplomat with
Maitreya and the Masters of Wisdom".
Excerpts from an interview on the US radio show "Critical Times"
can be read under Wayne
Peterson Interview.
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