by an Australian Practitioner

DAY 1:

A press conference in front of the Chinese consulate in Surry Hills, Sydney, marked the start of the SOS! Walk to Canberra. Reporters from both radio and TV media were present at the event. I was surprised to find out how many practitioners were prepared to walk all the way to Canberra - about 20, including an 11-year old boy and a 72-year old woman (we certainly can't assume other abilities as this woman was right at the front, setting the pace).

In the opening speech, a practitioner said we will walk through rain, through snow and through cold to get to Canberra and these words were put into action as the rain began to pour soon after starting the parade through Sydney. It reminded me of Master Li's words "Grand talk counts for naught when it comes to life and death, Actions reveal what is true." (The Knowing Heart) The rain didn't stop the solemn SOS parade through the streets. Letters were delivered to the NSW premier and Lord Mayor of Sydney before the parade ended and about 30 practitioners continued on their way to complete the first leg of the trip to Canberra ending at Canterbury station.

I am very comfortable tonight as all practitioners went home after the first walk and will continue from where we left off tomorrow morning at 7 am. I first thought that maybe it was a bit of a 'cop out' to walk and then go back to the comfort of home for a night, but with limited resources and still being so close to home, this seems the most logical thing to do. We may have only covered 16 km by foot today, but many fliers were handed out and many Australians saw the banners of Falun Dafa and I hope that they will come across it again.

Tomorrow we will walk 35 km to Ingleburn and will pass through Campsie, Belmore, Wiley Park, Roselands, Padstow, Anzac Village and The Cross Roads. We will have fewer practitioners walking but all hearts are with us. We invite anyone to join us for a day, an hour or even a minute -- we still have 9 days to go.

This is only my view of the day, and I hope that others can fill in the gaps.

TRUTHFULNESS -- COMPASSION -- FORBEARANCE

Posting date: 7/14/2001
Original article date: 7/13/2001
Category: Falun Dafa Worldwide

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