Waking Up

By a Practitioner in China

(Clearwisdom.net) Spring Festival holidays are considered a sensitive time for the Chinese authorities. The Party Secretary in my work unit, who is responsible for Falun Gong, had a conversation with a practitioner. He showed the practitioner a highly confidential document with a list of practitioners that were targeted to be under surveillance, which included that practitioner, a few others and myself. Over the past 50 years, the Communist Party has always divided people into two groups, with one watching over the other. In fact, each of the two groups of people have become victims in turn after each political campaign. Many people have learned from this, and developed strategies for coping with the ever-changing party lines. However, there are always people who, for the sake of their political career, followed the authorities' instructions to the letter. I cannot help pitying them for hurting themselves as well others, without knowing it, just for that tiny bit of self-interest that they may gain.

This reminded me of something that happened during the Cultural Revolution. I was the Secretary of the Junior League of Communist Party for my class. One of the girls in my class loved to wear nice clothes and makeup. We accused her of being a bourgeoisie and criticized her in public. She was under tremendous pressure. At that time, we thought we were doing what we were supposed to do, toeing the party line. Later, I felt guilty whenever I remembered that. Although we had not seen each other or been in touch since we parted, I decided that I wanted to track her down and apologize for what I did.

I got her phone number from a former classmate. She picked up the phone. I told her whom I was and she was pleasantly surprised that I had called her. A few words into the conversation, I apologized for what I did to her during our school years. I told her that it was Falun Dafa that made me realize that I not only hurt her but also myself by doing that, and that I would not have realized it had it not been for Falun Dafa. I went on to tell her about the impact Falun Dafa had on me and the changes I have experienced. She said, " I am so touched that you called me for that. In fact, I don't think you are to blame for what happened. My colleague had introduced Zhuan Falun (the main book of Falun Dafa) to me and I have read it twice. We have also received some Falun Dafa materials." I encouraged her to cherish the opportunities to connect with Falun Dafa.

I thought about our conversation a lot after I hung up the phone. If I hadn't started to cultivate, I don't know what I would have done during the persecution of Falun Dafa. When I thought about that, tears fell down my cheeks. Thank you Master Li for the opportunity to acquire Falun Dafa. I can only express my gratitude by doing well the three things that Master Li has asked us to do.

I would also like to appeal to everybody to wake up and come learn about Falun Dafa.

February 28, 2003

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