Experiences and Reflections on Clarifying the Truth in Manhattan (Part 1)
By a practitioner from the East Coast of the US
(Clearwisdom.net) In order to explain the facts about the persecution of
Falun Gong to the people in an international metropolis like Manhattan, we need
to make good use of every opportunity, from distributing flyers to holding
anti-torture exhibitions on the street. These two primary and essential
activities provide us with a chance to show ourselves in a positive light. We
can deliver our message to people from different walks of life in every district
of New York. If we can truly do it well, every act and every statement, every
conversation and every seemingly chance look into another's eyes will
effectively eliminate the evil factors' influence and control over people and
truly help every New Yorker to make the best choice for his or her future. At
the same time, it is also an opportunity to improve our character and skills in
clarifying the truth.
1. Practitioners' Selfless Acts Change New Yorkers
During the Republican National Convention in New York, many practitioners
made great efforts to come to Manhattan to clarify the truth. For instance, some
practitioners worked overtime for several days so that they could take off one
or two weekdays to come to Manhattan. Some practitioners who live in the
suburban areas of Manhattan worked extra hard so they could get off work earlier
for a few days every week. After work, they either drove or took public
transportation, sometimes for several hours, to rush to Manhattan and distribute
flyers for a few hours. Some practitioners spent both Saturdays and Sundays in
Manhattan. Practitioners overcame many difficulties in arranging for their
meals, lodging, transportation and communication to live frugally in New York
for several days at a time. They went out early and came back late to clarify
the truth. Some practitioners voluntarily prepared materials designed to inform
the public about Falun Dafa or helped provide additional support to create a
group experience sharing and cultivation environment for those who came from
other places.
As a result of practitioners' efforts over the past few weeks, notable
changes have been taking place in Manhattan. When we first started to distribute
flyers on the street, many people had never heard of Falun Gong. Now when we
distribute flyers, we often hear people telling us, "I already have your flyer."
In the beginning, most people behaved indifferently and refused our flyers. Now,
even though there are still some people who don't understand the truth, many
will nod or smile to us when we greet them with a smile and hand them flyers.
Some even stop and exchange a few words with us as they rush by. Some ask for
flyers when we are too busy to notice them or ask for more copies for their
friends after they have a conversation with us. Some people share their
information about Falun Gong with more people after talking with us. Some people
come back to ask questions after they read the material.
2. Using Display Boards Prompts New Yorkers to Ask Questions
Practitioners from Washington, DC, used display boards to clarify truth,
which worked very well. The portable display board can be held by one person.
It's about half the size of a standard poster and is usually made of cardboard
or plastic, materials that are light and strong. The pictures or phrases on the
boards have been carefully chosen so that they accurately and clearly deliver
our message to passers-by. This type of small display board has been widely used
in the US in parades and assemblies and when distributing flyers. They are more
effective than banners since they are easier for someone to hold and easier for
viewers to read. In our situation, since the passers-by are close to us, more
information can be conveyed since a display board can include both pictures and
sentences, but banners can't. Outdoor banners often sway or fold in the wind
making them hard for people to read. A display board, however, is very stable.
So Americans usually think that a good picture with a few well-chosen words is
more effective in getting the message across.
I want to share a few stories about using the portable display boards. I once
drove to Manhattan. After I parked my car and took out the display board, I made
sure everything was in order with the flyers neatly stacked and the board in
good condition. I held the display board and the flyers in a position that was
easy for others to read and for me to walk. Then I put on my backpack. As my
head was lowered making sure everything was all right, a boy suddenly ran up to
me and said, "Wish you good luck!" When I raised my head, he looked into my eyes
and nodded at me hard. When he saw I didn't understand him, he quietly pointed
to the display board that I had not yet erected. It pictured an older, Western
practitioner demonstrating one of the tortures used in China. Under the picture
in bold letters it says in English "Stop persecuting Falun Gong in China." I
immediately understood what he was saying. I looked into his eyes and said,
"Thank you." He nodded hard again, "You did well." I asked him, "Do you want to
a flyer? You can share Falun Gong stories with your family and your friends." He
was very happy. He took a flyer and read it as he walked away.
The day before the Republican National Conference began on August 29, I was
walking alone near 60th Street and 5th Avenue, holding a
display board. A lot of limousines and drivers were waiting along the curb. Some
looked like reporters or staff members. Many people noticed the board in my hand
when I passed by. Some took my flyers. When I pleasantly thanked those who took
the flyers, they and their companions all looked cheerful. Three
professional-looking young men stopped their conversation when they saw the sign
in my hand. When I passed near them, one of them calmly asked, "What is this
about?" I briefly told him what Falun Gong was, how it has been welcomed since
its introduction in 1992, how it has been severely persecuted in China since
1999, by whom and for what reason the persecution was initiated, and why Falun
Gong practitioners refuse to lie even under the threat of persecution. He was
obviously a quick thinker with good comprehension abilities. When I said that at
least a thousand practitioners had been persecuted to death for refusing to give
up cultivating Falun Gong since 1999, he said solemnly, "I will pray for you." I
smiled and thanked him sincerely. I turned around and continued to walk.
I arrived at an intersection next to a luxury hotel on 5th Avenue.
Not many people took the flyers there that day, but everyone who passed read the
display board. I also felt that the board attracted many glances from the
countless windows in the nearby buildings.
I ran into a few people who "accidentally" talked to me. One of them was a
very pretty Caucasian girl. She appeared to be less than ten years old and had
very good manners. Her mother stopped, with her daughter next to me, and talked
to two people. She had her back towards me, as if I were not there. The little
girl, however, looked at the board with interest. I smiled at her encouragingly
and turned the board a little bit so she could see it more clearly. After a
while, when I turned around to look at her again, she was turning around to look
at me also, and her big eyes expressed interest. I smiled and nodded to her,
asking her with my eyes if she wanted a flyer. She looked at her mother and
hesitated a little bit before she took a flyer from me. Then she boldly stepped
forward and said to me sincerely, "I hope you get what you want." I bent down
slightly and looked into her big eyes, which were filled with sympathy, and
said, "Thank you. You are a very nice girl. Please tell the story of Falun Gong
to more people. That way you are helping us to stop the persecution." She was
relatively young, so she was speechless for a while before she responded, "I
will."
Another Caucasian lady was wearing a dignified, tailored dress and didn't
look like a tourist, a causal shopper, or an ordinary employee. She passed by me
calmly but suddenly stopped. She took a look at the board and smiled as she said
hello to me. She then said, "I already know about the persecution, but what do
you want the US and Americans to do for you?" So we had an opportunity to talk
briefly. She asked few questions and then she elegantly expressed her opinion.
She said that China always did whatever it wanted to do; however, the US also
had its own problems that needed to be solved. She thought that President Bush
might not be tough enough for China to pay attention to his opinion. I gently
responded, "Over the long term, sooner or later justice will surface. Sometimes
we may not see immediate results for something, however, we still have to do
what we are supposed to do, otherwise the evil forces will be more rampant, and
the benevolent and innocent people will suffer more. In addition, China is no
longer the world of Jiang Zemin alone." I stopped at this point, as it seemed I
had said enough. She looked into my eyes, smiled, and left.
I stood at the entrance of a big bank, facing the street. I held the display
board and distributed flyers. I tried to keep myself alert and smiling. When I
stood straight, the board was also held straight, whether there were people
passing by or not, whether people took flyers from me or not. A professional
stepped out of the bank behind me and said, "Please give me one." He asked for a
newspaper in English that had "Falun Dafa" in distinctive type on the masthead
and went straight into the busy stream of people. My intuition as a cultivator
told me that he must have observed me for quite a while in the bank before he
came out to ask for the material.
I also met people who had taken flyers elsewhere. When they saw me holding a
display board by myself, they hesitated to come to talk to me. When I noticed
this, I usually said hello to them first and told them with a smile that if they
had any questions, to feel free to ask me. Many asked, "What exactly is Falun
Gong?" Many asked about what was truly happening. Some asked if I was the same
as those people protesting on another street. It turned out that other
practitioners were holding an anti-torture exhibition at a location where
permits were issued. Practitioners often held their banners facing the
buildings, with their backs towards the street. Other practitioners meditated
for a long time, facing the buildings next to the anti-torture exhibition. Many
Americans who passed by in a hurry didn't understand what was going on and
thought we were protesting against some companies in that building. For these
people, I often smiled and said, "Oh, we all practice Falun Gong, but we are not
protesting. Instead we are trying to make the public aware of Falun Gong." Then
I spent a few minutes briefly describing the situation of Falun Gong from 1992
to 1999 and from 1999 to the present. A lot of people complimented us and then
asked what they could do to help.
I also met many people who opposed the persecution but felt they couldn't do
anything about it. They said, "There are many problems everywhere. Bad things
happen everywhere. We can hardly do anything to help you. You probably just have
to pray for yourself." I would continue my conversation with them, ask them to
help by praying for Falun Gong, and tell them it would help if they shared their
Falun Gong information with their families and friends. Moreover, I knew that
many New Yorkers lived very stressful lives and felt helpless about a lot of
things. So I told them, "The reason I come here to tell you about Falun Gong is
not just to help the Falun Gong practitioners in China but also to help
everyone. If everyone treasures 'truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance,' bad
things won't happen so often. There will be more and more good people, and the
world will become better and better. Even if right now we may not have a choice
about living in an unsatisfactory environment, our minds and bodies will be able
to endure more and handle things better, and our lives will be more meaningful."
Sometimes I even gave a few examples of how fellow practitioners and I myself
have benefited from cultivation.
People liked to hear about Falun Gong. Some took our flyers when they learned
about the persecution. After they learned about the benefits of Falun Dafa, they
asked for the newspaper. Some asked for several copies for their families and
friends. Some worried that no practitioners were distributing flyers in the
street where their friends lived, so they asked for an extra copy for their
friends. Sometimes I had only a limited amount of materials left and wanted to
save some, so I asked them if they would like to have one flyer and one
newspaper and share with their families. Most of the time they were reluctant
and wanted to have their own copy, so I just satisfied their requests.
A lady came directly to me for a flyer when she saw the display board. She
also asked, "Where is the school?" She was actually asking where she could learn
Falun Gong, because her friend told her that Falun Gong had very good health
benefits. An old man in Manhattan had wanted to learn Falun Gong for a long
time, but there was no practice site near his home, and he hadn't bothered to
find one far away. When he met us, he asked for more materials to read.
In the subway station, many people paid attention to my board. Some came over
to ask for materials after they looked at the board for a while. Some were too
shy to ask, so I handed one to them. People who took a flyer often read it
carefully.
One time I took the wrong subway. After I got aboveground, I found out that I
had to walk a long way to my destination. Because my time was limited that day,
I decided to walk fast. Even so, people frequently stopped me because they saw
the display board in my hand. (I always made sure to hold my board in a position
that was easy for people to read, so I was holding an "anti-torture photo
exhibition" at all times.) People stopped me to ask questions. Some saw the
flyers or newspapers in my hand and asked for one. Once I passed a small park
and gave a flyer to a passer-by who was walking towards me from the opposite
direction and looking at the board. I also talked to him a little bit. Further
on, a black woman was sitting on a bench watching her child play. As I was in a
hurry, I walked by her quickly. She hadn't expected me to pass by without giving
her a flyer, so she called out after I had walked past her, "Miss, what is it
all about? Can you give me a flyer?" I looked around. Nobody else was
distributing flyers. I realized that she was calling for me. So I turned around
and handed her a flyer with a smile. She carefully read the board and asked a
few questions with a lot of interest before she let me go.
Once I was heading to the "anti-torture exhibition" to look for another
practitioner. I walked fast on my way and didn't pay much attention to
distributing flyers. I just held the display board to show people and sent
righteous thoughts when I walked. The owner of a store that sold souvenirs and
decorations stopped me. He wanted to see more clearly what was on the board.
After he read it, he asked for a flyer. People from the nearby stores also read
the board. They each took a flyer back to their counters to read.
At the entrance of a bank on 42nd Street, five gentlemen in trim
business suits passed by my display board. When I saw them, they were only two
steps away from me. They didn't look like ordinary working people. I thought I
shouldn't miss these people whom we rarely had the opportunity to meet. Even
though I didn't have time to say hello, I just quickly handed a flyer to the one
person who was surrounded by the others. He was astonished and instinctively
shied away from me. I saw his reaction and greeted him with a smile, "Hello, how
are you?" Then I said, "Please help us to stop the persecution." Fortunately
they had already seen my display board as they approached, so he didn't get
upset with me. One of the people next to him (either his bodyguard or his
assistant) hinted with a friendly look that I should give him a flyer . I handed
him one as well. All this happened in just a few seconds. His boss complimented
me with a smile. Later, when they were making phone calls on the sidewalk not far
from me, the assistant read his flyer very carefully.
When we tell the truth about Falun Gong on the streets in Manhattan, we may
run into all kinds of people, including those whom we have forgotten to contact
and those who are hard to catch. We may meet media reporters, businessmen,
businesswomen, or politicians. It is essential to be able to clearly and
completely clarify the truth in just a few minutes, to accurately and briefly
point out the key points, and to talk in a way that is easily understood. To do
this requires that we continue to add to our knowledge base, that we are able to
think clearly, and that we learn how to speak effectively to westerners, in
addition to cultivating our character as Dafa practitioners. Every time I went
to Manhattan to clarify the truth, I realized the importance of organizing
information and materials. I had an opportunity to ponder and to learn, and I
also felt part of the progress of Fa-rectification. In sharing my experience, I
have realized, as have the many other practitioners who have been clarifying the
truth in Manhattan, that facing such a complicated international metropolis, we
must keep our minds clear and rational at all times. We must constantly improve
ourselves in order to better clarify the truth to more people; we must adapt
ourselves to the demand of Fa-rectification in a timely way; and we must meet
our responsibilities to accomplish our mission.
(To be continued)
Chinese version available at
http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/9/5/83390.html
Yearly Archive
Printer Version
feedback@clearwisdom.net