(Clearwisdom.net) I live with non-practitioners, and though I spend a lot of time at my day job, and with cultivation and Fa-rectification work, I still spend some time every day with my roommates. I try my best to be a good person, cleaning up the house and washing the dishes, even if it is not my turn.

This has left a very good impression on my roommates, and they treat me with respect. However, I was never sure whether this respect for me meant that they respected Dafa, especially since I have only been able to clarify the truth to them on a very shallow level.

A recent incident showed me how important it is for us to leave a good impression and image with those who know us directly so that they may support Falun Dafa in the future.

A few days ago, I went to an electronics store to buy some items. As I was finishing my purchase, I heard the salespeople badmouthing a religion and laughing about the people who practiced it.

I felt very bad. Even though they were not badmouthing Falun Gong, my professor practices the religion that those people were mocking. I know my professor; he is an extremely nice and kind person. He is very supportive of Dafa and my truth-clarifying activities; whenever I have asked for time off from research in order to attend truth-clarification events, he has always given me permission. He has given me and his other students a lot of help in our professional and personal lives.

So when I heard the salespeople badmouthing the religion, I felt bad. I did not know much about the religion; I only knew that my professor firmly believed in it, and that he was a very nice man. I felt like their saying something about the religion was equivalent to insulting this nice man.

Then it suddenly struck me -- wasn't Master giving me a hint?

If all of us can play a good role, and show those who are closest to us our true and kind natures, wouldn't they all have a good impression about us and Dafa? Wouldn't they be supportive of us, and hence of Falun Gong, and say a good word for us in times of trouble?

Sometimes, I have felt as though I waste time in being a "good person" when I could be doing more work to save sentient beings. However, this incident showed me that we have to be good people as well, and we must leave a good impression on those who have strong predestined relationships with us and who are savable.

Master said in "Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Boston,"

"You are cultivators, whose conduct is [supposed to be] pure and righteous. There are so many people who think you're great just by having seen how you act. If we don't pay attention to our own behavior in our daily lives, everyday people will see our actions and, since they can't get to know you at a deep level such as by studying the Fa (1), they will just look at how you act. And it's possible that one sentence or one action of yours will make them unsavable or create a bad impression of Dafa. We need to think about these things."

Even though my roommates and family only have a surface understanding of Falun Gong, they know that I am a very nice person. I have proven to them over the last three years of my cultivation that Dafa has made me a better human being and a better student, and this has really helped reduce a lot of interference and tribulations that they originally made for me.

Let us do well in balancing our work and everyday lives; let us show the world's people that Falun Gong practitioners are the best people in all walks of life!

These are just a few understandings at my level. I hope that fellow practitioners can kindly point out any mistakes.

(1) Fa: Law and principles; the teachings of Falun Dafa.

Posting date: 9/16/2004
Original article date: 9/15/2004
Category: Practitioners' Insights

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