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A Woman Recovers from a Childhood Polio Disability
By a Falun Dafa practitioner from Rongcheng, Shandong Province
(Clearwisdom.net) My name is Mai Xiu, and I am 43 years old. I am from
Rongcheng City, Shandong Province. I was born in an ordinary family. Including
all my siblings, there are five of us. When I was three years old, I had polio
and was paralyzed on the right side of my body. It is not hard to imagine what
my life was like the past few decades. Since I started practicing Falun Dafa,
however, my life has completely changed. I am sharing my personal experience so
that people will not believe the slanderous propaganda perpetuated by Jiang
Zemin's regime. Falun Dafa is truly extraordinary, and my Teacher is here to
save people. In my early childhood, I could only crawl around. After three or four years,
my mother could not bear to see me like that. She sold everything that was worth
any money in our home so that I could get medical treatment. After the
treatment, I was just barely able to stand up and walk, but I had difficulty
keeping my balance and often tripped. My posture when I walked was very awkward,
too. When I was in school, I couldn't participate in any physical education
classes or do physical labor like my classmates did. I cried silently, watching
them walk away every time. Whenever I tripped in front of others, I was often so
embarrassed that I wished there was a hole in the ground that I could hide
myself in. Pitied and ridiculed by others, I finished junior high school with
great difficulty. After I graduated, the only work I could manage to do was
embroidery at home. Since I could not lift my right arm, it took a lot of effort
even to do embroidery. When I reached the age to marry, my mother was afraid that I would be
mistreated if I married someone outside of our village, so I married someone
from the same village. After I got married, I had to take care of a household as
well as do embroidery. Since I had difficulty moving about, I found that I did
not have enough time to do everything, so I stayed up late at night to do the
embroidery. As time passed, I was not able to cope with these physical demands,
and I started to have headaches. At first, I had a headache once every few days
and vomited each time. With headaches came dizziness, and I was not able to do
anything, so I took painkillers. Later, I started getting a headache every other
day. Eventually I developed severe neurasthenia. Taking painkillers no longer
relieved my headaches, and even with three sleeping pills I didn't get much
sleep. I had no appetite, and I became very thin. Life was difficult. The
medicine for treating neurasthenia is very expensive and must be taken
regularly. I was not willing to take on that financial burden, so I only took
Oryzanol pills, a plant-derived supplement. However, the side effect of this
medicine made me feel like I had lost my mind after taking it. Then in a
magazine I saw a folk remedy for curing migraines without spending any money. It
said to drink a cup of one's own urine every morning. Without no other recourse,
I forced myself to try it. There are no words that can express how I felt. I
felt like throwing up every time I saw urine. After two weeks, my headaches
remained the same. Whenever I walked, all the weight on my right foot pressed against the bone
of the big toe. During my school years, every pair of shoes had a hole at the
same spot. As I grew older, the bone started to hurt more and more. Every step
was like walking on a knife. When my sister and I went to work on the hill, she
wanted to push me in a cart. I did not want others to make fun of me, so I
limped along in pain. Every time we finished working, I had to massage my foot
before I could walk home. I tried soaking my foot in warm water and using a
medicinal plaster, but nothing helped. It hurt the same. Moreover, I could only
wear shoes with soft soles. My left arm was over-used after I gave birth to my
child. I could not even lift a knife without feeling pain afterwards. Whenever I had pain in my arm or foot, I could try to use my arm less or walk
less, but the headaches were intolerable. One headache was so bad that I took
painkillers for three days with no relief. I was very worried and did not know
what to do. Then my sister-in-law said, "I heard Falun Gong is pretty good;
why don't you try it?" "My arm and leg are no good, so how could I
practice?" I said. But she replied, "You cannot lift your arm, but how
abut trying to sit across legged?" On the first try, I was able to sit
cross-legged in the double lotus position. My sister-in-law said that was okay.
At that time, I did not know that Falun Gong is the cultivation that emphasizes
one's xinxing. I will never forget the day I learned about Falun Gong. It was February 2,
1997. After a few days of practicing, my headache was gone. I stopped taking
medicine, and I could eat and sleep normally. Step by step, the bone on my foot
stopped hurting, too. I can wear leather shoes and walk all over the place now.
And I don't get tired, no matter how far I walk. I am able to do all kinds of
physical work. My parents are almost 80 years old. My mother had a stroke in
1999, and she cannot take care of herself. In the past five years, I have taken
on the responsibility of looking after her. I cook for her and do her laundry
every day, rain or shine. That is because Teacher has taught us, "From now on, whatever you do, you should consider others first, so as
to attain the righteous Enlightenment of selflessness and altruism."
(From "Non-Omission in Buddha-Nature" in Essentials for Further
Advancement) My four siblings are very grateful to me for what I have done. I told them,
"I would not do so if I had not learned Falun Gong. I was physically the
weakest among all my sisters, even without the disability. But now I am healthy
and able to take care of others. It is all because of Falun Dafa. It has given
me a second life." My grandmother (my father's stepmother) is 90 years old now. I cook for her,
too, including making steamed buns, dumplings for holidays, and other food. In
the wintertime, I often get up before dawn to clean up the snow in our yard, and
then I clean the snow in her yard, too. In July 2002, I found a job. I don't
know how to ride a bicycle, so I walked to work every day. For a time, I worked
17 hours a day for seven or eight days straight. I usually worked until 11 or 12
o'clock at night. I would go home, sleep, and then get up to go to work again.
But I was full of vitality. My neighbors commented that I was made of steel.
After a few months, I had made over 1,800 yuan. Our family contracts about five
hectares of farmland. In the fall, we harvest peanuts. I also help my sisters to
harvest theirs. I worked over 10 hours a day. Every morning, I would get up
before dawn to feed the two-dozen otters that we raise. My sister has an
orchard. We put bags over the apples in the spring and take the bags off in the
fall right before harvesting. I would get up at four o'clock in the morning and
work until dark, but I didn't feel tired at all, as if I hadn't even worked.
Compared to when I was sick, I am a completely new person. In the past seven
years, I have not taken a single pill of medicine. I feel so fortunate. Even
with the most magnificent words in the whole world, I still cannot express my
gratitude toward Teacher. Not only did Teacher purify my body, he also purified
my heart. I am able to keep good relationships with my mother-in-law and all my
neighbors. Teacher taught us to think about others at all times and look inside
when there is conflict. One time I picked up 10 yuan on the street, and I gave
it to an elderly person who did not have money to see a doctor. I cultivate
myself according to Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance constantly. There
have been enormous changes in my body, and my moral standard has also improved
greatly. I am happy with my life, and I feel so fortunate to able to practice
Falun Dafa. Then Jiang Zemin initiated the brutal persecution of Falun Gong on July 20,
1999. The state media started fabricating stories to defame Falun Gong, and the
lies ignited hatred in people's minds. The secret order to "ruin Falun Gong
practitioners' reputations, bankrupt them financially, and destroy them
physically" was issued. The cruel persecution spread all over China. I want
so much to tell the people about my personal experience, especially those
precious Chinese people who have been deceived by the lies. But how much freedom
does a person like me have under the propaganda of a state-run machine? With one
sentence, "Falun Dafa is good," one may be sent to prison or a forced
labor camp. What can a government like this do for its people? Isn't this kind
of government terrifying? Jiang Zemin instigated this persecution without any
regard to the kind-hearted Falun Gong practitioners. The result is terrifying.
It attacks the basic human moral standards. It encourages falsehoods, violence
and hatred, and it pushes the human race to the brink of danger. In a society
where evil is rampant and everybody fears for their safety, how can one talk
about happiness? On the other hand, Falun Gong practitioners have remained
peaceful, faithful and unyielding under the brutal persecution. They are the
hope of China and the rest of the world. Falun Dafa is the highest principle of the universe. It has spread to over 60
countries in just a few years. As of February 2004, Falun Dafa's principle book Zhuan
Falun has been translated into over 20 languages and published all over the
world; Falun Gong has been translated into 30 languages, and translations
to many more languages are underway. As of February 2004, 1223 proclamations and
certificates have been issued to Falun Dafa and its founder by many governments,
legislators, and organizations, including 1051 from the U.S., 135 from Canada,
12 from Australia, nine from Taiwan, six from China before 1999, six from
Europe, and one each from New Zealand, Japan, Indonesia and Peru. Since 2000,
our Teacher has received nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize for four
consecutive years. To all our precious Chinese friends, you should have some understanding of
Falun Gong by now. Please cherish every flyer and handout we gave to you. This
is the beginning of recognizing the lies and walking toward a bright future. Let
us stop this evil persecution together. March 17, 2005 |