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Passing Through the Cold and Welcoming the Warmth of Summer - Clarifying the Truth in Manhattan - Part 1
(Clearwisdom.net) As soon as the Chicago Falun Dafa Conference was
over, I used my summer vacation time to return to Manhattan's streets. With
practitioners from Canada, Taiwan, and other countries, we continued to
clarify the facts to the tourists who came from all over of the
world, and to New Yorkers. We showed them that innocent Falun Gong practitioners
are being brutally persecuted in mainland China. I had also spent all of my
winter vacation on the streets of Manhattan clarifying the facts. They were the
most valuable days of my life. Although I only spent a week clarifying the facts this summer, it felt quite
different from my experiences last winter. Therefore, I wrote down some of my
encounters and my feelings from the two vacations. 1. People Are Awakening Last winter, New York was extremely cold, and so some New Yorkers ignored the
information flyers that we offered to them as they hurried by. However, after
arriving this summer, I was surprised to see that more and more people are
taking the truth flyers that we hand out, and most are willing to sign their
names to our petition to express their support. Many people also ask us,
"What can I do to help stop the persecution?" More than 50% of New
Yorkers have already learned the facts. In fact, we have clarified the truth in
Manhattan for over a year now. Once, an Arab-American living in New York very patiently listened to me
describe stories about how innocent and kind practitioners have been persecuted
only because they didn't want to give up their belief in
"Truthfulness-Compassion- Forbearance." After listening, he expressed
his sympathy. When I mentioned that he could sign his name on a petition, he
said he didn't want to. Still, I sincerely thanked him and told him from my
heart, "Even though you didn't sign your name today, as long as you have
this kindness towards us, you certainly can be saved." In a while, I
actually discovered that he was signing his name to the petition offered by
another practitioner. I felt happy in my heart and smiled to myself. I really feel that after clarifying the facts for over a year on Manhattan's
streets, the evil has been eliminated in massive quantities and people have been
awakening. 2. Expecting People When a person chooses to support Falun Dafa, he has been saved. When
collecting people's signatures, oftentimes I was quite moved by some of the things that happened. Once, when an African American New Yorker visited our Torture Exhibit for the
second time, I asked him whether he had heard that Falun Gong practitioners were
being persecuted. He replied: "Yes, but I didn't pay too much attention
before. I thought that you were against the American government. Several days
ago, I learned that it is the Chinese government that is persecuting good
people." I told him that the practitioners here on the streets weren't New
Yorkers. Some came from counties such as England, Taiwan, Israel, or Japan, and
others came from different American states. We all used our own money and our
vacations, and group by group, practitioners from different places of the world
came to New York. It didn't matter whether it was raining and windy or whether
it was cold winter or hot summer. Our purpose, day after day as we stood on the
streets, was to tell people that the Chinese Government was cruelly persecuting
Falun Gong practitioners in China. We want all people to know about the crimes
committed by the Chinese government so that together, we can stop the
persecution. He enthusiastically agreed with me and thought that what was
occurring in China was not only encroaching on Chinese human rights but also on
the basic human rights of people throughout the whole world. Different countries
and races should all declare that the persecution must stop. I told him that we
would be holding a benefit concert soon. The money raised would be used to
rescue children whose parents had been persecuted to death, were still in forced
labor camps, or were living on the run to avoid harassment and imprisonment just
because they were not willing to give up the practice of Falun Gong. At such
young ages, many children have lost their parents and have been left with no one
to support them. He immediately wrote down the concert ticket hot-line number. One time, after a husband and wife signed the petition, I mentioned the
orphan rescue concert. He asked, "Is the performance free?"
"Yes," I said. Then he said, "This is extremely noble and just
behavior, I must do my best to support it." Before he left, he patted my
shoulder a of couple times and sincerely said to me, "What you are doing is
a significant thing, please keep it up." His inspiring words remained in my
heart for a long time. Another time, when I asked a man if he would sign the petition, he said,
"Of course!" Without any hesitation, he signed his name and meanwhile,
pulled out his wallet to donate some money. He may have already known about the
persecution in China. Every day, countless people stop and look at our torture re-enactment. Some
of them photograph the information boards and some carefully read the details
about the persecution. People of different races and different cultures
frequently ask the same question: "Why have the good people, who practice
"Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" suffered such brutal
torture?" People living in free countries and breathing free air just can't
imagine the situation that exits under the cruel reign of the Chinese Communist
Party (CCP). Ordinary Chinese people have lost their most basic human rights
including the right to be good people. I repeatedly exposed to the people
passing by me how the evil CCP cruelly rules in China. Even when my throat
became hoarse, I couldn't ignore the people who wanted to learn the facts. I
also knew that after people learned the truth, they would stand by Falun Dafa
without hesitation. 3. The Precious Chinese People Last winter, when we offered the flyers to mainland Chinese people, most
refused to take them. But this summer, the situation noticeably changed. One day, two Chinese people on bicycles were attracted by the banner, "Falun
Dafa is good." Being very curious, they stopped and looked towards us from
a distance but did not come over to our torture exhibit. I immediately went over
to them. One asked me: "Have you been paid by Falun Gong practitioners to
stand there?" I smiled after hearing what he said. I asked him, "If
your mother was arrested because she practiced Falun Gong and was tortured to
death, as her son, wouldn't you want to appeal for her? You would hope that all
people could learn the truth and help you to stop the crimes. Everyone here is a
volunteer and a Falun Gong practitioner." Without waiting for me to finish
my sentence, he said, "I understand." So I gave both cyclists some
Chinese language information flyers, which they happily accepted. During the first week of clarifying the truth in New York this summer, I
found many Chinese were willing to take the truth materials that we offered
them. When Chinese people passed by in a hurry, I always caught up with them and
handed them some truth materials. Teacher has mentioned over and over that
Chinese people are here to attain Falun Dafa. Some of them came from very high
levels. However, the majority of Chinese have been deceived by the CCP's slander
of Falun Gong and they have negative thoughts about Dafa. They are the ones who
urgently need to be saved. On another day, a young female student stopped in front of our torture
exhibit and quietly read the information on the posters. I gave her a VCD and a
Chinese booklet containing information about the persecution and the goodness of
Falun Gong. She quietly accepted the materials. I asked her to sign the
petition, which she did without speaking. I asked if she came from Taiwan. She
told me with a smile that she came from mainland China. 4. A Young Fellow Seeking a Righteous Way After I finished clarifying the facts about the persecution to an African
American New Yorker, the young fellow asked me about Falun Gong. I told him that
Falun Gong is the highest level qigong that teaches a righteous way and
cultivation. He was very excited and wanted to learn the Falun Gong exercises
right there. I told him that studying Falun Dafa and practicing the excises in a
group were the best way. So I gave him a flyer with the contact information of
all of the assistants in the New York area as well as a list of the practice
sites. I told him, "Any Falun Dafa practitioner will gladly teach you the
exercises for free." He was very happy and thanked me many times. I met a young Russian tourist. When I told him that during 50 plus years of
CCP tyranny, 80 million Chinese people had lost their lives, he said that when
Stalin ruled the Soviet Union, 10 million Russians also lost their lives. He
completely agreed with me that the communist party is an extremely evil entity.
He thought that the CCP did not have much time left. After that, he told me that
he practiced one kind of Chinese Qigong, and when I told him some profound
principles of Falun Gong, he completely understood them. He said that he was
leaving the next day to return to Russia. My intuition told me that he was a
person who had a destined relationship with Falun Dafa, so I suggested that he
get on the internet, find the Falun Gong practice sites in Moscow and download
the Russian version of Zhuan Falun for free. He happily accepted my
suggestions. I will spend my entire summer vacation in Manhattan. Every day, standing on
the noisy streets and breathing the exhaust fumes from passing vehicles, we
insist on exposing the evil crimes of the Chinese Government cruelly persecuting
just and kind people. Because we live frugally, a steamed bun with a little bit
of preserved vegetable is our lunch. As more and more people learn the facts and
stand by Dafa, what else can be more significant and joyful than saving people's
lives? I will continue to write down some of the true stories and experiences as
they occur around me. Although they are only small things, we can see that
during the Fa-rectification period, people are awakening. |