(Clearwisdom.net, December 21, 2003) During the opening of a new Library Building, street development and centenary celebration in Nerang, Petals of Peace were shared with many in the community through making lotus flowers for awareness and peace. From the very young to the elderly, the wider community gathered round our table to experience making a lotus flower or collect information, discuss with practitioners and read our colorful photo and information display on the outside of our gazebo. This display shared little Fadu's precious story of how her dad lost his life in China simply for persevering in his practice of Falun Gong and following the principles of Truth, Compassion and Tolerance. Little Fadu, a Chinese-Australian, and her life story is the inspiration behind Petals of Peace.

Gazebo display
Exercise demonstrations

We were positioned beside the Combined Churches refuge tent and reasonably close to a small stage for local dance academies and songsters. An opportunity arose for a practitioner to offer neighborly thoughtfulness to the church group by providing help to secure a continually falling down sign on their tent. While people were sitting watching the stage, they were well positioned to observe our display of exercises under our Petals of Peace banner. After watching the performances, many came over to collect handouts or try their hand at making a lotus. Hundreds of Petals of Peace flyers and Falun Dafa brochures were given out.

Young and old learning to make origami lotuses

One young lady asked how we could share Petals of Peace with the school children, seeing Falun Gong was so controversial. It proved an opportunity to share in general the real facts about the persecution, how Amnesty International has documented evidence, together with the fact that our local Griffith University lecturer and Barrister is working with his students in law together with QC Geoffrey Robinson to represent Zhang Cuiying in a lawsuit against Jiang Zemin for genocide of Falun Gong practitioners. Zhang Cuiying, an Australian citizen, herself was tortured in jail in China for eight months. This fits nicely into schools' human rights studies and the lawsuits can be explored in legal studies under the high school curriculum. With such involvement on our doorstep, this helps to validate the reality of the persecution.

Hearing about little Fadu's story and the folding of lotus flowers as a symbol of awareness and hope for world peace, a young primary school child shared with a practitioner the story of making origami cranes. Every time the story about the bombing of Hiroshima in Japan is read to them at school, they always make cranes and think about the young child who, through her sickness and before passing away, made hundreds of cranes. It clearly shows how little Fadu's story and the folding of lotus flowers is equally valid and acceptable in the primary schools with these young children.

An effort was often made to explore further what different ideals could be written on the lily pad leaf under the flowers. Some of the things children and parents chose were love, peace, kindness, tolerance and compassion, making this a very practical way help people connect with Falun Dafa's principles of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance."

A beautiful glass-encased display of lotus flowers and posters later displayed in the library for our upcoming library workshop on lotus flower making, allowed further sharing of Petals of Peace with the community. A Saturday morning was enjoyed by parents and children and a grandma. We read Fadu's story, immediately opening up discussion about the persecution in China.

Source: http://www.falunau.org/indexArticle.jsp?itemID=1063

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Category: Parades & Other Community Events