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My Experiences Clarifying the Truth in Manhattan

Feb. 3, 2006 |   By a Chinese Practitioner in Tainan, Taiwan

(Clearwisdom.net)

There were very few fellow practitioners who signed on to go to Manhattan to clarify the truth on a recent trip planned by practitioners from Taiwan. I thought I might go by myself. I felt a little tense because I did not speak fluent English. That did not sway my determination, because validating Dafa must never be influenced either by human notions or by the outward appearance in front of our eyes. Later another practitioner also decided to go, and unexpectedly had the same itinerary as mine.

After I got there, I found out that clarifying the truth in Manhattan is very difficult. With the uncertainty of whether enough practitioners would be able to help out with the anti-torture exhibit, practitioners persisted for more than one year and 3 months. I felt we were like groups of reinforcing brigades, constantly fulfilling every requirement as required by the Fa rectification process and reducing the manpower shortage at each site. Everything appeared to be random, yet in fact things were quite orderly. Each day we would go to the anti-torture exhibit site, automatically decide on our own roles and do what we should do. Some would re-enact the torture, some would practice the exercises, and some would explain what was going on and ask for petition signatures. Tourists constantly come and go in Manhattan. Many of them film and photograph with their cameras and camcorders. Some even come to learn the exercises. People constantly ask, "What is happening? Why?"

Once I was acting the torture of solitary confinement within a tight cell. A man kneeled in front of me and kept on asking me, "Are you alright? What happened to you?" The practitioner next to me immediately went to explain to her what was going on in China. She signed our petition on the spot, appealing to stop this persecution. Yet most of the New York white collar workers hardly paid any attention to what we were doing. Some even just watched us from behind their office windows. With our continued and persistent truth clarification, and sending forth righteous thoughts, more and more of them started to pay close attention to the persecution.

Arriving at the anti-torture exhibit, I suddenly realized that many people in Manhattan did not really understand the evil nature of the Communist Party, and they had intricate economic and business ties with it. Many of them were deceived by the Communist Party. This was one of the major obstacles for them to understand the truth, because they thought this had nothing to do with them. When they realized the true nature of the Communist Party, they realized that this persecution concerned everybody. So I decided to distribute the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party. That day many people took the Nine Commentaries.

During this period we also discussed whether we should help out in promoting the NTD-TV Chinese New Year Gala, or continue our anti-torture exhibit so that more people would know the truth. Regardless what approaches would we took, our purpose was to let more people be aware of the truth, and we considered selecting the approach that could be most easily accepted by people.

During my stay in New York to clarify the truth, I also took the opportunity to visit some of the tourists' spots in New York, such as the World's Fair Exhibit Hall, the Statue of Liberty, Staten Island Park, etc. I hoped that I could use the minimum amount of time to accomplish the most tasks while in New York. Other than clarifying truth at tourists' spots, I also wanted to write down my traveling stories in Manhattan so that more people would learn about the bits and pieces of what's happening in Manhattan, including the anti-torture exhibit staged by Falun Gong practitioners. In fact, ever since I arrived in Manhattan, the weather got colder by the day, and even the street often got iced over. Yet, I never saw fewer people walking on the street, and every day there were many different ethnic groups of people passing by. Some of them were indifferent, and some were shocked. Regardless, they were all moving around Dafa. I urge practitioners who have the resources and ability not to ignore the hope of sentient beings in Manhattan.