(Clearwisdom) In June 2004, a local TV channel ran a story of a person who returned money she had found on the street. Ms. Peng was revered as a person of lofty character because she found 68,000 yuan on the streets and returned the money to its rightful owner without receiving any token of appreciation in return. It is very rare for anyone to do what she has done in today’s China where self-interest becomes the most important thing. The owner of the money published an open letter to thank Ms. Peng for her honesty and kindness.
I am the Ms. Peng in the story. However, the TV station did not reveal that I practice Falun Gong. I decided to share the story so that the world will know the complete truth.
On June 9, 2004 I was on my way to my mother’s home after lunch when I noticed a red plastic bag on the streets. I thought it might be garbage because littering is very common. I decided to pick it up and throw it into the trash can. I gave it a light kick to find it was loaded with contents. I opened it only to find bundles of bills in the bag. I looked around and did not see anyone. Who on earth would be so careless? The owner must have been really anxious when he/she found the money was missing. One could buy an apartment of about 90 square meters in my city for that amount of money.
I did not have any thought of greed. I was feeling anxious for the owner. I forgot about going to my mother’s or going home to discuss it with my husband. It was scorching hot in June, but I stood there waiting for the owner to show up.
About 30 minutes later, a man in his 40’s showed up. He pushed his motorbike along the road while searching around on the ground. He was a colleague of my husband. In fact, we live in the same complex. My husband’s organization has gone under. Everyone has lost his/her job. Most people are doing small businesses to make ends meet.
I approached him and asked, “What are you looking for?” He answered in an evasive manner, “I am not looking for anything in particular.” I asked, “Are you looking for this bag with money in it?” He nodded repeatedly, “Yes. Yes. Yes.” I handed the money to him and asked, “Check if all the money is there.” He counted the bundles of money seven times and confirmed, “Yes. 68,000 yuan. I was on my way to the bank to make a deposit. I didn’t know my satchel had a hole and this bag just fell out of my satchel.” He said excitedly, “Thank you!” Next he produced 100 yuan and asked me to accept it as a token of appreciation. I smiled at him and said, “I don’t need your money. I practice Falun Gong. My teacher asked us to follow the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance to become better people. We are required to be thoughtful of others. No loss; no gain. I will not take one penny from others. On the other hand, I would not have been able to do this if I had not practiced Falun Gong. I might have taken the money if I had not been practicing Falun Gong.”
That evening, the man and his wife called me and asked to buy gifts for my daughter, but I declined. They decided to write a thank-you letter and send it to a local TV station and ask them to praise such a noble action I have taken. They even showed me the thank-you, in which they described that I am a Falun Gong practitioner and that I returned the money only because I follow Falun Gong’s teaching.
Now I would like to share my story of practicing Falun Gong. I was born in 1961. I started practicing Falun Gong in 1996. My husband attended Mr. Li Hongzhi’s Falun Gong classes as early as 1994. My husband, my daughter and I had been very healthy and happy since we started practicing Falun Gong. However, everything changed since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started persecuting Falun Gong in July 1999. My husband’s wages were suspended. I have a disability in my right hand and am handicapped, but I am receiving only a minimum insurance benefit of 100 yuan. My husband has been repeatedly arrested and fined for practicing Falun Gong. Our home has been repeatedly ransacked and a large amount of money and personal belongings have been confiscated. We became increasingly poor. We had to pay for our daughter’s college tuition when I found the money. Yet even the most difficult circumstances would not tempt me to take money that did not belong to me.
When the man went back to the bank to make a deposit, a cashier asked, “I thought you lost your money.” The man told him the story. People at the bank said what a good person it was to return the money to him. The man did not dare to tell them that it was a Falun Gong practitioner. All of a sudden the cashier exclaimed, “I’ve got it! It must have been a Falun Gong practitioner that returned the money to you!” The man finally confessed, “Yes! Yes! Yes! She and her husband both practice Falun Gong!”
The story was quickly spread in my area. It became a local sensation. Some said, “Falun Gong practitioners have lost their marbles not to keep the money.” Some said, “Falun Gong practitioner truly have lofty character!”
Several days later two reporters found my mother and asked her, “What did you think your daughter was thinking when she found the money? Why did she return it to the owner?” My mother said, “Falun Gong practitioners are all like her. Only a teacher with lofty character will produce students with lofty character.”
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