(Minghui.org) My father had been in bad health since childhood. He suffered from many diseases including tuberculosis, chronic gastritis, and he had a nervous breakdown. In the early 1990's, when Qigong practice was at the height of popularity, he began to resort to Qigong to heal himself. But he was never cured of any illnesses until he began practicing Falun Gong in 1996. The illnesses that had afflicted him for nearly 40 years disappeared without any medical treatment. From then on he has persevered in the practice with constant faith.
Back then he was a government official in charge of purchasing goods. Many clients who wanted to sell him their goods visited him privately. He never accepted any of the presents they brought for him and he never accepted any of the money they offered to pay him for buying their goods. Some people left presents at our door when he was not home, but he always sent them back later. Some of his clients thought the reason he did not accept the gifts was because their presents had failed to satisfy him. When he told them that he did not accept them because he practiced Falun Gong, they gained a heartfelt respect toward Falun Gong.
When the persecution of Falun Gong began in 1999, my father was a target for persecution because of his high position. The police from the local police station kept coming to our home to harass us. They ransacked our home many times and sent my father to a brainwashing center. He was confined in an iron cage at the local police station, and they called it a “home arrest”.
Back then I was quite bewildered by his perseverance to practice Falun Gong despite all of the persecution he suffered. He said: “My work as a government official is not for personal gain. I do my job to offer public service to people. I have never thought about getting any personal profit from doing my work. What I did, was only to do well what I was supposed to do in my position. For me, there is no difference between that position and any other.” His words astounded me, but I knew that he must have found something much more meaningful which gave him the wisdom to refrain from pursuing a higher position, fame, personal interests and money.
When I graduated from the university, only my mother picked me up from the railway station. With the help of my mother, I carried my luggage home and in my mind I was complaining about my father not being there.
When I arrived at home, I saw the empty TV box and computer desk. The police had ransacked our home and I was astonished. I asked my mother what had happened. My question brought on her grief and she began to cry, telling me all that had happened. My father had been arrested, our home was ransacked, and the police took away almost everything, including the TV. She did not tell me earlier what had happened, because she did not want such heavy news to affect my studies.
During his detention he was brought to trial several times. He appealed but the appeals were rejected. Then he appealed again. Although his lawyer provided a concrete and convincing defense, and the judge and prosecutors found no words to refute him, my father was nonetheless sentenced to three years in prison.
Every day that I spent with my mother was full of sorrow, and every day seemed as long as a year. Many Falun Gong practitioners that we had never met before came to our home and with warm-heartedness expressed their concern for my father, and helped my mother through the most difficult times. Some of them took the initiative to go to the police station to request my father's release while others saw to our day-to-day living needs. Some left fruit at our door and left without a word. Their kindness brought warmth to our home and relieved us from anguish and anxiety.
The court did not try my father until 20 months after he was first detained. When I finally saw my father after so long, his peaceful and noble presence was evident when he described to the judge the facts about Falun Gong: “Falun Gong has been wronged. Please restore the Falun Gong founder's reputation. Falun Dafa is righteous.”
He felt sorry that the judge was not able to maintain the dignity of the law. He was worried about the prosecutor's failure to uphold justice and was indignant that the police disregarded the law.
I saw his broadmindedness and noble nature. The overwhelming righteousness he demonstrated on that occasion stirred my soul and moved me to tears. I felt only respect and admiration towards him.
When the trial ended, I followed the police car that was taking my father to prison out of the courtyard gate. The scene that I saw that day will forever leave an impression on me. In the biting cold wind hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners were standing at the side of the road to acknowledge my father. Because the court prohibited practitioners from attending the trial, they chose to show their support by quietly standing in the cold wind to protest the authorities' persecution of my father. Some of them had been there for more than four hours. They were people of all ages and from all walks of life and they did not know each other. They were there for the sole purpose of waiting for my father.
In their silence they were speaking out to the authorities: “Those with political power no longer have a conscience and deprive the common man by not upholding justice and the rule of law, but instead use it to harm human nature.” What the practitioners did that day demonstrated their never-bending spirit, their conviction to maintain their faith in the cosmic truths, and their invincible willpower that would defeat any attack.
My soul was so stirred by their magnificent courage, fortitude, and never-bending spirit, I was in tears.
The spirit of the Falun Gong practitioners profoundly moved my family and my relatives. After this, many of them began to learn the facts about Falun Gong and they began to see the evil nature of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). All of us have quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations and 11 of us even began practicing Falun Gong. Like my father, we became cultivators in Falun Dafa and walk the path of returning to our true selves with unwavering determination.
From the Call for Submissions to Commemorate the Twentieth Anniversary of Falun Dafa’s Introduction
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