(Minghui.org) I took part in a one-day Falun Gong information event in Trier, Germany on May 5. The goal was to call public attention to the persecution of Falun Gong in China. Many practitioners traveled to Trier to participate in this large-scale event.
Prior to my arrival, I reminded myself that it was extremely important to follow the instructions of the coordinators, stay positive, and keep my xinxing high if conflicts arose.
As we exited the train station at Trier, my husband (not a Falun Gong practitioner) went off to tour the city, and I headed to the designation meeting place. A German practitioner (I will call her Practitioner A), wearing a “coordinator” tag, stopped me along with a few other practitioners and told us to go to a different site.
I was a little unwilling to change my plan because my husband and I had already agreed to meet at the original site at the end of day. I explained my situation to practitioner A. She replied, “You have to listen to the coordinator when you come to an event like this.”
I thought about the potential problems of changing the meeting location with my husband in an unfamiliar city. There was construction at the train station and we'd had to find the temporary station, which already complicated our travel plans. I also worried about not being able to find my husband in the crowded city and possibly missing our train. As I was preparing to explain my difficulty to Practitioner A, I overheard her repeating what she had just said to me to another practitioner: “You have to listen to the coordinator when you come to an event like this, unconditionally.”
I gave up reasoning with Practitioner A and decided to head to the place I was told to go. I planned to just come back here a little ahead of time to meet my husband, and all should be fine.
Since I can speak German, Practitioner A allocated a few other practitioners to me, and she asked me to be the leader. She told me what to do, gave me a map, a clipboard for signing petitions, and two banners to hold up. She urged us to hurry to the site and find Practitioner B, who would give us further instructions. She repeatedly asked us to make haste, and it seemed that we were the only ones heading in that direction.
I was anxious and ready to go. I turned around to see my group, but they were all gone. The five practitioners in my group were nowhere to be seen. I couldn't possibly carry all the equipment alone. I was dumbfounded.
My original plan was to simply follow the coordinator's directions, but now I had become a coordinator. Somehow I had to get to the site quickly, so I tried to come up with a solution.
I saw Practitioner A again and asked her to help me. She rather abruptly told me that she couldn't help me. So I was on my own. I left the banners in a safe place and started to look for helpers. I didn't think it would be difficult, as many practitioners had just arrived; however, I couldn't find anyone who didn't already have somewhere to go.
As precious time was passing, I had to eliminate distracting thoughts from my mind.
I saw Practitioner C, a person I knew, and invited her to come with me, but she refused. I thought that maybe I hadn't expressed myself clearly, so I explained the situation again. She stopped me in mid-sentence, and sounding very annoyed, said, “Let me do my own thing. Why do you always order me around?”
Practitioner A's attitude and practitioner C's angry face kept flashing into my mind. Negative thoughts emerged, so I maintained my righteous thoughts to eliminate these distractions. I reminded myself again and again: I am not here to complain; I came here to save people and to validate the Fa.
In fact, Practitioner C had reason to be angry with me. A few years back, she was going through sickness karma that had lasted for a few years. She asked for my opinion on what to do. I suggested intensive Fa study, doing the exercises, and sending righteous thoughts. She said she had done all these but was not getting better. She started to worry that Master had abandoned her. I said that she should not think that way, because it was not in line with the Fa. Her condition later worsened.
The more I tried to help her, the more she pushed me away. A fellow practitioner mentioned that I should cultivate my speech. I must have said something offensive to Practitioner C in the past that caused her angry reaction today.
I didn't want to waste any more time, after all, since I'd traveled quite a distance to be here. I decided to ask Practitioner A for assistance again, and would just disregard her harsh tone. She unexpectedly agreed to help me.
Practitioner A asked every passing practitioner to help, but it was fruitless. Seeing how hard it was to find help, I was all the more determined to get to that site.
Practitioner B, the person in charge of planning, appeared out of nowhere. She clearly explained what we would do for the day. In order to give the city residents and the many tourists there ample opportunity to hear the truth about Falun Gong and the persecution, the coordinators had designated certain city streets that we should visit and had planned that practitioners would take shifts covering predetermined areas.
Every street in the city center had a scheduled time for practitioners to be there to hand out pamphlets and talk to passerby. Each shift lasted two hours. The post I was assigned to was right up the street, and our shift did not start until after lunch.
Practitioner A finally found a Bulgarian practitioner to help me. She planned to do the exercises first and told me to look for her when it was time for our shift to begin. I was going to do the exercises as well.
As soon as I sat down, I realized that I couldn't remember what the Bulgarian practitioner looked like—all Westerners look alike to me! To be safe and save time later, I asked Practitioner A to point out the Bulgarian practitioner to me. I reconfirmed our meeting time and place with her. From this incident, I saw my shortcoming of not paying attention to details.
In addition to the Bulgarian practitioner, two more practitioners showed up at our site. Holding our banners, pamphlets, and petition signature sheets, we started to walk our route.
One of the practitioners in our group kept looking at his cellphone. I should have said something to him but remembered my earlier experience with Practitioner C's anger, and I decided to practice silence. The next time I saw him, he was carrying the board on his shoulder carelessly, with his cellphone close to his head. Nobody could see the words on the board. Not only was he not effectively clarifying the truth, but he was hurting Dafa's image. Without hesitation, I politely pointed out that his behavior was inappropriate. He apologized and said he appreciated the reminder.
My worries about finding my husband were also solved. When he finished touring the city, he found me when I was doing the exercises. He stayed by my side for the rest of the day.
My husband read our pamphlets and commented, “The pamphlet is well-written and convincing; only irrational people would refuse to believe what you’re telling them.”
At the end of the day, I met the practitioners who abandoned me earlier in the day. I didn't tell them the troubles they put me through. They felt guilty and gave me many excuses: “My German is not good”; “I want to clarify the truth to Chinese tourists”; or “I had to meet fellow practitioners from my city.”
All things happen for a good reason. Maybe the troubles were tests to see if I would become negative, yet still take part in the day's activities.
On my way home, I reflected: I spent more time preparing and traveling than participating in the event. I was happy that many people had the chance to learn the truth about Falun Gong. My xinxing also improved over the course of the event. Before arriving at the activity, I kept reminding myself to cooperate with the coordinator and stay positive. My resolve was tested today, but I had eliminated any negativities as soon they appeared and put saving people as the highest priority. Master then harmonized my day into a smooth one.
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Category: Improving Oneself
