(Minghui.org) I am a researcher whose main job is to engineer a small function in a system that, in turn, completes the overall package.
One morning, our department manager came to me and said pleadingly, “Manager Li’s father has been diagnosed with cancer and he needs to take a few days off to go to go see him. The project that he is in charge of isn’t in your job description but there isn’t anyone else in our department who can take over his work. Furthermore, everyone is the engineering department is working off-site so there are no extra hands there. I wonder if you would take charge of this project?”
He looked at me imploringly and said, “You can just do general checks and let our colleague, Mr. Dong, help you out.” Seeing how embarrassed he looked, I nodded my head in agreement. As to what I was actually supposed to do, I didn’t have a clue.
That afternoon, my manager called Mr. Dong, the primary planning manager, and me into his office for a meeting. I saw Mr. Dong’s frowning, solemn face as he sat there. He looked at me and said, “I am sorry to say I have brought you trouble. The client in this project, Mr. Ang, was just here. He asked us to complete the work in seven days and hand over the product in 10 days. If we cannot complete the project on time, there will be serious consequences. Furthermore, the client heard that our progress is relatively slow, so he will be here every day from now on to supervise our work. We need to treat this project as important.”
Mr. Dong then listed what had already been completed and the problems that we needed to resolve. I quickly realized that all that had been done were beginning tasks. The problem now was we didn’t know what step to take next or how it should be done.
That night, Mr. Dong and I talked on the phone for over an hour and he lamented, “The client will be there to supervise our work tomorrow but neither of us is clear about what to do for this project. The person most familiar with this project is Manager Li, but he is not here. Why couldn’t he put aside his family problems during this project’s most critical five days? Who would take over such a mess that needs to be resolved in such a short time? We must look for the manager tomorrow and get Mr. Li back to lead this project. If not, there is no way it will be completed!”
I could hear that Mr. Dong was really worried about the project. At the same time, since I was taking over halfway through, had no experience in this project, and the deadline was tight, he did not have confidence in me, either. He thought that the situation warranted the manager getting Manager Li to work on the project personally.
The next day, I found Manager Li and asked him about the project. He told me that he only had a few hours since he had already bought his train ticket and was leaving that afternoon. I invited an experienced professional to research the technical requirements of this project with us. After analyzing the project’s requirements in-depth, the professional said that, if he was in charge of this project he would need a month to complete it. Apparently, everyone knew that it was impossible to finish in a week. After handing over the materials he had at hand, Manager Li left.
After going through the materials and matching them one by one with the work scope I had been given, I discovered that there were indeed many problems with this project. Equipment we’d ordered had yet to arrive; the specifications of some of the equipment we had received did not meet the requirement; some of the spare parts for the equipment that needed repair were out of production; the supplier for some of the tools was closed down; and some of the products had not been sent for processing.
Just then, the client arrived, and I suddenly felt under a lot of pressure. Mr. Dong went to find our manager and ask him to get Manager Li to come back, but the manager would not do that. So Mr. Dong hurried me to get our manager to find someone to replace me. I really wanted to escape from this “mess” but at this moment, what could I do?
I am a Falun Dafa cultivator. Whenever I meet difficult problems, I think of our teacher, Master Li, and always feel a form of power there that supports me and my troubles gradually go away.
Master said,
“Since learning Falun Dafa these workers have been putting in extra hours and working conscientiously and with a lot of heart. They don’t quibble over the work they’re assigned to do, and aren’t just thinking about themselves. Just by being like that they’ve changed the morale of the whole factory, and our profits have grown.” (The Fourth Talk, Zhuan Falun)
I recited these few sentences repeatedly in my mind and gradually calmed down. I suddenly saw the light and was clear about what I should do.
It was because we were short-handed that the manager had no choice but to hand this work over to me. Apart from Manager Li and Mr. Dong, I was the person who was most clear about this project. If I also tried to leave now, the person who took over would need to spend a certain amount of time familiarizing himself with the project, which would shorten the time to work on it and, ultimately, extend the time until completion.
If the client saw that we kept passing around the lead role on this project, he would lose his trust in us and conflict could arise. Due to our earlier delays, we had already caused the client to incur some loss and to spend money on manpower to supervise our work. This was the time to settle all the difficulties in order to guarantee that the project could be handed over on the agreed date. I could not waste any more time thinking about my personal losses.
After I understood, I immediately started to work on the project. The workers who did the packaging were also enlisted. Under very bad conditions, they worked all day long. Sometimes, they worked till 4 a.m. and then got up at 7 a.m. to continue. I was touched by how hard they worked and that they weren’t afraid of hardship.
To get the equipment that hadn’t arrived yet, the management helped me coordinate with other suppliers. For the equipment that did not meet the requirements, the suppliers tried their best to alter them. One module became faulty and needed repair. I sent it to a supplier that I often contacted and he said that he happened to have the spare part even though it was already out of production. By the time it was repaired and sent back, it just happened to be the last day for handover. For some of the unfinished products, the suppliers also expedited their processing and got them to us.
We made steady progress, and everything happened according to plan. When the client saw our sincere attitude and the effort we were putting in, he supervised us less. In the end, he discovered that his presence actually slowed us down, so he stopped coming altogether. I knew that the seed of trust between us had sprouted.
Mr. Dong also changed his former passive attitude and voluntarily helped with the project. A few times when we urgently needed some materials, he personally drove over and got them. For me, although I worked non-stop every day, I felt steadfast in my heart. I knew that all this was the result of “kind rewards.”
One day, when the project was about mid-way through, I was informed that my mother had been diagnosed with late-stage cancer. She needed surgery to remove the tumor, but after a CT scan, the doctor discovered that my mother had cirrhosis and so her body could not withstand the surgery. She would need to first be treated with hepatoprotective compounds. However, the doctor was concerned that, during that time, the tumor would progress to an untreatable stage. He said, “There is nothing more that we can do” and helped to clear the administrative requirements needed for my mother to be discharged.
I was not able to be by my mother’s side because of this project, even though my parents’ house is just a kilometer from my office. Once, when I was eating lunch, sadness welled up in my heart and I thought to myself, “Manager Li’s father was diagnosed with cancer and he was allowed to set this project aside and go look after him. My mother was also diagnosed with cancer. However, I am tied to this project, and there is no space for me to maneuver.” Pressure and feelings of being ill-treated overwhelmed me, and tears ran down my cheeks.
Just then, I felt Master wrap me in his benevolence and my heart was at ease. I calmed down. I recalled that Master Li is taking care of my mother and me so we do not need to feel sad. Because we believe in Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, everything will change for the better.
Ultimately, the project was completed and handed over on time. My mother often recited “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good,” understood clearly the true purpose of life, and truly entered solid cultivation in Falun Dafa. In the end, she rewarded and overcame that dangerous moment in her life.
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