(Minghui.org) People residing in China should still feel traumatized after surviving through three years of COVID-19 lockdown implemented by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Although many people suffered mental breakdowns, I came through this pandemic safely under Master’s care, even though my job as a nurse meant I served directly on the front line.
I started practicing Falun Dafa in 1999, more than 20 years ago. I strive to adhere to the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance at work and have earned respect from patients and their families. During the pandemic, my colleagues gained new admiration for Falun Dafa.
Cultivating My Mind While Working Overtime
In order to control the pandemic’s spread, staff members were restricted to their own departments within the hospital, and outsiders had to undergo strict vetting before admittance. With our support staff assigned elsewhere to aid with the pandemic, added measures further increased the manpower burden on our department. Without enough staff, I found myself continuously working overtime on weekends and weekdays, to the point that I even forgot which day of the week it was.
The pandemic lasted longer than anyone anticipated. Although later some of our support staff returned to the hospital, I found myself still working overtime, as the colleagues who could perform my job had left. At one point, I found myself working continuously without rest for nearly three months. A young colleague advised me, “Talk to the head nurse. She can get someone to cover your duties so you can take a day off.” I replied, “Let me continue to help out.”
My exhaustion soon left me feeling resentful. I was scheduled to work daily without any days off, to the point that I was tempted to throw my weekly schedule away. My resentment grew, but I refused to let it show externally. I thought, “The head nurse should show some consideration for my situation and get a colleague to learn from me so someone can cover me for a day.” Then something happened that changed my incorrect mentality.
I was internally fuming over my shift schedule while mopping the floor. “The head nurse is doing this on purpose. She’s so inconsiderate, making me work overtime for so long. Apart from the director, I am the oldest in this department...”
While washing the mop rag, I realized that water was leaking from under the sink. There were many pipes running underneath, and I could not identify the source of the leak. But each time I turned the faucet on, water would leak from the base of the sink. This situation was a wake up call. While wiping the water off the ground, I thought to myself, “This situation alludes to a ‘leak’ in my behavior. I won’t call the plumber for help. Wasn’t this caused by my dissatisfaction with my current work schedule?”
With this thought, I realized the leak had stopped. In disbelief, I turned on the faucet and found the pipes below had stopped leaking. I retrieved two more basins of water, before taking some towels and tissue paper to wipe the pipes below. When the toilet paper remained dry, I almost wanted to jump for joy. It was a miracle! Master must have done this to enlighten me when he saw my strong attachments. After seeing my determination to look within and correct the attachment, Master had fixed the water pipe.
I stopped paying attention to my scheduled shifts, and stopped thinking badly of the head nurse, instead focusing my energy on doing my job well. Throughout the 156 weeks of pandemic lockdown, I was allocated less than 60 full days off. My colleagues were in admiration, “You have such a good attitude!” I told them it was because I was a Dafa cultivator.
Many COVID-19 patients were detected in our city in October 2022. Parts of the city were placed on lockdown for nearly a month, with some of my colleagues forced to remain home in quarantine. I had to do the work of three people, while voluntarily taking on the job of disinfecting staff residences. During this period, a colleague found herself unable to add more cash to her canteen card, which had run out of credit. I reassured her, “It’s okay, I have enough cash on my card, you can use mine.” I would ask for her preferences and order meals for her in advance. My colleague was very touched and became convinced of the goodness of Falun Dafa. This colleague had been involved in a car accident a few years prior. Although her car was crushed beyond recognition, she had walked away from the accident unharmed.
Looking back, the suffering I endured during those three long years now appeared negligible. Instead, the experience had allowed me to cultivate my character, and had helped me eliminate the human feelings of injustice, resentment, and despair, to the point where I let go and stopped taking things to heart. Apart from clarifying the truth, I seldom chatted while at work. Whenever I encountered conflicts, I reminded myself, “There are no accidental occurrences for cultivators. Seize every opportunity to cultivate yourself. Once you pass this village, this inn will no longer be available. Be grateful to everyone, even those who hurt you, because they are helping you improve.”
Remaining Uninfected Despite Constant Exposure to Patients
The head nurse announced to everyone on the morning of December 11, 2022, “Starting today, all lockdown measures have been withdrawn. We are to treat the illness like any common cold.” Everyone erupted with joy, but by noon the head nurse had come down with a fever. Unable to continue working, she went home. One-by-one, my other colleagues started displaying similar symptoms and could not report to work.
I was treating a sick baby, and I found the child so cute, so I took the opportunity to carry her and take many photos of her. A while later, the baby’s father told me, “The child’s test results came out positive. We have to leave the hospital immediately.” I chased after him as he was heading back to his child’s ward and whispered in his ear, “Please recite ‘Falun Dafa is good’ with sincerity.” The child’s father agreed to listen to my advice.
At this point, the child’s mother asked me to help dress her child. Yet the hospital cleaner barred my entry into the ward, loudly exclaiming that since the child had tested positive, I should stay away from her. My colleague, who had been by my side rebutted, “What precautions should she take? Short of lulling the child to sleep, she’s been carrying the child around all this time.” I entered the ward and gave the child’s mother an amulet that I had in my pocket. “Don’t be scared. Go home and sincerely recite, ‘Falun Dafa is good’” and she will be fine.” The child’s mother agreed to do so.
After every patient discharge, pillows and mattresses had to be placed under a disinfecting cover connected to an ozone machine for one hour, then aired out for another hour. After the child was discharged, hospital cleaning staff proceeded to clean out the ward. However, the cleaning woman claimed that she had poor immunity and refused to enter the ward to perform the disinfection procedure. Moreover, she left work before her shift was over. We only found out when it was time to allocate the ward to the next patient. I went in and performed the disinfection. Afterwards, the cleaning woman in charge of the ward asked me, “Nurse, my immunity is poor. Can you go in and help me open the window for ventilation?” I smiled and agreed. However, her team leader overheard her request and scolded her, “How can you ask the nurse to help you?” I told her team leader, “Don’t blame her. We need to keep calm in this current situation.” I eventually ended up performing all of the ward's disinfections. Consumed with thoughts on how to save sentient beings, I had little time to worry about the personal risks of being infected.
The virus spread rapidly. Within days, out of more than 30 staff members on our team, only five were left standing. Every morning, my colleagues greeted me with the words, “Are you okay?” I showed them my truth clarification amulet and replied, “I’m okay. This is my secret!” Everyone soon began to believe my words.
Once, while I was carrying a slightly sick baby, the child defecated on me. His embarrassed grandmother apologized, but I smiled and assured her it was fine. The child’s grandmother complimented me, “You are so nice, you don’t even mind being soiled on. Most people couldn’t stand it!” I showed her my truth clarification amulet and said, “This is due to my belief.” After clarifying the truth about the persecution to her, the elderly grandmother told me, “I am now convinced of the truth.”
The head nurse returned to work two weeks later and began asking me every day, “Are you okay?” and I always reassured her with a smile. One day, she asked me, “Are you really okay?” When I said yes, she lowered her head, held her chin and spun around three times muttering, “It’s amazing! It’s amazing!” I was the only person in our department who had not been vaccinated. Earlier, when the hospital mandated that all employees receive the vaccination, I had told them, “When an earlier epidemic hit us years ago, I did not get vaccinated and continued to care for severely sick patients who were on ventilators. Moreover, my body is sensitive to vaccines, and I do not want to get vaccinated.” I called the infectious disease department to explain my situation, and the hospital accepted my reason without fuss. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, I kept one thought in mind, “The virus cannot infect me,” as I shuttled between our positive patients and staff.
As soon as the lockdown was lifted, I started distributing truth clarifying materials after work, covering three or four housing units each time. I returned home afterward, had a meal, then prepare the flyers I intended to distribute the following day. I then studied the Fa and practiced the exercises afterward. Within days, I distributed nearly 700 flyers. This project kept me so busy that I sometimes didn’t go to sleep until one in the morning. Yet as long as I could save sentient beings, I found myself not feeling tired at all.
It was common then to hear coughing sounds while distributing materials. One day after climbing to the second floor, I heard sounds indicating that another person was ahead of me. I stopped to put some distance between us, yet unexpectedly, that person also stopped and began coughing loudly. I followed her when she continued to climb up, pausing along the way to cough at intervals, until she reached the top floor. I took note of the apartment she entered and placed a truth clarification leaflet beside her doorway. After placing another copy on her neighbor’s doorway, I made my way back down the stairs. “Master, if I had promised to save her in this way, I will have fulfilled my promise today.” I then silently spoke in my heart, “To the residents in this building, please cherish this information I’ve brought you. This is your hope for salvation!”
I am also grateful for my husband’s support. He has been quietly helping me prepare my truth clarification materials. When I thanked him for his help, he calmly replied, “I’m doing this by my own choice.” Truly, everyone has started to choose a side during this Fa-rectification period.
My colleagues have asked me, “How do you maintain such a good outlook on life?” I replied, “A practitioner must practice Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.” Some colleagues expressed a desire to learn the practice, and two colleagues have even gone to clarify the truth to their relatives with the materials I provided.
As a Dafa practitioner, I know that only by studying the Fa well and cultivating myself can I save people. I thank Master for his compassionate protection. I regret the time I wasted in the past, and hope I can do better in the future.
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