(Shared at 2001 Orlando Conference)
My name is Kay Harmon. I am a practitioner from Orlando Florida. I have practice Falun Gong for three years. In Zhuan Falun Master says, "Throughout the entire course on my lecture of the Fa and cultivation practice I have been responsible to society and practioners. Though I had read this chapter often, the thought of being responsible to society suddenly came to life on a personal and deeper level. I awakened to this principle and saw my work place as an opportunity to really start to be responsible to society as a practitioner of dafa. I realized I spent 40 hours a week with the people I worked with. I did my job well and the other employees knew my performance at work was excellent. This kind of environment was perfect for me to start to share the Fa. The opportunities at my place of employment to tell others about the Fa could be endless even boundless I thought. I grew excited about the thought of sharing the Fa with my fellow workers. I just had to learn to use my wisdom that I have gained from Dafa. Naturally because my heart had one single wish opportunities came quickly to introduce my friends to Falun Gong.
Through casual conversation kept on a simple level my boss knew that I practiced meditation. I didn't work weekends. I didn't work past 5:00pm very often so I could go to the exercise site each day. He never understood why meditation was so important to me. But he knew I practiced not just any meditation system but Falun Gong. One day as my boss sat in his car eating lunch and reading his newspaper he called me over to his car window as I walked by him in the parking lot. He had read a brief article in our local newspaper about Falun Gong. The small piece was from the Associated Press but it was the first open door for dialogue between my boss and myself about the Fa. Finally my first step to share dafa on a deeper level at my job started with Shawn. He asked question after question. In just a few minutes we covered many cultivation issues. Why did China persecute people who meditate? Why did practioners go to Tianamen Square? Why were these issues so important to me here in Florida? All of these issues came from this one short article; it was great. When Shawn transferred to another store of ours he always let me know about all the Falun Gong stories he read in the paper and would share them with me by phone or fax. I saw his understanding grow clear and stronger as time when by. He saw that meditation was no longer something I did leaving work at 5:00pm to join other practioners so eagerly. It was now a worldwide event, one that was capturing the hearts and support of all whom read about Falun Dafa's on going existence in China. He would often fax me articles he had read to our store in Altamonte. I would intentionally leave the fax about the Fa out in plain sight so anyone could read as they walked by. To my surprise many did look at the fax. All of the stories he sent were always about the Fa from the Orlando Sentinel newspaper written by local practioners. Slowly other friends at work started to hear of the dafa from his efforts too.
My other boss Crystal was really touched by a series of articles about Falun Gong in our local newspaper. One of the articles mentioned my experiences in Falun Gong. The story was sent to our store in Altamonte Springs from Shawn. Crystal taped the article up in our work area so everyone could see it as they went pass. Most of the people at work had seen the story and expressed some interest in the article. I answered question after question, as everyone was curious about China, meditation and especially Falun Gong. During the weekend the story was taken down from my work area. I learned from Crystal that it was a good idea to put the article up in my work area so when Monday came around I continued to do the same. I put a new article from Minghui net. Each of the following weeks I continued to chose articles I thought my fellow workers could relate to. Focusing on China's mistreatment of children, women and the families of those practicing Falun Gong. By changing the stories each week I kept their interest in the dafa growing.
At my job we sell parts and repair cars. Most of my efforts only reached half of our employee's in the parts store. I started to leave flyers and dafa newspapers in our customer lounge area where the cars are repaired by our mechanics. While customers are getting their cars fixed they sit and watch television or read magazines. I felt they could get their cars fixed and read about Falun Gong both in the same day. I checked each day to see if anyone was taking the flyers and newspaper about the Fa and they did. I would then replace the ones that had been taken only a daily basis. Recently Wayne the service manager told me he was really stressed out. I saw another door open naturally at my work place. I immediately shared with Wayne the benefits from meditation's ability to reduce stress. I explained to him the best meditation system was Falun Gong and I happened to have plenty of information on it. I left enough literature about dafa with Wayne and returned to do my job. Through out the day I saw him looking at the stories of other practioners and health benefits from the Fa newspaper. By the end of the day Wayne came up to with a big smile and thanked me. This month Wayne even let me put an invitation to our Florida conference on the main door to the service department so all could see it. He, and most of his employee's, signed petitions to give to our Florida congressmen about China's brutal treatment of Dafa practioners overseas.
Part of my job requires me to deliver part around the Orlando area. I go to about 15-20 stores a day. I began to extend my vision of spreading the Fa to all sentient beings and being responsible to society. My benevolence thought of those people outside of my job that I meet each day. So I thought whenever I deliver parts to a store I'd deliver a flyer or a Fa newspaper if they gave me permission. No one refused. As time went on I even collected signatures for our congressmen and left invitations to our conference at many stores. Each day when I left the store loaded up with parts to deliver the assistant manager would remind me to be sure and do a good job and sell as many parts as I could. But one day he reminded me to make sure I took my dafa flyers with me. Over the past six months he had seen me practice near our job and knew I spread the Fa everywhere. I felt good seeing the dafa finally reach those I worked with.
One morning when I was delivering parts to Winter Park I had to go to the store no one likes to stop at. The owner and mechanics always complain and curse you no matter how much effort you give. The mechanics are young kids and they often called me many unimaginable names. Young kids today do not practice "xiu kou." For months they called me every name under the sun. One day I decided to talk to the owner of the store about Falun Gong. To my surprise the owner, James had heard of Falun Dafa. As we talked the other young mechanics listened closely. When I started to explain the concept of de "virtue" to him everyone started to laugh and say the word de! I explained to the mechanics that they would loose de every time they cursed me, which made them laugh even more. Whenever I returned to this store for the entire week they always asked me if I wanted their de [virtue]. These young kids said the word de so many times they didn't have time to curse me. The mechanics stopped cursing me all together by the end of the second week after hearing about Dafa. When I go to this repair place now they rarely say anything negative to me. I really saw the power of Dafa at work here. Just one single word of the Fa corrected that situation.
In the past 4 months my fellow workers purchased books about Falun Gong, bought exercise video's, yellow T-shirts saying China stop persecuting Falun Gong, accepted flyers about the Fa and Dafa newspapers. Many almost 90% signed petitions to stop China's cruel and inhumane treatment of practioners in PRC. Two of my bosses even signed their names to a letter I drafted to the Governor in Liaoning province for the unacceptable treatment of female Dafa practioners being placed in cells with male criminals. I often over heard one worker correct another employee on the pronunciation of the word Falun Gong. He told him please say it right. In four short months it all happened so fast. From maximally conforming to ordinary society I learned to do the best job I could
From being responsible to society I helped to spread the Fa to everyone I worked with on some level. What I realize when I first started talking about the Fa casually to other employees at their level of understanding was this. Each question that I answered about Falun gong was really taking away evil's environment. By clarifying the truth with wisdom. I was dispelling the lie's the unsaveable had spread. With each person at my job that I asked to sign a petition, buy a book, take a news letter or invite to the conference I was helping the practitioner here and abroad the make this one body we call Dafa. I've seen my old self dissolve over these past four months and be reborn into something more than I could ever imagine because Dafa will always be boundless.