(Minghui.org) At a department dinner meeting in 2005, the department head spoke well of my work. He then raised his glass and said to everyone, “We thank Teacher Li, the founder of Falun Dafa, for such a good employee.”

I started Dafa cultivation after I graduated from college before accepting this job. I put forth my best effort to carry out every job assigned to me, regardless of how dirty or exhausting the assignments were. I was highly rated in the first year of my employment.

I was then assigned to another department in 2004. The daily assignments were trivial, but I followed the Dafa principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and worked diligently and responsibly. My colleagues and supervisors recognized my dedication, and every year I was highly rated. Yet, each time the award list was submitted to the institute, the former president took my name off the list.

The former president of our research institute was deeply poisoned by the communist party propaganda, and was against Dafa. When I was released from the labor camp, he even wrote a poem that slandered Dafa.

Our department head argued that I deserved an award, but the president's ears were closed.

“The evaluation of an employee should focus on work performance,” the department head said. “It has nothing to do with a person's belief.”

“Those who practice Falun Dafa all do their work well,” acknowledged the president.

The implication was that Falun Dafa practitioners all have an excellent performance record, but no matter how good they are, they do not deserve to be recognized.

About two years ago the former president had to take early retirement because he came down with a serious illness. The vice president took over. The next time, in 2013, I received my award, and the newly elected president congratulated me.

It really did not matter whether I got the award or not. Despite the persecution, a person should not be swayed by personal interests and pressure, or fooled by lies and slander. If a person instead thinks about and judges things with his or her own mind and chooses to support justice without hesitation, then this person is truly clear-headed and remarkable.

Falun Dafa is not an ordinary qigong practice but a way of cultivating ourselves. Dafa does not need help from anyone, but when Dafa is slandered and defamed, those who acknowledge and support this cultivation and practitioners lay a good foundation for their bright future.