(Minghui.org) Back in 2013, I took a job as a janitor in a housing complex. The community was run down and had poor security. The complex was filthy, and the building I was assigned to was the worst. Though they had hired several janitors before me, the place was still a mess, and many residents left their garbage everywhere.
Quite a few of the apartment owners piled up their garbage outside their doors, causing health hazards. The maintenance manager had talked to them about it, but they continued to do it anyway. When I first started working there, it took me an entire week to clean just one floor of the building. Soon, people started to notice how clean it was and thanked me. However, several of the apartment owners continued to pile their garbage outside of their doors.
The garbage was filthy and caused the hallway to stink. I did not get irritated or harbor resentment toward the people responsible. I just watched their doors carefully and cleaned up the trash as soon as it was put there. Whenever I met the owners responsible, I greeted them with a smile and treated them with kindness. Apparently, my kind attitude towards them really helped; within a couple of months, they began to keep the area around their doors clean.
The environment inside the building improved greatly, and soon the manager asked me to take care of another building. Once I had that building cleaned up, it took me only part of a day to do my job. I studied Dafa books with the rest of my time.
I left my janitor job in 2014 for family reasons and got a job at a restaurant. Two months later, the manager from my old job found me there and asked me to come back to my old job. He said finding me was not easy, but he had no choice. He said the place had become filthy again as soon as I left, and the owners of the apartments all wanted me to come back to work. He explained that they criticized him for letting me leave the job, and told him that he should hire me back and give me a raise to keep me there. His timing was perfect, because the restaurant I was working in was about to go close its doors.
When I showed up to work at the apartment complex, everyone was glad to see me and greeted me with smiles. “You came back! Did they raise your salary?” was a typical question. It took me ten days to clean up the three buildings to which I was assigned. While I was gone, two workers could not finish the amount the work I had done in one day, and their buildings were dirty again the next day.
Because I practice Falun Dafa, I treat the people who live in the apartments with the Dafa principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. As a result of my interactions with them, I have gained their respect and friendship. They take better care of their apartments and help me keep the place clean. Now, it takes me only four to five hours a day to get my job done, and the place looks better than ever.
In the two years I have worked in the buildings, I have never had conflicts with the owners or staff. During any unhappy occurrence, I always use Dafa’s principles to look within and correct my behavior. With righteous thoughts, any problems that arise are quickly resolved. Now, the whole environment of the buildings I work in has improved. They have the best appearance among all buildings in the complex, and visitors from neighboring apartment buildings admire them. Both the staff and owners are happy that I am back.
While at work, I occasionally talk to people about Falun Dafa and the persecution. I have helped most of the office staff, including the manager and security personnel, quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations.
The manager of the housing complex is always happy to see me. Whenever we meet in his office, he shouts with joy, “Falun Dafa is good! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good!”
He seems to know he is blessed and has many reasons to be happy. For one thing, he was able to reduce his cleaning staff by half, since I am able to do so much. This gives him more income. The buildings' appearance and environment have improved. The residents have a clean, safe place to live.
Even though I received high praise from the building staff and owners, I felt uneasy about it. Though they complimented me and my work, many of them did not acknowledge Dafa. They did not understand that it was Dafa that had changed me and brought them the goodness that results naturally when one improves through cultivation. I realized that I had an attachment of fear about letting many people know that I practice Falun Dafa.
One incident helped me to break through that barrier.
One of the apartment owners hired a plumber from a local service company to open a clogged drain. I had known the plumber for some time, because he had come to our building many times. He always looked unhappy, and his skin was dark. After chatting with him for a while, I found out that he was a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) member. So, I talked to him about Falun Dafa and the persecution. He was eager to quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations.
After he quit the Party, his mood improved, and his skin looked healthier. Now, whenever he sees me, he shouts, “Falun Dafa is good!”
One day, the manager’s supervisor came to see me. He questioned me about my belief in Dafa. I told him that I was indeed a Falun Dafa practitioner and told him the facts about Dafa and the persecution.
He was a little nervous, because it had not been easy for him to get his position, and to keep his job, he had to follow a lot of government orders. He asked me how he should answer if his boss asked him if there were any Falun Dafa practitioners in his area. I said, “That's your choice. I don’t think you should do anything against your conscience.”
The next day, the assistant manager asked me and another staff member to give him copies of our identification documents. After I chatted with him for a while, I told him that I practice Falun Dafa. He told me that he had already quit the CCP with the help of another Dafa practitioner. I did not give him a copy of my ID.
The next morning, I was again greeted by the manager’s supervisor when I arrived at the office. He explained to me that he respected my faith and that the request for copies of our IDs was not meant only for me. This time, I talked with him at length about Dafa and the persecution. I helped him understand that Falun Dafa is good and that it is wrong for the CCP to persecute good people. I told him that the regime has been secretly harvesting the organs of Falun Dafa practitioners and how many people had filed criminal complaints against former Party leader Jiang Zemin for launching the persecution of Falun Dafa.
He listened carefully and fully understood the facts. I concluded our meeting by helping him quit the Young Pioneers, one of the CCP organizations. He went away with a smile on his face and has not caused me any trouble since then.
I was very happy that day, and my whole body felt light. I truly felt the mighty virtue of Master and Dafa. However, I had to remind myself that, although I helped the supervisor understand the truth and quit the CCP, I still had a long way to go to truly meet the requirements of a Fa-rectification period Dafa disciple. I know there is still a large gap between me and some of my fellow practitioners, and that I need to do even better to catch up. I shall cultivate diligently, do the three things well, and save more people with righteous thoughts and righteous actions.