California Practitioner Brad Carson's Thoughts about Going to Tiananmen Square

I went to China to give people a chance at freedom--to give them freedom from the lies they hear and the fear they are forced to live in. We offered them the truth. Who could break through to people who are so brainwashed that they beat people to death for practicing the principles of Truth, Compassion and Forbearance? What could help the people of China see through the lies and show them that Falun Gong is practiced all over the world? We gathered in Tiananmen to let the world know that Falun Gong is practiced all over the world. We gathered in Tiananmen to let the people of China know that they had the right to know the truth. We gathered in Tiananmen to let the police know that they had the freedom to do what is right.

I didn't go to China to get beaten. My purpose in going to Tiananmen wasn't to be a martyr. Practicing Falun Dafa has taught me the immeasurable value of all life. Through practicing Falun Dafa I have been able to see, cherish, and love life in ways I previously could never have imagined. Falun Dafa has helped me find the truth and freedom from within myself. My purpose in going to Tiananmen was to allow people to know that they also have that freedom, and that this freedom is their right.

I firmly believe that everyone has the right to make his or her own decisions. By going to China I was giving those police a chance to see that they have that right. In China people have almost no political voice of their own. They are forced to live in a sea of lies that they have almost no defense against. I came to China to be a voice of truth to those people. It is their right to know the truth.

Regardless of what intentions or reasons the Chinese government says it has for persecuting Falun Gong, no one can take away a human's basic right to know the truth. My intentions in going to China were simply to clarify the truth about Falun Gong to the people who were persecuting it. I simply wanted them to know that Falun Gong is good, and that it is practiced by millions throughout the world.

I was saddened to find out that the policeman who was questioning me didn't know that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. ever existed, or that in America, all kinds of people have fought for truth and freedom, and lost their lives for it. He also didn't know that in China, hundreds of people had died for his freedom.

It is our obvious responsibility as those who know the truth of freedom to allow others to know that truth. It is their right to hear it. It is our right to give it. It was my privilege to let those policemen and women know the True Freedom that I have found through practicing Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance, and to tell the world that the rest of the world knows Falun Dafa is Good.