March 27, 2003

(Clearwisdom.net)

It is almost the New Year and my neighbors are busy buying and transporting home crate after crate of New Year's goods. An elderly lady asked, "How are you doing with your New Year preparations?" I said with a slight nod and smile, "Everything is prepared."

Everywhere practitioners are unselfishly contributing toward others' future happiness. There is one practitioner who took funds collected from saving milk money of her newborn grandchild, computer money for her son, and her monthly 100 Yuan [Chinese currency, the monthly salary for an average Chinese urban worker is about 500 Yuan] living expenses. For New Year's, she ate preserved bean sauce mixed with rice and 1.50 Yuan worth of dumplings. All the money that she saved from food, clothes, and daily expenses was used on Dafa truth clarification, such as making pamphlets and VCDs, and sending out New Year's greeting cards. All of this was for the sake of people's understanding the facts about Falun Dafa so that they will gain happiness in the future.

My neighbor, Li, often listens to me clarifying the truth to others, and is very sympathetic to the plight of Falun Dafa practitioners. She is often nearby when I'm doing the exercises, studying the Fa, or sending forth righteous thoughts. Sometimes she asks if there are any new articles from Teacher, and during sensitive occasions when the police come to harass me, she handles them for me and often reminds me to watch my safety.

It was almost New Year's when Li emptied out a whole crate of apples in her vegetable shed and carefully picked out nine large apples that she was most satisfied with. She said to me happily, "It is the New Year, this is for your Teacher (there is a large portrait of Teacher in my home) on behalf of my whole family." She knows exactly what I am busy with everyday and can see no signs of New Year preparations in my home. That day she brought over a bowl of meat and said, "I know that Falun Gong practitioners don't kill living things, which is why I bought extra meat and cooked it for you. You have to let your children eat well." The next day she brought over a crate of vegetables. I knew that her intentions are good and did not refuse. Her sincerity was quite touching. Her display of unusual courage and kindness in such a harsh and adverse environment is truly great. Her behavior exemplifies the awakening of sentient beings through the compassion of Dafa.

Did you know that ever since the persecution of Falun Gong started on July 20, 1999, that countless Falun Gong practitioners have spent four New Year holidays inside jails, labor camps, detention centers, and brainwashing centers? Numerous practitioners' homes and families have been broken apart. Inhumane torture has resulted in many practitioners losing their lives, elderly people losing their sons and daughters and children losing their parents. As people are reuniting with relatives during the spring festival, many Falun Gong practitioners have already prepared a gift for them. They walk from city to city, village to village, with their most sincere good wishes; they give others the most precious New Year present of all --- the facts about Falun. If people can value this present, and read it calmly and without any notions, they will no longer be deceived and lay down the foundation for a bright future. That would be the Falun Gong practitioners' most sincere wish and the most meaningful way to celebrate the New Year.