(Clearwisdom.net) On September 13, 2003, over seventy Falun Dafa practitioners from San Diego, Los Angeles and Orange County participated in the annual Poway City parade. The outstanding performance of Falun Dafa practitioners not only won applause from the visitors but also the second place award among over 80 processions.

The Falun Gong procession was composed of three parts. The first part was the dancing team of female practitioners in Tang Dynasty costumes. They demonstrated Chinese traditional culture to the people of Poway city. The second part was the float. The banners reading "Falun Dafa" and "Truthfulness Compassion Tolerance" were very eye-catching. Five practitioners, both Chinese and American, and of different ages demonstrated the exercises on the float. Their peacefulness and serenity showed the people the beauty of Falun Dafa. The third part was the newly established San Diego "Waist Drum Team".

Most of the local people saw the elegance of traditional Chinese waist drum for the first time. The splendid performance won continuous applause and cheers along the way. Some of the people even waved their arms following the rhythms of the drums. Many staff members working at the site said to the Falun Gong procession "Thank you for coming!" When the Falun Gong team arrived at the stage, the host introduced the history and exercises of Falun Dafa and sincerely thanked the Falun Gong practitioners for their participation.

In the afternoon, the organizing committee awarded the second place medal to the Falun Gong practitioners.

After participating in the activity, the practitioners had many understandings. First, we felt the strength of a group. This parade received much support from practitioners in different cities.

The New York practitioners helped to organize the waist drum team. Philadelphia practitioners made the red silk ribbons and yellow scarves for carrying and decorating the waist drums. Taiwan practitioners provided the dance costumes and brought them to San Diego. North California and Bay Area practitioners warmheartedly trained the dance team and loaned the exercise suites to San Diego practitioners.

The Los Angeles practitioners gave their full support from organizing to participating in the parade. They helped with the decorative materials for the float, audio system, exercises suits, banners, and over twenty practitioners drove 2 hours to join the parade. There were too many practitioners to be listed here. Without the support from other practitioners, we could not have succeeded in the parade.

After participating in the parade, the practitioners deeply felt Teacher's grand compassion. Teacher only looks at our hearts for Dafa. Teacher will pave the road, arrange everything and clear the obstacles on our path. Teacher said:

"Any work in Dafa is intended for people to obtain the Fa and for disciples to improve themselves. Anything other than these two points is meaningless." ("Clearheadedness"), Essentials for Further Advancement)

Through this activity, we demonstrated the beauty of Dafa to everyday people to help them establish a righteous mindset toward Dafa, so that they can have a beautiful future. On the other hand, the preparation was a good opportunity for practitioners to improve and cultivate. One good thing was that many new practitioners who rarely participated in group activities in the past became actively involved in the parade. They experienced the pride and responsibility of a practitioner in the activity, and they will walk more steadfastly on their cultivation path.