(Clearwisdom.net)
One day, I accompanied a fellow practitioner to have his haircut done at a barbershop. The female storeowner, her two apprentices, and two customers were present when we arrived. Among them was a colleague of mine.
After saying a few words of greeting, I gradually shifted the topic to Falun Gong. I spoke about the amazing effects of Falun Gong in terms of healing and fitness, and about the staged self-immolation incident at Tiananmen Square. Then I explained how Jiang Zemin, out of his jealousy, initiated the brutal persecution. Everyone was quietly listening, and they understood many facts about the persecution of Dafa.
I then continued, "Even though our rights of being good people are deprived, we do not participate in politics. We only want to be good people. Falun Dafa has spread worldwide, and has been welcomed by the good people of the world. Every government thinks highly of Dafa and has given it many awards and proclamations. Only under Jiang's regime is it persecuted." Later, everyone participated in this conversation, and talked about the current tendencies in society.
At that time, my fellow practitioner started clarifying the truth to the storeowner. The room was filled with noise and excitement.
All of a sudden, there rushed in a 20 year-old girl from the adjoining room inside. She yelled at me and my fellow practitioner in anger: "You guys are making so much noise. I am sick with a cold and trying to take a nap. I can't go to sleep because of you guys. I have a headache now." Suddenly, the atmosphere became tense. Just now, they had agreed that Dafa was good, now they all changed their minds. One customer smiled first but threw a blaming look at us, then left. My colleague also complained: "If it is good, then do it at home, nobody goes to your home to arrest you." Then she left as well. The storeowner also said: "We normally have quite a few policemen coming over to get their haircut. So you people better leave here quickly." I was at a loss at this sudden situation. Even though I had been clarifying the truth to people for a long time, I have come across all kinds of people, all kinds of things. However, what I came across today was completely out of my expectation. How did it turn out to be like this? I was thinking about it and I was very clear-minded at that time. Immediately, I thought to myself: I should eliminate the negative image of us from the minds of other people. We should not let Dafa down, and we should retrieve the loss. In a hurry, I apologized to the storeowner and her two apprentices: "Sorry, I am very sorry. I didn't know you were sleeping in one room because you weren't feeling well. I spoke too loud. It is all my fault. Please do pardon us!" After my sincere apologies, the atmosphere became relaxed. Their faces didn't look as upset as before. They didn't expect that Dafa practitioners were different from ordinary people at all. They felt a little bit embarrassed and said: "Never mind, never mind. We have some faults as well. We should try to understand each other." After we talked with them in harmoniously for a while, I said: "From now on, no matter what we say and what we do, we will think about others." I then asked the person who was ill to take care of herself. She repeatedly said, "Thank you!" When we were leaving, she walked us out to the entrance. I gave her the only remaining copy of truth-clarification material I had left and said, "Please read this truth-clarification material carefully. You will come to understand what we have done. I hope you will have a bright future." She said, "I will read it carefully, for sure."
Teacher told us:
"You are Dafa disciples, so no matter what environment you're in, when you do things like clarifying the truth and saving sentient beings, you should display the demeanor of a Dafa disciple." ("Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. Fa Conference").
Teacher also said:
"Because how every practitioner performs in the ordinary human society, all represent the image of Falun Dafa" ("Teaching the Fa at Singapore Fa Conference").
In truth-clarification, I truly realized that we cannot only say Dafa is good because others attach even more importance on how we do things. Our consistency in our words and actions is the most direct way to clarify the truth. Otherwise, things will not go as we would like, and sentient beings will not be saved. Dafa has high standards for us.
Originally posted on January 14, 2004
