Over the summer of 2004, the international media carried many reports of the devastation in Florida caused by not one, but four huge hurricanes. Recently, I had lunch with my former employer who is a retired lawyer, and his wife. This couple own a small, rather old, but comfortable mobile home in Florida and they spend their winters there, away from the Canadian snow and cold.
They told me that almost all of the mobile homes in the area where theirs is situated were badly damaged -- some totally destroyed by the four hurricanes. But their home was not touched! Their little old garden shed needs some repairs, but their mobile home is absolutely fine. They thought it quite amazing.
This retired lawyer comes from a Jewish background. When I first told him of the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China, he had immediately nodded his head and said something like, "Just like the persecution of the Jews in Germany. On Monday you're a normal bunch of people, taking your kids to school, going to work as a teacher, doctor or laborer or whatever; you do your shopping, talk to your neighbors, live a normal life. Then the leader of the government starts this persecution and the next day, with nothing changed in your life, you're regarded as being rotten to the core!"
He has always respected my practice of Falun Gong. After learning about the persecution, he offered us free legal services if there was ever anything we felt he could help with. Because he lives far from a large city, we were not really able to take him up on his offer. But his heart is with us. And it seems that his small and simple, but well-loved, mobile home in Florida was saved because of it. Good really is rewarded!
Category: Karma & Virtue