Falun Dafa Minghui.org www.minghui.org PRINT

Remembering the Smile of an Old Woman Selling Oranges on a Cold Winter Day

April 05, 2009 |   By Si Yu

(Clearwisdom.net) I wrapped myself in warm clothes and walked out of my house. There were not many people walking on the streets on this typically cold winter day with the temperature below freezing. It was cloudy and the sun was hiding behind the clouds, only showing its face once in a while. The clouds were the kind of a common winter day, standing absolutely still and spreading uniformly across the sky, like a flat frying pan. The chilling wind was chasing the fallen leaves in circles.

At an intersection, I stopped in front of a tricycle stand selling oranges. An old lady, with her hands pulled up in her sleeves, was stamping her feet to stay warm.

Usually in winter, I would always go to the supermarkets for grocery shopping because it was warm inside. But, when I saw this lady's tightly closed lips and cheeks that were red from the cold, I just could not walk by without buying from her.

"Big sister, how much for a kilo of oranges?"

She replied, "Two and a half yuan. It is three yuan in the supermarket right now. Look how nice they are. They are genuine sweet tangerines."

I told her to weigh a few kilograms for me. She handed me the plastic bag and told me to pick which oranges I wanted. I said, "Please go ahead and pick randomly. If I take all the good ones, who is going to buy the rest?"

She said, "It would be so nice if everybody was like you. I must give you a little more now."

I said, "It is so cold outside. Why do you still stay here right in the 'wind tunnel'? Are there more customers?"

She was obviously touched by what I said and hesitated for a moment. Then she said, "What can I do? If I were to put my stand elsewhere, the police would chase me away. Here is a little farther away from the supermarket, so I can have some business."

There was a few threads of gray hair slipping out from under the scarf wrapped around her head. The threads were swinging on her forehead with the wind.

"It is so hard for you." I said, "I want to tell you something. Please remember this and recite this with a sincere heart 'Falun Dafa is good'!"

I had hardly finished when she replied with a smile, "I know it. I know it. 'Falun Dafa is good! Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance is good!" Her smile was just like that of a child.

As she was speaking, she opened her coat showing her charm amulet (1) to me. "Look, I am wearing the charm amulet that a Falun Gong practitioner gave me."

I suddenly felt warm in my heart as I realized that there were so many practitioners working diligently to save sentient beings on this cold winter day.

It happened quite a while ago. However, whenever I recall her smile, I can always feel the warmth in my heart.

Note:

(1) Amulets -- In China, practitioners sometimes clarify the truth by giving people something small to wear or cherish, bearing a few words reminding them of the goodness of Dafa.