(Minghui.org) It was a Sunday morning, November 14, 2021.

I was driving back to the city from Fahai Temple and had pulled over to clean my car when an elderly woman approached me. She asked if I could give her a ride to her residential committee and then to pick up her child.

I was happy to earn some extra money, but it was strange to me that she didn’t call a Didi using the mobile app. Didi rideshares were much cheaper than what she was paying me. So I brought it up.

“The police took my phone,” she replied.

Curious, I agreed to her request. Soon, we arrived at the residential committee.

After I parked my car, I accompanied the woman to the committee building. She went in and I took a smoke break outside.

Then, I heard her make a phone call (the committee building had a landline phone):

“Hello, is this Gao Linda? Wonderful, just who I needed. Now, sir, you’re a government official. And as a government official, I don’t think it’s very responsible of you to trick your constituents.”

“On the 13th,” she continued, “you’d told me to come to the residential committee to process a heating fee. I had waited for two hours, but you didn’t come. Instead, I got to meet Secretary Zhou and a few ladies from the Political and Legal Affairs Committee. They ordered me to sign a statement renouncing my faith ahead of the Winter Olympics.

“If this was a legitimate meeting that I should’ve had with the PLAC, then there was no need to lie about it. Is this how all Communist Party members operate?”

Hardly anyone else was in the room, so the sound from the phone echoed in the hollow space. I heard muffled speech coming from the other side of the phone, trying to explain something.

After a while, Wang Lina, the secretary of the residential committee came into the room. She raised her voice.

“Gao, stop. Let me talk to her.”

The woman said to Secretary Wang, “Secretary Zhou told me that he asked you to trick me into coming here. As the secretary of two departments of the Communist Party, you intentionally deceive people. So how can we trust the government in the future? Is this the way you serve the people?”

I couldn’t help peeking into the room through the window. Secretary Wang looked embarrassed.

The older woman continued, “Zhou Yongkang and Fu Zhenghua were both top Communist Party officials. But once they were arrested, no one could save them or prevent them from being sentenced. Compared to them, we’re just everyday people. We should stand up for our morals and be able to tell good from evil. Only then can we protect ourselves.”

The woman went on to say, “This is the first time, and I hope it will be the last time I’ll tell you this. Don’t blindly follow the Communist Party in the persecution. Eventually, you’ll be held accountable. You have to think for yourself. I believe you are fully aware Falun Gong didn’t do anything wrong and is being unjustly persecuted. Will you teach your children to lie, to fight, and to be ruthless like the CCP? To be good or evil is your own choice.”

Overhearing their conversation, I was furious. I threw my cigarette butt on the ground and stomped on it. I wanted to punch someone. What else was there to say to such an imbecile of a secretary? If I were the elderly woman, I would have just slapped the secretary in the face. The elderly woman is out of her mind; the secretary was trying to harm her, and yet she’s still encouraging this secretary to live a better life.

Before that day, I had read Falun Gong information materials, and I had also received phone calls from overseas Falun Gong practitioners. So I knew about the persecution of Falun Gong in China. However, this was the first time I'd seen a Falun Gong practitioner in real life. For the first time, the persecution of Falun Gong that the government was trying to cover up was happening right in front of my eyes.

Secretary Wang told the other staff members to leave the room. Indeed, it was not a conversation that put her in the best light.

When we were about to leave, a car drove into the lot. It turned out to be the elderly woman’s daughter, who managed to get a ride. The elderly woman apologized for inconveniencing me.

I told her, “Don’t worry. I heard everything. Please let me know how I can help you.”

She said, “Actually, Secretary Wang and Secretary Zhou are both under pressure from the higher-ups. They are just doing their job, which makes them victims.”

“However, everybody has to answer for their own choices, whether they are in service or good or evil. If I sign the statement, it will become evidence that they have persecuted me, and would be held against them when justice is restored in the future. So I can’t sign this. It’s for their own good.”

I was deeply touched by her kindness. Though I am an atheist, I believe the Falun Gong practitioner that stood in front of me was a living manifestation of divine compassion.

“Child, I want to tell you that although the virus is too small to see, it can kill people,” she continued. “Gods and Buddhas are very big, and you can’t see them either, but they are saving people. If you sincerely recite ‘Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good,’ you will be blessed. I wish that you and your whole family can stay safe in the pandemic and have a bright future.”

After going back home, I thought it over for a very long time. I discussed this with my family, and we all decided to quit the Chinese Communist Party. I also contacted my friends and relatives and persuaded them to quit the CCP too.

Today, I am writing down my experience as a testament to history. I want to tell all the Falun Gong practitioners from the bottom of my heart, “You’ve all worked hard! Falun Dafa is good!”