(Minghui.org) The annual World Falun Dafa Day is approaching. Looking at Minghui’s World Falun Dafa Day website built 25 years ago, I felt that time has flown by and the world has changed a lot since then. After all this time, how well do practitioners and those around us understand the history and meaning of this special day?

The front page of the Chinese World Falun Dafa Day website built 25 years ago.

The photos on the front page of the World Falun Dafa Day website caught my attention. One of them showed the Falun Dafa Day parade held in New York in 2000. In the photo several practitioners held a banner that read “May 13 is the worldwide celebration of ‘Falun Dafa Day.’” The theme of the parade was clear, the practitioners’ clothing looked simple and solemn, and their faces and gestures radiated joy. They were waving at the onlookers and interacting with them joyfully. Other photos showed little children performing in a park, and demonstrating the exercises with the adults. Young practitioners were collecting petition signatures at an information table; others were performing with waist drums, and their energy attracted people to join the celebration.

This was the year after the CCP launched the nationwide persecution of Falun Dafa. Practitioners outside of China were not deterred by the persecution. Instead, they shared their joy in public and celebrated the spread of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance.

That same year, seventeen Falun Dafa Associations issued a joint announcement of the first Falun Dafa Day and its purpose. The announcement stated, “In remembrance of the great festival for the whole of humanity, in order to enable the people in the world to further understand Dafa, to enable those with predestined relationships to attain the Fa sooner and in order to appeal to all kindhearted people to support Dafa practitioners in Mainland China so that they would sooner regain their legal rights of freedom of belief and freedom of cultivation practice,...it has been decided that May 13 is named ‘World Falun Dafa Day,’ so that Dafa practitioners and all kindhearted people around the world can celebrate together.”

In other words, Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance is the hope of humanity, and World Falun Dafa Day is a great day for the whole of humanity – a day for the world’s practitioners and kindhearted people to celebrate together.

Reducing the day to a birthday or an occasion of internal celebration shows a lack of understanding about the importance of this day. Of course practitioners in communist countries, especially China, should stay rational and spend the day calmly.

An article titled “Some Thoughts on Preparations for World Falun Dafa Day” was published in May 2003. In the article the author said, “We all realize through our Fa-study and truth-clarification that although many people are now clear about the truth, there are still a great number of people who have not had the opportunity to learn the truth, or to learn the truth in depth, and their future is still hanging in the air. For these countless people, every day is pressing and every day is of great importance.”

The author had many suggestions to better clarify the truth on this day, which included:

- How can we through the process of preparation and celebration of the great day, clarify the truth more widely, more comprehensively and more in depth in society?- How can we make the process of our preparation and celebration of the great day an essential part of the global effort to clarify the truth?- How can we make contact with more people through the process of our preparation and celebration of the upcoming World Falun Dafa Day?- How can we in the process of our preparation and celebration, solidly help more people be able to see that Falun Dafa is good, and learn about the persecution?- How can we bring more people to our performances so that Dafa practitioners and all kindhearted people around the world can celebrate together?- What else can we do to provide avenues for people to express their support for Dafa practitioners in China so that they would sooner regain their freedom of belief?

These questions proposed by the author 22 years ago are still valid and worth paying attention to. As time has passed, many new practitioners have joined us, and many veteran practitioners have slowly forgotten the compassion they used to have. In some areas, the celebration of this special day has turned into a birthday celebration. Some practitioners put phrases used by everyday people on birthday cards. How can we save more people if we think this way?

It’s been 26 years since the persecution began. We remain faithful and resilient. We still want to save people and validate the Fa through our words and actions. We need to ask ourselves, “How many people have learned about this special day and its significance through our celebrations in the past 26 years?”

When we tell people that Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good, when we say that World Falun Dafa Day is a great day for all of humanity, we need to focus on what we say and do, so that we can better convey these messages. Only when we clearly remember the deep significance of this special day can our celebrations, joy and voices reach people.