Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Winning Respect by Being Selfless and Tolerant at Work


July 29, 2012 | By Luofan from Heilongjiang Province, China
(Minghui.org) I graduated from college in the early 1990s. At that time I was looking for a good job, focusing on making money and enjoying life. However, for quite a few years I could not get a stable job and my family worried about me. There was an occasion when I almost decided to make money by cheating, but I didn’t do it. I did not know what my goal in life was and spent my time drinking and seeking excitement with friends.
In 1997, I came upon the book Zhuan Falun. It provided answers to many of my questions about life. Thus, I decided to follow the teachings in this book and became a Falun Dafa practitioner. Actually, many of my friends also liked the teachings in the book, but they did not have the determination to be practitioners. When the persecution of Falun Gong started in 1999, they gave up the teachings altogether.
After I began cultivating, life became simple and straightforward. I knew why there were difficulties and no longer placed any value on seeking fame or benefits. There were major changes in my mind and body. My irregular lifestyle in the past, along with drinking a lot of alcohol, had caused stomach pains. However, this problem disappeared soon after I took up cultivation in Dafa.
I got a job as an electronics and machine maintenance worker for a government-owned company. I took my responsibilities seriously and was dedicated to my job. My boss and my colleagues trusted me. However, after July 1999, when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began persecuting Falun Gong, I lost my job.
Although I have forgotten many of the things that happened, what follows are a few incidents associated with my work. I wrote this down in order to show people the attitude of an ordinary Dafa practitioner toward his work, as well as to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the spread of Falun Dafa to the public.
Praised for being selfless
One morning I got up early and wanted to go out to do the Falun Dafa exercises but saw that it was raining. I remembered that the roof at my workplace was under repair. If rain got on our equipment, it could cause serious damage. I quickly hopped on my bike and rode more than 10 miles to work.
There were many young men at the agency where I worked. However, in a society where the moral standard is low, no one wanted to do any extra work. My boss rushed to the scene and saw that I was there trying to help even before the sun came up. He was moved by my willingness to work for free and by the fact that I never complained.
It rained all day and we were kept busy protecting our equipment from the rain. By the time all of us gathered for dinner, my boss openly praised me for being selfless and indicated that he would record what happened that day in his diary, so as to remind himself about it often.
Not fighting back
As a Dafa practitioner, one must not fight back or get angry. This was a difficult requirement for me because I was hot-tempered. However, through Teacher’s guidance I changed my behavior.
One time, dozens of people from our agency got together. They drank quite a bit of alcohol. Before long, they were fighting with one another. The security guard didn’t dare to intervene because the crowd was too big. He called the police, but no one showed up. Then, one fellow was knocked down to the ground and a lot of people went after him. I was concerned for his life and followed the group outside, calling for them to leave the fellow alone. When I tried to protect the guy, people began throwing things at me. My head was injured, but it was not very painful. Onlookers said that I had been attacked for no reason.
Just then, the crowd dispersed, maybe because the police were coming. My colleagues came to pull me up and asked me not to get angry. I told my colleagues that I was all right.
During the incident I remembered Teacher’s words and I did not get angry. According to my own thinking in the past, I would have picked up a metal tool and fought back. That would have led to serious consequences.
Teacher said,
“…when you take a step back in a conflict, you will find the seas and the skies boundless, and it will certainly be another situation.” (Zhuan Falun)
Some people think that being tolerant is a form of cowardice. I think that is because they have not understood the reason for being tolerant, or they have not developed a true understanding of tolerance.
I wouldn’t take home even a small screw
Teacher said in Zhuan Falun:
“One practitioner works in a textile factory in X city of Shandong Province. After studying Falun Dafa, he taught other coworkers to practice. As a result, the factory has taken on a new look. He used to take home pieces of towels from the textile factory, and so did the rest of the employees. After practicing Dafa, instead of taking things home he brought back to the factory what he took home before.” (Zhuan Falun)
There were lots of trash cans with plastic bags in them at my workplace. These bags were replaced every day. It was common for staff to take the bags home for personal use. However, I didn’t take any of them. If I took one in an emergency, I would replace it later. I wouldn’t take home even a small screw. One time, my classmate and his colleague visited me at work. My manager brought out high-quality tea bags for the visitors. Later, I insisted on paying for the tea bags.
After July 1999, the evil CCP began persecuting Falun Gong. Lies were spread all over the media, causing many people to have a negative view of Dafa. When I was explaining the facts about Dafa to my boss, by accident the issue of the plastic bags came up. When people heard that I didn’t take home any bags and that I replaced the ones I had taken in an emergency, they understood what a true Dafa practitioner was and that the reports on television were simply not true.
The Chinese Communist Party has persecuted Falun Gong practitioners for 13 years. The regime has also expanded the persecution to other religious groups, people who defend human rights, and ordinary people. The result is that there is no law in China, and there is a serious decline in morality.
Many Falun Gong practitioners and I are steadfastly explaining the facts about Dafa to the people that we meet, regardless of the persecution. We do our best to save money, so that we can prepare flyers and fact sheets to pass on to people in society. We firmly believe that if people know the facts, they will shun the CCP. The CCP has done untold damage to China and the Chinese people. Providing the facts to people is a way for them to shun the CCP and end its reign of harm. When that happens, people will return to the righteous path and we shall see a government aligned with morality.
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