Chinese people have a habit: they do not necessarily believe a persons own account about how he has been bullied or wronged, regardless of what he says. They need a middleman, or an objective third party, to speak for him. This is for the sake of fairness to both parties involved. Chinese people would rather believe in others than in the actual parties involved.
In the US, such a habit does not necessarily work. We have noticed that for everything that you take responsibility for, you have to sign for them yourself. In a court of law, you are allowed to defend yourself, and your lawyer is your representative and speaks on your behalf. In addition, the court has to ask how you want to plead, guilty or innocent. Your responsibility is to describe the facts, and you maintain the right to claim your innocence. During year-end work performance evaluations, too, you also evaluate yourself first. We can see that this is a government and a people that give you ample chance to express yourself, and it is also a civilized society that is respectful of its people.
Since the crackdown on Falun Dafa practitioners in China by the Chinese government last July, there has been a lot of media coverage of the abuses and violence against practitioners. People around the world have heard of the term "Falun Dafa." But the media is unable to accurately inform the people about Falun Dafa, because it is not clear on what it was either. Not knowing the true facts about Falun Dafa, the few individuals in the Chinese government who are suppressing Falun Dafa marshaled all of the states resources to spread lies about Falun Gong around the world. Although the media and people around the world are aware of how the Chinese government operates, and as a result, the propaganda wasnt quite as effective as the Chinese government had hoped, people are nonetheless still unclear on what Falun Dafa really is. In the course of a year, the determination, peacefulness and serenity of the practitioners in China as they seek the freedom of belief have touched them. This point alone has won the respect of the world, because the history of Western civilization has taught the people here that upholding ones faith requires great courage and sometimes it is necessary to sacrifice ones blood or even ones life. As such, people need even more to understand what Falun Dafa is and why it has inspired so many.
The need among the people to find out more about Falun Dafa now is growing by the day. When practitioners talk with people of different social strata, different walks of life, different interests, and different cultural backgrounds, "what is Falun Dafa?" has become a common theme. People contact us so that they can see and hear what Falun Dafa is directly from the people who practice it, notwithstanding the many objective media reports about policemen detaining practitioners in Tiananmen Square.
The best condition that the practitioners in China have created for us is to have shown people what it is that has made them so fearless and selfless. And the most direct and convenient way for the overseas practitioners to promote the Fa is to tell people what Falun Dafa is. When we say it is not a cult, people will ask: what is it then? When we say it is not a religion, they will ask: what is it then? When we say Falun Dafa has no organization, they will ask: what is it then? For every day that we cannot clearly explain what Falun Dafa is, people will continue to ask: what is it? If we cannot explain to them what Falun Dafa is, then nobody can explain what Falun Dafa is. It is our responsibility and our duty to tell the governments of different nations, to tell society in general, and to tell more people the truth about Falun Dafa. The people also hope that we can tell them directly what Falun Dafa is -- because they trust us, in the same way that this society has a basic trust in other people, too; and even more because they wish to understand us, because even before they have understood it, they have already started to respect the great compassion and forbearance of the practitioners in China.
Let us talk about how we ourselves have benefited so much, let us use our improved moral character, our compassion and tolerance, and our fearlessness and selflessness. Let us talk about the benefits it has brought to people of China and to the nation itself as the morality of many good people in China has improved. Let more people around the world become aware and let all kindhearted people understand. Let us openly and clearly let the people of the world know what Falun Dafa is.
USA Practitioners
August 10, 2000
