(Clearwisdom.net) I have only been in Manhattan for less than a week after moving here from the Southeastern United States, where I had first began practicing Falun Dafa. However, on the first day of clarifying the truth about the persecution to the public, I encountered something that delighted me.
Late in the afternoon on October 1, I went to the intersection of 35th street and Broadway, where practitioners were meditating and handing out flyers. As the only Western practitioner there, I tried to take the initiative to talk to people who were interested and asked questions.
A little while later, a Chinese practitioner who was handing out flyers beckoned to me as she was talking to a middle-aged Caucasian man. She seemed to have a little difficulty conversing with the man, so I went over to talk to him.
He told me, "Wow, I've been seeing you guys do this consistently for the past few weeks, day in and day out without stopping. What keeps you going? Where does the money for all this come from? Who provides the funds?"
I replied, "Sir, we do this from our own hearts because we want this irrational persecution of Falun Gong by Jiang Zemin and his followers in China to end." Because he was already familiar with Falun Gong, I then clarified the truth to him in more depth about Falun Gong, how it grew popular, how Jiang Zemin became jealous of its popularity, etc.
He was deeply touched and firmly nodded, but then he asked again, "But how do you keep going? Who gives you the funds? Like, I wanted to make a donation to support the cause, but they wouldn't accept it!! So where do you get funding?"
I realized that he still did not understand this key point, so I told him, "Sir, this comes from practitioners' own money. We are not rich, but we spend from our hard-earned savings to tell people about the truth of the persecution of Falun Gong."
Tears came to this man's eyes, and he said, "Oh, how moving! It really is unbelievable! Look, I can't help crying! I only hope that one of these days, some Hollywood director sees this and has the sense to make a movie about it. This is really remarkable and unbelievable!"
He then repeated the same statement to me two or three times, before he left. As he left, he gave a thumbs-up in our direction.
Although I do not have any more stories to share at this time, this incident on my first day of truth-clarification in New York made me more determined to continue the efforts.
The people of New York are really beginning to hear about us. Almost every day, I hear comments such as "They are everywhere!" "They are on all the streets!"
Just yesterday, I heard two young girls discussing in a loud voice on the subway train, "I saw the Falun Gong torture exhibit the other day. It was really shocking!"
People are awakening in New York.