(Clearwisdom.net) Recently, while delivering newspapers as a volunteer to various locations in town I encountered much interference and many tests. One late night when I was driving to deliver papers I suddenly realized I had forgotten to bring my wallet and driver's license. There was no time to return home and fetch it. I told myself that I will drive carefully and not violate any traffic laws.
On my way home I saw a police car with red lights flashing. I told myself that I was within the speed limit, and that some other car behind must have violated the traffic laws. But to my surprise, after passing several cars, the police car arrived behind and followed my car. I tried to ignore it, but the siren sounded. I had no choice but to stop.
An officer asked to see my license. I told him that I forgot to bring it. Hearing that, they ordered me out of the car and one of them performed a body search. The other police officer searched my car. Soon they discovered that the license plate had expired. They told me to sit in the back of the police cruiser. I realized that things were getting serious. I started to send forth righteous thoughts. I told the police that the car belongs to a friend and that I have no idea about the license plate. I also told my name, birth date and address. After a phone call, he verified that I have a valid driver license. He then handed me a ticket with a court hearing date and told me to go. Feeling relief, I drove home.
Normally, a random check should not find me as a target. I was driving with a group of other cars for several minutes. It is a bit odd that the police chased me to verify my driver license. I was a careful driver, always bringing a driver's license with me. The fellow practitioner who loaned me her car had just moved in from out of state. Since she does not drive her car often, she forgot to renew her license plate. I thought that the old forces saw our forgetfulness and dispatched the police to look for trouble. By wasting our time and money, the old energies cause interference in our efforts to rescue sentient beings.
Practitioner Ann who had loaned me her car apologized after she heard of the incident. She immediately contacted the vehicle administration agency and processed a license plate renewal. Since she had recently moved several times, the agency could not mail the documents to her on time. The day before the court hearing, we still had not received the renewal. Ann asked the agency to write a statement showing that the renewal is in progress. Ann also insisted that she come to court with me. I tried to discourage her from spending half a day in the court, but she insisted and said the incident happened because of her negligence. Finally, she took a half day off from work and came to court with me.
After arriving at the courthouse we sent forth righteous thoughts before our case was opened. We made our best effort to deny the old forces' persecution.
When my name was announced I stood up and walked before the judge. I told the judge that Ann is the car's owner. The judge began to ask Ann questions without asking me anything. Ann explained her story, stating that she just moved in, changed addresses several times, and forgot to renew the license plate. The judge was very fair. After learning the facts she asked if she could keep the letter showing Ann has turned in her renewal application. Ann said yes and handed the letter to the judge. The judge waived all fines and charges. The result was better than I expected. I told the judge, "Dear judge, thank you." I planned to leave immediately.
But Ann was not in a hurry to get out. She said to the judge, "Thank you judge, and the American legal system for letting us defend ourselves. I know you made a fair ruling." I also said something nice and was ready to leave. But Ann said, "Your honor, can I tell you of a legal case in China?" The judge appears very friendly and said, "Yes, you can."
Ann went on, "In the U.S.A, the laws protect Americans' rights. I feel lucky to live here. I was born in China. Something very sad happened there. Many of my fellow Chinese people practice Falun Gong, which is beneficial to physical health and morals. Without any due process, the Chinese Communist Party declared that this activity is illegal. In the past seven years, thousands of practitioners died of persecution at the hands of the police and government, and hundreds of thousands of people are being locked up. This persecution is still going on as we speak."
Surprised by Ann's description the judge expressed her sympathy. The judge said that every year this court hosts some Chinese lawyers for practical training. These lawyers are very young. Ann pulled out a newspaper and continued, "In this newspaper, there is a report about an American citizen named Charles Lee. Charles is a Falun Gong practitioner. When he visited his parents in China he was arrested and sentenced to three years in prison." The judge asked, "Can I see the report?" Ann handed the judge the Epoch Times. There was an article how the Communist regime took advantage of cultural exchanges and infiltrated violence and hatred into the U.S.A., and another story about the "Same Song" incident.
The judge only spent five minutes on our case, but now she had spent more than ten minutes hearing Ann's truth clarification how Falun Gong is being persecuted in China without any legal protection. The people in the audience also listened quietly. Ann did not go on too long and stopped after a brief speech. The judge thanked her and told us that she will read the newspaper after work.
On our way home, I was deeply absorbed in my thoughts on this event. Originally I blamed the old forces for causing me trouble, wasting my time and money. But Ann had kept her righteous thoughts and righteous actions and brought about the positive results. I saw my own shortcomings in cultivation. At the same time, I realized that no matter what kind of bad things the old forces do, as long as we have righteous thoughts, their interference in our truth clarification efforts and rescuing people will not succeed.
February 21, 2006
Category: Perspective
