PureInsight | June 21, 2004
[PureInsight.org] My daughter Laura is 12 years old this year. She has been cultivating in Falun Dafa for six years. I'd like to share some small episodes in her cultivation.
I. No Longer a Scatterbrain
Laura once told me that she thought her friend Lena's mother was wonderful because her mom always delivered what Lena had forgotten to bring to school, even though it took her more than 40 minutes to make a round trip between school and home. After hearing the story, I told Laura, "Don't ever expect me to do this for you." Laura's eyes widened in puzzlement when I said that, so I explained to her, "If I came to school every time you forget something, you would become a scatterbrain. You would not bother to remember what you need to bring to school any more and would expect me to be at your beck and call. Now that you know no one would be at your beck and call, you will make an effort to check if you have brought everything that you need before you leave for school. If you occasionally forget to bring a homework assignment and get a five from the teacher (in Europe five points is the lowest mark while one point is the highest mark,) then I am confident that the lesson will help you become more careful next time. You are a student so you are supposed to remember what you need to bring to school. I can remind you to check your list, but I won't make any delivery for you. I'd rather to see you get a five as a lesson than encourage you to become a scatterbrain. You might forget a few times, but I believe that you will eventually remember to bring everything you need to school. Does Lena often forget to bring things she needs to school?" "Yes, she always leaves her things at home." "You see? Mommy has high expectations for you and because I have high expectations for you. I want you to be an excellent child no matter where you are." Laura's facial expression started to soften. For many years after that conversation, Laura rarely forgot to bring her stuff to school and always packed her book bag on her own.
II. A Conflict with Her English Teacher
One day in this past winter, Laura came home looking vexed and complained to me, "My English teacher insists on leaving the windows open for five minutes at the beginning of each of her classes. She says it's good to have some fresh air in the classroom, but I sit right next to the windows. It is freezing. I cannot stand it." I snuggled her in my arms and asked, "Why don't you put on your coat?" "I wanted to but she wouldn't allow me. She says it is only for five minutes and asks me to endure the cold. I think she purposely tries to bully me because each time she opens the window she says, 'Laura, looks like you will have to endure the cold for a while.' Mom, I want to change my seat. I don't want to sit next to the windows any more." I understood that Laura felt like she had been bullied and picked on, but I said to her, "Laura, don't forget that you are a young Dafa practitioner. If it's chilly for you, as a cultivator, to sit next to the windows, you should think about how others might feel if they should sit next to the windows. How can a cultivator push what she does not want to endure on others? Starting with the next English class, why don't you try to tell yourself, 'I am a young Dafa practitioner and I can endure the chill. If the chill is hard on me, it'd be even harder on others.'"
Since then, Laura has never once complained to me about it.
III. Becoming An Young Volunteer Translator
Several days ago I had the opportunity to exchange cultivation experiences with a fellow practitioner who has volunteered to help with ClearWisdom.net in the German language and learned that they were lacking volunteer translators. As a result, there has been a continuous decrease in articles on the German ClearWisdom.net. He also mentioned that they especially need more help with English-to-German translation work. I immediately thought of my daughter Laura. She has only studied English for less than two years, but she seems to have an excellent gift for English. I rarely see her learning English vocabulary by heart or reading English books, but she has always been one of the top students in the English class. I once asked her English teacher at a parent-teacher meeting skeptically, "Does Laura really have an excellent command of English?" Her teacher replied right away, "Absolutely. She is quite a natural." Thus, I came up with the idea of asking Laura to download one or two English articles from the English ClearWidsom.net and translate them into German as a start. As soon as I shared my idea with Laura, she agreed right away with confidence, "Sure!" I was surprised at her confident and relaxed response, so I added, "I don't mean translating just one or two articles. I mean if you are interested in becoming a long-term volunteer translator to supply German articles on a regular basis." "No problem!" she reassured me in confidence. Since that day, my 12-year-old daughter Laura became a young volunteer translator for the German ClearWisdom.net. I am confident that she will do her volunteer job well.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2004/3/29/26454.html
