PureInsight | September 5, 2005
[PureInsight.org] Hurricane Katrina took a severe toll in the southern states, Mississippi and Louisiana, especially in the city of New Orleans. It has destroyed millions of homes and claimed thousands of people's lives. It is estimated to be the deadliest hurricane in the United States for the past century.
I went to Falun Dafa website to look for Falun Gong public group practice sites in those two states. I quickly discovered that there is no Falun Gong group practice site in New Orleans, the center of impact of Hurricane Katrina.
Falun Dafa websites in the United States:
http://www.falundafa.org/eng/local.htm#USA
Then I went to Minghui.org/Clearwisdom.net to look for truth-clarification activities in New Orleans. Here is what I found: After the Mayor of New Orleans proclaimed July 15, 2001 to be Falun Dafa Day [1], Falun Gong practitioners have almost forgotten the people in the city of New Orleans. In 2001 and 2003, Falun Gong practitioners drove to New Orleans once to clarify the truth about China's persecution. [2][3]. Perhaps practitioners have clarified the truth in New Orleans once or twice more and but the events were not reported on Minghui.org/Clearwisdom.net, but that is about it. Still it is better than nothing at all. Following the deadly hurricane Katrina, hopefully practitioners who live near New Orleans will remember to be more concerned about the sentient beings in New Orleans and will make more trips there to clarify the truth about the persecution and to collect signatures for the petition to end the persecution.
As for the state of Mississippi, it is not even listed on the list of Falun Gong group practice sites in the United States! At first I couldn't believe my eyes and even doubted whether there was even a state of Mississippi in the United States! I thought there were Falun Gong practitioners in each and every state in the United States. Now I realize that there aren't, I wonder if we have ever held any signature collection campaign there to call for the end of the persecution of Falun Gong. What will become of the sentient beings in the state of Mississippi when no one travels there to tell them about Falun Gong?
Teacher said, "If an ethnic group or a country doesn't have Dafa disciples right now, it will bring them a ton of difficulty—and that's at a very minimum. So no matter how few Dafa disciples there are in a certain place, that is hope for that ethnic group." (From "Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference")
Some fellow practitioners believe that the disaster was arranged by the old forces to distract the public's attention from Hu Jintao's visit to the United States and our public appeals during Hu's visit to end China's persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.
Teacher said, "No matter what big things are happening, pretend nothing is going on and just go about, as usual, doing what a Dafa disciple should do. This is the path you're taking today, and this is the [legacy of] mighty virtue you are leaving. The path you, the Dafa disciples, take, is how you have to cultivate as dictated by our cultivation way, and it absolutely cannot change with shifts in the ordinary world." (From "Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Washington DC Fa Conference")
Hurricane Katrina and the tsunami in Southeast Asia have something in common: there are comparably few Falun Gong practitioners and comparably few truth-clarification activities in these regions. Teacher looks at only each sentient being's attitude towards the Fa-rectification. As long as a sentient being understands the truth about Falun Gong and about China's persecution of Falun Gong and signs the petition to call for the end of the persecution, he has literarily signed himself a new lease on life and brought themselves a bright, promising future.
Hurricane Katrina has taught me an important lesson. I cannot stress more the importance of clarifying the truth about Falun Gong and having signature petition campaign in every corner of the world. It is truly a way to save lives!
References:
[1] Proclamation of Falun Dafa Day, City of New Orleans, Louisiana -07/15/2001 http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2001/7/16/12314.html
[2] The Daily Advertiser (Louisiana): Chinese Americans protest abuses http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2001/7/30/12632.html
[3] "Support the Lawsuit Against Jiang Zemin" Car Tour Stops in Louisiana and Mississippi (Photo) http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/6/3/48849.html
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2005/9/2/33704.html
