A Different Stepmother

[PureInsight.org] A “step-mother” makes people think of the queen in the fairy tale who wanted to poison princess Snow-White. It seems to be linked with horrible words such as mistreatment, cruelty and viciousness. No wonder people have prejudice against “stepmother”. It is because stepmothers treat non-biological children badly in real life. Some of their conduct may even make people boil with anger. As a result people have lost any favourable impressions towards “stepmothers”. Aside from various “stepmothers” mentioned in social media, I personally experienced three stepmothers in my life (stepmothers of others).

The first one was the stepmother of my elementary school classmate. I still remember one day when I was in elementary school, our class was having a lesson when our class director came in to announce an event: a boy in our class had passed away, and our class would be organized to attend his funeral. I was puzzled because this classmate was always healthy and agile. How could he suddenly pass away? It was later revealed that his stepmother had beaten him to death. His neighbors said that his stepmother smacked him with a hammer just because he ate a few extra rice dumplings at the Dragon Boat Festival. This classmate lived close to one of my relatives. Sometimes I would come across him when I visited my relative. At that time, I thought his home was really luxurious, but ever since he passed away, I feel like his home is a haunted house. Even today I still feel dreary whenever I recall attending his funeral. He was only a teenager when he left this world.

The second one was the stepmother of one of my upperclassman. Compared to the unfortunate classmate I just mentioned, he was a little bit luckier. When his stepmother entered, he had already grown up and had a job. He did not live with his stepmother, so his stepmother did not have a chance to abuse him. However, soon after his stepmother married his father, his father passed away. His stepmother thus seized his father’s property, which his grandmother had bought and left to this upperclassman in her will. Amidst the pain of losing his father, the upperclassman had no intention to fight his stepmother, but his stepmother would not let him go. She pried up and completely trashed his home while he was working in the countryside just to find the property ownership certificate given to him by his grandmother when she bought the property. She even sugarcoated it as “taking a look at whether any estate could be shared.” The upperclassman pitied her. In addition he had no intention of fighting for fame or money, so not only did he not sue her for illegal trespassing, but he also left the old property for her to live. Later the property was to be demolished, yet the insatiable stepmother, driven by personal interest in an attempt to obtain full ownership of the property, took the upperclassman to court. She was really going too far in bullying others. Alas, for the sake of interest, some shameless people really will stop at nothing. The upperclassman said he was really upset because it was obviously his property. He had already let it go, but someone else still wanted to fight with him for it in such a fashion.

The third stepmother was my friend’s stepmother. This friend was like a sister of mine who was three years younger. She was beautiful and optimistic. She was carefree despite not having a formal job. She was not worried despite not having a boyfriend even though she had become an “old maiden”. All of this was a result of her stepmother, who loved her more than her own son. When this friend was two years old, her mother abandoned her and her father. Later her stepmother entered her family. Eleven years younger than her father, her stepmother was pretty, capable and mighty. She even brought a nanny, indicating that her family was much better off than her father’s. Her father really favored her stepmother. Fortunately her stepmother was not bad at all, nor did she abuse her. Otherwise her life would have been very different. However, human nature always has a bad side. As time passed, her stepmother gradually harbored jealousy against her, which made her depressed because she felt like a child without a mother.

My friend thought the loneliness of being abandoned would accompany her for the rest of her life. However, everything changed since her stepmother began practicing Falun Gong in 1998. Her stepmother was no longer mighty. She became gentle and virtuous. In addition, she was no longer jealous or strove for favour against her. She could feel from the bottom of her heart that the love from her stepmother changed in a way such that her stepmother really saw her as her own daughter. The love was not only about responsibility and moral principles, but it also came from deep within. Her stepmother had a child with her father, a stepbrother not much younger than her, but her stepmother saved money to buy property for her, not her stepbrother. She could not find a suitable job, so her stepmother paid the rent for a shop to help her do business. When her business lost money, her stepmother said nothing and paid her debt. When she was ill because she worked too hard, her stepmother asked her to resign and recuperate at home, saying that at worst she could sell the property she bought for her, and the money would be enough for the rest of her life and easing her out of anxiety from work. When she worried about love and marriage, her stepmother said, “I would like anyone you like. If he cannot afford to buy a property, you can marry him with the property I bought for you. Whatever style you like, I can do decorations for you.” When she was frustrated from love and said she would never want a boyfriend again, her stepmother said, “You can do whatever makes you happy. In the worst case scenario, I can support you for your whole life, so as long as I have food to eat, you will too.” Aside from all these, her stepmother often taught her not to hate her biological mother and that she should learn how to support her biological mother when she became old. She even gave her money to buy gifts to go visit her biological mother… As a result, my friend sometimes sighed to me with emotion, saying that she does not know how life would have been without her stepmother.

From her experience, I witnessed the story of “a biological mother is not as dear as a stepmother” which only happened in novels. Nevertheless, her happiness originated from the change in her stepmother, which in turn originated from Falun Dafa’s power to make people become kind.

Though they were all stepmothers, the difference was so big! The first one was vicious enough to kill, accumulating a bad predestined relationship and destined to suffer a bad result. The second one forwent honour at the sight of money, losing virtue through extortion. The third one sacrificed her own interest for the sake of others, accumulating goodness and virtues and harmonizing a family. It is thus clear how powerful a righteous belief on Falun Dafa can be; one can change oneself and do well to family and society.

People always say that good things are always accepted and sought after. The universal values of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance advocated in Falun Dafa are capable of resonating with the good side of human nature. This is also one of the reasons why Falun Gong was not defeated but instead spread to the whole world and is being accepted by more and more people after so many years of suppression by the Chinese communist party. Logically since Falun Gong represents “compassion”, then the opposite must be “evil”. Whether to choose “compassion” or “evil”, I think everyone has a wise answer in their heart. I still remember the old saying: no matter how the world changes, it will not be a mistake to be a good person. I hope everyone can bear compassion in their hearts and turn the human world back to a real human world.

Translated from: http://zhengjian.org/node/153162