Letters
Pedals of Peace
By Karen Chen
May 8, 2004, 08:18
My
name is Karen Chen and I am 10 years old. I am a fourth grader in Floris
Elementary
School. I would really like to tell you about a group of
teenagers that call
themselves Pedals of Peace. But first of all, I would
like to tell you about
a group called Petals of Peace. Petals of Peace was
set up when many people
were moved by the Fadu story. A 3-year-old
Australian girl, Fadu, lost her
father when he was tortured to death for
practicing a peaceful meditation
called Falun Gong, which follows the
principles of Truth, Compassion, and
Tolerance. At that time, Fadu was only
a few months old. This left Fadu and
her mother heartbroken. Many other
stories like this happened in China, too,
though. Petals of Peace gives
ideas and helps to save these children in China
who are persecuted. Many
kids around the world make paper lotus flowers (Petals
of Peace) as well as
banners, postcards, and other materials to make sure
everyone understands
what is happening to the children in China.
Chinese
children in China are being persecuted in all ways. Young
practitioners’ parents
are taken away to labor camps and jail when no one is
to care for the kids
at home. This has left many children hungry with no one
to feed them and they
also feel lonely. Other children in their school will
not like anyone who
has their parents in jail, right? If the principal of
his or her school finds
out, they will expel the student from that school.
So many of them have no
education now. Many kids in China have also been
directly persecuted. Chinese
police break into the children’s homes and ask
questions like: Where are your
parents? Do you practice Falun Gong? Are your
parents Falun Gong practitioners?
If the young practitioner refused to
answer, the police would sometimes hit
them and kick them or not let them
get up. What’s the whole point of this?
There is none. These Dafa
practitioners must be freed and the persecution
of Falun Gong must end.
My mom and dad have been practicing Falun Gong
since 1996, when I was two.
Falun Dafa made me a good person. I’m a good student
at school. When
somebody hits me or pushes me, I do not do it back. When somebody
curses at
me or says bad words to me, I don’t mind because I’m a Falun Dafa
practitioner. Falun Dafa has helped my whole family. My dad used to have
Hepatitis
B. He could not even get up from bed. After he started practicing
Falun Dafa
he got cured. My mom and dad don’t get mad at each other anymore
and we are
a great family. Falun Gong teaches people to be truthful,
benevolent, and
tolerant. This is a very peaceful exercise.
When I was in China five years
ago, they had TV programs saying bad words
about Falun Dafa all the time.
I have experienced the persecution of
children, too. My grandmother is also
a Falun Dafa practitioner like me and
she was arrested in her home last year.
The police took my granny and put
her under arrest for two months not letting
anyone see her. They even took
away her passport and told her she was not
allowed to come see her relatives
in the United States. When I heard the news
I was really shocked and felt
terrible. A perfectly kind woman being taken
away! I truly miss my grandma
and want to see her. I hope that the persecution
will end and so then all
the other mothers, fathers, relatives, and children
can be safe and won’t be
persecuted in any way.
Right now, the persecution
of Falun Dafa practitioners is still going on. On
May 27, in Chicago, a lawsuit
against Jiang Zemin (the former Chinese
president leading the persecution
of Falun Gong) will be held. So six teens
are going to ride bikes from Washington,
DC to Chicago to tell everyone
about the persecution. The teens call themselves
Pedals of Peace. The route
is 700 miles long and they’re going to stop at
schools along the way and
tell them about Pedals of Peace. The journey is
called Save the Kids Ride.
This whole route is going to take a week long from
May 13th to May 20th. A
rally will be held on the 13th to see the bike riders
set off. We hope that
you can help support Pedals of Peace in any way and
that would be a great
contribution.
Amy Shi and I were the two actresses
in this short prize-winning film Wish
— www.WalkYourPathWell.net/wish/.
I hope you can spend a few minutes
watching it.
Again, please help
and support Pedals of Peace and Petals of Peace. Thank
you!
Sincerely,
Karen
Chen
Hendon, Virginia
Posting date: 10/May/2004
Original article date: 8/May/2004
Category: Media Reports
