During the opening of a new Library Building, street development and centenary
celebration in Nerang, Petals of Peace was shared with many in the community
through making lotus flowers for awareness and peace. From the very young to
the elderly, the wider community gathered round our table to experience making
a lotus flower or collect information, discuss with practitioners and read our
colourful photo and information display on the outside of our gazebo. This display
shared little Fadu’s precious story of how her dad lost his life in China simply
for persevering in his practice of Falun Gong and following the principles of
Truth, Compassion and Tolerance. Little Fadu, a Chinese-Australian, and her
life story is the inspiration behind Petals of Peace.
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Gazebo display
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Exercise demonstrations
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We were positioned beside the Combined Churches refuge tent and reasonably
close to a small stage for local dance academies and songsters. An opportunity
arose for a practitioner to offer neighbourly thoughtfulness to the church group
by providing help to secure a continually falling down sign on their tent. While
people were sitting watching the stage, they were well positioned to observe
our display of exercises under our Petals of Peace banner. After watching the
performances, many came over to collect handouts or try their hand at making
a lotus. Hundreds of Petals of Peace flyers and Falun Dafa brochures were given
out.
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Young and old learning to make origami lotuses
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One young lady asked how we could share Petals of Peace with the school children
seeing Falun Gong was so controversial. It proved an opportunity to share in
general the real facts about the persecution and how Amnesty International has
documented evidence together with the fact that our local Griffith University
lecturer and Barrister is working with his students in law together with QC
Geoffrey Robinson to represent Zhang Cuiying in a lawsuit against Jiang Zemin
for genocide of Falun Gong. Zhang Cuiying, an Australian citizen, herself was
tortured in jail in China for eight months. This fits nicely into schools’ human
rights studies and the lawsuits can be explored in legal studies under the high
school curriculum. With such involvement on our doorstep, this helps to validate
the reality of the persecution.
Hearing about little Fadu’s story and the folding of lotus flowers as a symbol
of awareness and hope for world peace, a young primary school child shared with
a practitioner the story of making origami cranes. Every time the story about
the bombing of Hiroshima in Japan is read to them at school, they always make
cranes and think about the young child who, through her sickness and before
passing away, made hundreds of cranes. It clearly shows how little Fadu’s story
and the folding of lotus flowers is equally valid and acceptable in the primary
schools with these young children.
An effort was often made to explore further what different ideals could be
written on the lily pad leaf under the flowers. Some of the things children
and parents chose were love, peace, kindness, tolerance and compassion, making
this a very practical way to bring Falun Dafa’s principles to life for everyone.
A beautiful glass-encased display of lotus flowers and posters later displayed
in the library for our upcoming library workshop on lotus flower making, allowed
further sharing of Petals of Peace with the community. A Saturday morning was
enjoyed by parents and children and a grandma. We read Fadu’s story immediately
opening up discussion about the persecution in China.
Posting date: 19/Dec/2003
Original article date: 18/Dec/2003
Category: Australian News
