(Clearwisdom.net)
I worked hard for many years in a company with close to 400 employees, and although I did not have any outstanding performances, my efforts have been recognized by my manager and colleagues for being diligent and having good interpersonal relationships with others. From a basic level worker, I rose to a position that required special skills; a third-level worker promoted to a second-level worker. I was recently promoted from a second-level worker to a first-class worker. Over the past year, even though neither honor nor a position in the human world is important to practitioners, I came to deeply understand that a practitioner's behavior at work directly impacts the outer environment, as well as people's attitudes towards Falun Dafa.
Whether it is with family, at work, or in society, the ability to think of ourselves as practitioners at all times, or hold our words and actions against the requirements of the Fa, determines whether a practitioner truly or solidly cultivates, yet also affects whether everyday people can be saved or not by seeing the beauty of Dafa. Recently, something happened that significantly enlightened me, therefore, I wanted to share it with fellow practitioners.
A coworker of mine shares the same office with me, and has been relying on my support, as well as protection from our department manager, in order to do things her own way. For example, she was assigned to a position that requires someone available 24 hours a day, however, she left the post any time she wanted to, impacting others working in the same department. The rest of us had to cover her position when she left. Even though the other workers had some complaints about her, we still managed to fill in for her. About two months later, I had to leave to take care of my job before she signed in, so no one was available to cover her at that time. Our manager noticed, then he challenged our supervisor because of this lapse of management. On the surface, I felt no responsibility, since everyone has his or her own job to do; no one asked me to fill in for her, nor did she mention that she was not coming and needed someone. Even though I could have helped her, I didn't. As a result, this person and our supervisor were very angry with me; she even swore at me over the phone. This incident happened suddenly, and caught me off guard - I was completely lost. Our relationship became tense; how could I face her later on, and how could I solve this problem?
On my way home at noon, I first thought about the Fa that Teacher imparted at the Australian Fa Lecture on how to look within, which I did immediately. What could be the reason for this kind of thing to happen - was it driven by any attachments of mine? Could it be resentment, jealousy, discontentment, looking down upon others, and my complaints about her? Therefore, I had not considered her at all at the critical moment, and did not fulfill what Teacher said:
"You should always be benevolent and kind to others, and consider others when doing anything. Whenever you encounter a problem, you should first consider whether others can put up with this matter or if it will hurt anyone. In doing so, there will not be any problems." (Zhuan Falun)
After I realized my shortcomings, I decided to smooth things out and make up for the losses. I wrote a letter to the manager of our department, and related that, due to my lack of consideration, I affected the group as well as an individual, that I wanted to sincerely apologize, and hoped that we'd cherish our predestined relationship so that we could work well together. Everything turned around quickly, and people who witnessed this incident said to me that they didn't expect that in the morning, the manager was shouting to criticize me, but in the afternoon, he looked as if nothing had happened, not even a word of blame for me. I knew clearly in my heart that the letter turned the situation around, and that the treasure of looking within unconditionally, and the power of Dafa made things change for the better. Even though the person who swore at me still ignored me, I treated her the same as before, allowing me to eliminate my attachment of wanting others to treat me nicely. I let go of to others' attitudes towards me at all, and began to follow the course of nature. One month later, that person began to talk to me.
I understand that it was a cultivator's benevolence that changed the situation; my Xinxing improved as well.
Nearly three months later, the General Manager of the company learned about this incident. After he heard about it, he was very upset, and wanted to punish the people involved in the incident, including the department managers. During the investigation, I spoke honestly about how things happened and how I dealt with it, and the General Manager approved of my actions immediately. He said that I did very well, and by doing so, prevented the situation from becoming worse. However, he insisted on punishing certain people. I wrote another letter to the General Manager, commending him for upholding justice. I also stated that I should be liable for the incident as well; if I had thought about the entire incident first, then it would not have happened. At the same time, I also hoped that he would deal with things from the overall company perspective.
A few days later, the General Manager found me, and let me know that he thought very highly of me, and was very touched by my letter. He didn't expect me to not only take responsibility for others' mistakes, but also to plea for them. I made it clear to him that only because I cultivated Dafa could I behave like that, and that following the principle of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to be a good person is always beneficial to others. He said to me sincerely that he would learn from me, then gave me a promotion, and entrusted me with another important task. He said that the reason why he didn't want to assign this task to others was because he trusted me the most.
Although practitioners cultivating in the human world have no pursuit of fame or self-interest, we follow the requirements of the Fa, rectify ourselves in the Fa, and look within so that we can solve the seemingly difficult problems, improve our xinxing, and additionally, gain a good reputation and recognition from the worldly people. Practitioners rectify our environment, influence the world's people, and validate the greatness of Dafa!
Let's cultivate ourselves, eliminate our attachments and validate Dafa whatever our environment, so that we can clarify the truth better to the people of the world.