(Minghui.org) One day, as usual, I went out to tell people the facts about Falun Dafa. When I entered a large department store, I saw a gray-haired old man strolling along and muttering to himself.
I walked up and said, “How are you, sir? Still not found what you want?”
He said, “I want to buy a loose, casual outfit for an older man, but all I can find are tight clothes in odd shapes. Do the people that wear them still look like human beings? Nowadays, society is changing humans into ghosts.”
His frankness and voice were so familiar that I looked at his face very carefully. I realized he was my former colleague, Guangyin, whom I had deeply hurt over 50 years before. The memory of that sorrowful event came rushing back.
In the 1960s I was assigned to work in a large, state-run munitions factory only three years after finishing technical secondary school. I was later promoted as a cadre and then as the secretary of the Youth League, an affiliate of the evil Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
At the end of the “Four Cleanups Movement” and the beginning of the Great Cultural Revolution, the secretary of the CCP ordered me to “expose and criticize” Guangyin.
Threatened and coerced by the Party, not to mention driven by personal gain, I ignored my conscience and agreed. In a “face-to-face exposing and criticizing meeting,” I “exposed and criticized” Guangyin.
The Party subsequently had him fired from the factory, with the excuse that he had a “high-class family background.” I never saw him again.
That incident grieved me deeply and, even though it had happened over 50 years before, tears came to my eyes.
The old man saw my unusual expression, pushed up his glasses, and opened his eyes wide. We shouted each other’s names almost at the same time.
I bowed to him deeply, pressing my palms together in the heshi gesture of respect. Genuinely repentant, I said, “My brother Guangyin, I sincerely apologize to you! I plead for your forgiveness! How are you?”
He thought for a few seconds, then held my hand tightly and said, “How are you? Let’s forget about the past! At that time you were young and naive. You were deluded by the Party secretary, and I truly don't blame you.”
I thanked him for forgiving me and said, “I am good, because I am blessed by Falun Dafa. It was Dafa that saved me. Otherwise, I would never have met you today.”
I thought for a while and said, “Being deluded by the evil Party, I hurt you deeply, and I created heavy a lot of karma for myself. I myself was persecuted by the Party later and was hurt both mentally and physically. Before I'd even reached the age of 30, I was plagued with many health problems.
“When I got older I couldn't even take care of myself, leading a bitter life for more than ten years, which was worse than death.
“Fortunately I started to practice Falun Dafa in 1996. Only after I read that treasured book Zhuan Falun could I could stand up. After I finished reading it the second time, I could go to the exercise site to practice the movements. One month later, all my illnesses had gone. You see how healthy I am now; it is Dafa that endowed me with a new life!”
Guangyin said, “I heard you confronted the secretary of the Party during its meeting to criticize Falun Dafa; you defeated him!”
I said, “At that time I was actually trying to help him and other Party members who were there. I didn’t want them to destroy themselves by persecuting Dafa. What I spoke about and clarified during the meeting was all truth, but all they said were Party lies and slander. I said, ‘Evil cannot overcome what is righteous’ and they were speechless.”
He said, “I really admire Falun Dafa practitioners. I also support Falun Dafa.”
Then he said, “I heard Secretary Wang died in a traffic accident. Is it true?”
I said, “Yes. The evil Party owes so many debts to us, the people, it is time to clear them out. Let’s find a place to sit down and have a chat!”
We talked about briefly our experiences, then I spoke about Falun Dafa’s principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. I told him about the kindness of Dafa and that over 100 countries and regions around the world support and only the CCP persecutes it.
He cut in and said, “The CCP is monstrous!” I said, “It is a specter; it is Satan, a demon!”
I also told him how I was jailed and persecuted and the fact that the Party has been harvesting the organs from living Falun Dafa practitioners for profit. I told him about the ancient stone carving in Guizhou that says, “The Chinese Communist Party perishes.”
I asked him if he’d heard that Heaven is going to eliminate the CCP and that quitting the CCP could keep him safe.
He said, “Yes, I’ve seen the stickers.” I told him I had renounced the CCP on the Epoch Times website over ten years ago and asked him if he’d ever joined the CCP.
He said he’d joined the Party in the small factory where he worked after he was fired from the arsenal, but after he retired he burned his CCP membership certificate and never paid his dues again.
I said, “It is a very serious issue to renounce the CCP. When you joined the CCP, you held up your fist and vowed to give your life to it. Only when you publicly declare that you quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations on the Epoch Times website can you really withdraw from it. When the time comes, the records on the Epoch Times can testify for you.
“You can use a nickname or a pseudonym to quit. If you don’t know how to use the internet, I can do it for you.”
Before I could finish, he stood up, held up his right fist, and said, “I, Guangyin, swear to the heavens today that I willingly quit the disastrous CCP and its affiliates and will resolutely help overthrow them!”
I said, “We don’t need to overthrow them. When everyone quits, will they still exist?”
He said, “Oh, that’s right.” He asked me to also help his wife quit.
I said, “I will visit you in a few days to help your wife and your children quit, too. I know they all joined the CCP organizations. Only when the party agrees in person is it effective.”
He said, “That’s settled then! I will tell them about it when I get home. We all look forward to your visit!”
A few days later, I visited Guangyin and brought the books and flash drives with the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party and the Ultimate Goal of Communism on them as well as some gifts. I apologized to his whole family again.
I said to Guangyin’s wife, “I am here to apologize today. I have wronged you. Please forgive me!”
His wife quickly suggested I sit on the sofa and said, “The case has been entirely cleared, hasn’t it? Let’s forget about the past! Aren’t you nearly 70?”
I said, “I am 75 this year.” She said she and Guangyin were nearly 90.
I told them the longevity they were enjoying was good fortune for being good people, and I again thanked them for their forgiveness.
Guangyin gave me a list of 18 names of people who wanted to withdraw from the CCP, the Youth League, and the Young Pioneers. I asked him, “There are only seven in your family, why 18 names?”
He answered, “I went to the park, found my old friends, and persuaded them to quit, so we can help get rid of the CCP as soon as possible.”
As we made our farewells, the couple walked a long way to see me off. We had so much to share.
Guangyin’s wife held my hand tightly and said, “After we read all these materials, we will go to your home and learn Falun Dafa.”
“That is great!” I said. “Just give me a call then, and I’ll have my son come get you.”
She nodded repeatedly, “Great, great, great! That's settled then; let’s meet again later!”