United States: Practitioners Participate in the Earth Day Celebration in Tennessee

On April the 17th 2004 Falun Gong practitioners from Nashville, Tennessee participated in festivities surrounding "Earth Day." We had a booth in Centennial Park and handed out Falun Gong flyers and newspapers to visitors. In contrast to previous years at the same event, we observed a great improvement in awareness among attendees about the issues surrounding Falun Gong. Many people had heard about the persecution in China in the news and were very curious to hear more details. We had no difficulties in attracting people who were willing to linger and chat for a long time. We also met many people who knew the Falun Gong exercises and had even tried them before.

For example, one middle-aged cancer patient told us he had practised the exercises by himself at home for several years without ever contacting other practitioners. He thought he would try to join our group practice sometime soon. Another gentleman stopped to say that he had practised with a group in another state, but now moved to Nashville and wanted to join us. A lady mentioned that she used to practise with us a couple of years ago and would like to give the practice another try. Another person mentioned that her brother-in-law is a practitioner in Florida. Yet another lady mentioned that her parents had gone on a trip to China and had heard there about the persecution of Falun Gong. Several people had seen the Falun Gong exercises on cable TV. Two persons mentioned that they had taken the free Falun Gong classes offered at the local Community Education Centre.

Although there were still many people who had not heard of Falun Gong, it was evident that the world-wide activities to spread the Fa are showing an effect, and that practitioners have truly worked hard and have been successful capturing the public's attention. People eagerly accepted our printed materials and the yellow pinwheels with the Falun emblem were popular with small children. In the evening, we left feeling deeply grateful for the opportunity to talk to so many people about Dafa.