A Little Story

One day when packing my suitcase to take with me on a trip to attend a conference, I couldn’t find my passport. I searched everywhere twice, even three times, but I just couldn’t find it. I couldn't even remember having seen it after my previous journey. Therefore the only thing I could do, as it was the day I was to travel, was to go to the police station to have a one-year passport promptly issued.

When I was waiting for my turn at the passport office, a Chinese man entered. I immediately understood that he was the reason I was there that day, I was to tell him the truth about Falun Gong. He looked a little confused and was looking at the papers on the shelf, so I offered him help with choosing the proper forms and filling them out correctly. In the end I gave him some materials and a VCD containing information about Falun Gong and the persecution. I left my application and returned home to finish my packing. The passport would be ready in a few hours and I could go back to pick it up right before leaving for the airport.

At home, when I was done packing and just about to leave, I found the passport on top of the TV. I had actually taken it out of the drawer where I stored it earlier that week to prepare for trip, but this had completely escaped my memory. It was the only place I hadn't searched, because in the back of the mind I had the thought that it could absolutely not be there among the few papers I had on top of the TV.

I had to go to pick up the passport, since a cancellation had automatically been issued on the old one, and I needed to re-register be able to use it. On the way to the passport office I though “This can’t be Master’s arrangement, as I lost 45 euro (60 dollars) for the new passport, Master could have arranged a meeting with that Chinese person another way, without me having to loose money when I don't have much of it.” Well, when I told the passport official that I had found the passport, she returned the money, to my surprise. I thought that loosing the time was not a problem after all, so I figured that everything then possibly had to happen the way it did. Another thing I also learnt that day, is that sometimes the solution might be found where I consciously or subconsciously think it absolutely can't. Therefore stopping to give things a thought is important before acting.