(Minghui.org) I recently saw the following quote in a practitioner's sharing article on the Minghui website: “We should consider our readers more and bolster the credibility of our writing. This is a reflection of our being responsible to others.”
“Many of the news reports, opinion articles, essays and multimedia pieces that fellow practitioners create tend to fall into a fixed framework. Therefore, their writing skills and the impact of truth-clarification are restrained to different degrees,” the article asserted.
As a loyal reader of the Minghui website, I also wanted to share my views on this issue.
Many of our articles sound grandiose and pretentious, with the unintended consequence of creating a distance between ourselves and our readers. People don't relate well to this style of writing, and such pieces are unlikely to resonate with them. Even when such articles are factual, they do not strike people as being natural, objective, credible, or something that they can relate to.
For example, one sharing article had the following subheadings:
• Believing in Master and the Fa, Unshakable with a Diamond-like Will • Never Faltering Even After Galloping Forward for Ten Thousand Miles • Do Not Fail to Live Up to Our Mission, Consummate and Return with Master
The article ends with the following summary: “No matter what tribulations, tests, hardship I have encountered during my many years of cultivation, I have firmly believed in Master and the Fa, cultivated solidly and never slacked off for the sake of saving sentient beings. Therefore, I have never lost my way.”
This kind of message may not have the intended effect. Usually, the article's content should have already validated one's firm belief in Master and the Fa, so there is no need to make a special statement – just let the reader make up their minds on their own. Master said in Zhuan Falun :
“Throughout the entire course of teaching this Fa, I have intended to do things according to the principle of being responsible to everyone and society. In actuality, we have followed this principle. As for the result, I will not make any comment. It is up to the public to judge.”
I would also like to share two anecdotes for consideration. Let's ask ourselves, what types of remarks are credible? What kind of word choices should we make so that our articles will come across as being objective and believable?
I read the following story in a book, where a person was looking for a tailor. He visited three shops on the same street. The first one told him: “I am the best tailor in the country.” The second shop said, “I'm the best tailor in the entire province.” The third shop claimed, “I'm the best tailor on this street.” The person gave his business to the third shop because he thought their statement was most credible.
The second story is a true story. Once practitioner A was sharing with practitioner B. C, A's relative, a non-practitioner who was supportive of Falun Gong, was listening to their conversation. The three of them are neighbors and quite close.
All of sudden, practitioner B made a comment: “Saving sentient beings is so difficult!” These words left a long-lasting negative impression on C. C is still mentioning it as a joke several years later.
C's perspective is: “She's so weird! We were chatting and she made this comment all of a sudden, as if she had so much emotion pent up about it. It was so odd. A lot of times her actions are not even as good as mine. How could she talk as if she were better than everyone, and saving people is such a chore? She isn't worthy of making such a statement. It's so unbelievable.”
We should write our truth-clarification articles with simple facts, and there is no need for grandstanding or making outlandish remarks. A simple and rational style is best suited to present ourselves.
