  30,000 people went to Skydome yesterday to hear the Dalai Lama speak about compassion. If only the Blue Jays still drew a crowd that big! The evening started a little late due to security measures. First there was a Tibetan Dance Troupe, which seemed to me to be very much like our own Aboriginals (the drums and the kind of dance were very similar). Then some monks came on and chanted in a low kind of strange hum... they sounded like didgeridoos. Then Justin Trudeau came on (a surprise for me) and introduced the Dalai Lama. Let me just get the girly stuff out of the way before I talk about what the Dalai Lama discussed... the Dalai Lama is so adorable.
He giggled a lot and was funny and cute when he had an itch to scratch under his robe. When his translator had microphone troubles at the beginning of the discussion, "I my voice better. " What a modest man. He talked about compassion and love, about peace and education... he said we should all have a little more compassion. He said our world leaders need a "little bit more compassion"... (and he did "little" with his fingers) "da leaders need to little bit more compassion" :) so cute. He talked about compassion bringing inner strength, bringing better self-esteem. He said that as human beings, we all want the same thing, to be happy.
He said we all have the same worries, about our families, about our work, our physical, our mental. He talked about love and how we should befriend those we want to attack so that we might understand each other better. It is with friendship that we can make the world a better place. He said that once two people know each other, then their conflicts are lesser. Then he said an anecdote about how, as a child, he used to beat up his brother "I scratch his face" (um... ok...) His English was pretty bad, but his translator was great, when he used him. For some stories he would talk in Tibetan and his translator would do his thing, but not very often.
"I get older, my English get older," he said. For the last part of his discussion, he answered questions that people had submitted. One person asked how he kept in shape (How do you keep your svelt look?? ) "I get lots of sleep," he said, "I sleep at least 7 hours, maybe 8, sometime 9! " The crowd laughed. "I eat big breakfast because Buddhist tradition have only liquid in afternoon.
" I didn't know that. Another question, "What's the biggest problem in the world today? " The surprising answer was, "Population, too much population. Too big difference between rich and poor. The huge gap between rich and poor is not only morally wrong but practically wrong. " Last question said, "How can we help you get home? " The crowd sighed. He hadn't yet spoken of Tibet.
He said, "Buy a ticket here to Peking. Peking to Lhasa. " the crowd laughed. Then he said, "The reality, more complicated... My people count on me, I have responsibility... " When we left the stadium, they were handing out post-card sized pictures of the Dalai Lama, which say on the back that having pictures of the Dalai Lama in China is punishable by beatings or imprisonment. They were handing out flyers about Tibet, saying that the Chinese have been sterilizing Tibetan women and violating them with cattle prods. STERILIZING TIBETAN WOMEN. Shoving cattle prods up Tibetan nuns. FOR FUCK SAKES! They've bulldozed monastaries, they've killed hundred of thousands of Tibetans...argh!
Why aren't we doing anything? Why isn't George Bush fighting for Tibet?? WHERE IS OUR COMPASSION? In other news, women took to the streets of Washington yesterday to protest Bush and his pro-life stance. He is refusing to fund "family planning" clinics and if he had his way there would be millions of unwanted children born with disease and in poverty. Whoopi held a coat hanger and said, "This used to be choice. " Ashley Judd passionately screamed, "KEEP YOUR LAWS OFF MY BODY! " and Hillary Clinton made an appearance. I think people should be responsible for their actions. I think we have many many precautions to use in order to prevent pregnancy in North America (I can't speak for other regions)... I could never have an abortion. I have a strong family support system, and I could have a child knowing that I would be helped and loved. I am lucky. I am also lucky that I haven't been put in the position of maybe having to make that decision.
Some girls don't have that luxury. Some girls are in Africa, pregnant, dying of AIDS. They are bringing sick children into this world because the US isn't funding abortion clinics there. Some girls get kicked out of their house or will die should they deliver a child... On the news they were showing Christian groups protesting the protesters, "praying" for them, brandishing bibles... mostly men. I imagine those men going home, touching their wives who recoil in disgust. Or worse, their wives are proud of them... I'll pray for them. I'll pray for Bush. I pray that they befriend the people they do not understand, that they live with compassion, and lead a happy life. 
