Thursday, April 21, 2011

Overthoughts

As a souvenir of Tibet, I once bought a stuffed alpaca. A few months later, I was privileged to be in the crowd outside an auditorium where Tibet’s exiled spiritual and political leader was giving a speech. As he came out, he stopped occasionally to shake hands with individuals. He stopped near me and held out his hand. In a moment of unthinking foolishness, instead of shaking his hand, I handed him my souvenir. He took it with a smile.

Yes, I gave the Dalai Lama a llama dolly.

2 comments:

Steve MC said...

LOL. That should be a kid's book: The Dalai Lama and his Llama Dolly.

And really, his Holiness has such a wonderful sense of humor, and such a full appreciation of the magical absurdities of life, that I'm sure he loved the gesture.

And the llama, too.

Ulysses said...

Terribly sorry if I misled you, but this is a joke, and the events mentioned never occurred.

Be cool if they did, though. I agree, from what I've read of the Dalai Lama and heard from people who have encountered him, he'd have laughed at the gesture.