Trash Talkin' the Dalai Lama

It's a snow day again, our fifth and last one before we have to start adding days to the end of the school year. Right now there are 61 days of school left, and I'd like to keep it like that. This morning I slept in, read a little, then dug out and got in my car. I heard on the radio that the Dalai Lama is coming to Ann Arbor, and that he hasn't been there since 1994. Uh, yeah, I remember Dalai Lama Visit 1994. That is most likely the root of my displaced anger at the DL. That day, and the drunken night when Jen and I read some bits from a book of his that she was supposed to read for class, and we realized that all of these gems of wisdom were so stereotypical, basically boiling down to "Be nice to other people," and "Do the right thing."

So, in 1994 I was working at the hippie day care, and the owner was a Buddhist, and she asked if I'd be willing to work at the day care on the Saturday of the dalai lama visit so that people from her temple or whatever could drop their kids off before the big show. I dumbly agreed, without really getting enough details. The day came, and dozens of kids showed up, ranging in age from like 2 days old to fifteen, and I was supposed to somehow entertain them all. They were all named Rainbow, or Aura, or other such things. It was a horror show of unmet needs, gluten-free baked goods shortages, and botched craft projects. I blamed the Dalai Lama, and still do, and always will.

Here's one website's Dalai Lama words of wisdom for the day: "I always have the feeling that I'm just another human being." Huh. Me too, DL. me too...