Article: Shunning His Holiness

Another article written for Marist College's weekly The Circle. It should be out on campus March 26.

It saddens my heart to hear that the South African government will not allow the Dalai Lama to participate in a peace conference in Johannesburg. In a statement, the South African government wrote that they did not want to stress their relations with China, an important economic ally to the country. Although it is difficult for the country to rectify its role as a leader of the developing world, I would expect better from their government.

Although South Africa has only been a democracy for 15 years, they have demonstrated great pragmatism in the field of human rights and peace. As the spiritual leader of millions of conflict ridden people and one of the most respected peace advocates in the world, the Dalai Lama is the symbol of harmony and hope in the world; barring him from participating in the conference would be a distinct step back for South Africa.

This decision on the part of the South African government is being described by some solely as a “business” decision. This is quite clear as the South African government is engaging in a very poor attempt to please the Chinese government, one of South Africa’s largest trading allies. As a nation that has overcome so much oppression and segregation, South Africa should understand the importance of peace.

Many Nobel peace laureates who were planning on attending the conference are now planning on not attending because of the absence of his holiness. Desmond Tutu, the former archbishop of Cape Town and a Nobel peace laureate, is one of the absentees who was quoted in saying that excluding the Dalai Lama is “disgraceful.”

One issue that is clearly not being addressed here is that peace is not something that a government can deny on the basis of business. Although the Dalai Lama advocates for a free Tibet, it doesn’t mean that he is going to slander the Chinese government during the conference nor does it mean that South Africa’s relationship with China is going to be jeopardized.

More than anything else in the world now, peace is something that we should all be striving for. Through all the turmoil of the global society, with the interconnectedness of the world becoming ever clearer, peace is becoming more of a necessity. Excluding his holiness from the proceedings at this conference is not going to achieve any additional positive outcome for the world.

We will only achieve peace if we all strive for its attainment, people and government.

-mike

Poem: Observations through glass

Looking into the world through the
Safety of glass encasement allows one
To see the world as it is, unbridled
From the worst and simplistic as to
Only view motion.
I see (a):
Woman running, sleek and slender moving
Easily as each step allows for another
Spring forward.
Friends walking along a path moving toward
A shared destiny as each step brings
Them closer to me, or further away?
Trees gently rustling in the breeze
Swayed by nothing more than nature
Existing, for no purpose?
River gently flowing pushing along its
Contents without purpose propelled by
Nature’s currents.
Snow dripping away into the soil without
Concern to what it has been or where
It is going or what affect it has.

The observations show me that
Things change naturally with fluidity
And foster positive outcome. Things
Created by sudden occurrences are formed
From malice and the unintentional and are
Not meant to be emulated.

Change comes with
Ease and Peace.

-mike

Poem: A Peaceful Heart (Inspired by Thay, a.k.a. Thich Nhat Hanh)

If we are anger
We a living in hell
What we put into our minds
Brings us
To where we are
Our own weapons are…
Prejudice, fear, and ignorance
Working for peace is
Uprooting roots from
Within us and others
What of us others ask…
Give
There are always ways to
Solve our problems
Always ways
Without killing
The person we call our “enemy”
Is also suffering
Deeply
When we
See
This we
Have the capacity
To love
We have compassion for
And accept one another
“Enemies” are illusions
They are individuals who are
Suffering and greatly need our compassion
Forgiveness is
The fruit of awareness
Forgive kindly
Mindfully
It will allow you to see
Root causes that lead to them
To suffering
This occurs naturally
And this allows
Compassion
To be given

-anthony

Picture from Equality Equals Equal

This picture was going to be a part of the article previous but we had some technical difficulties....

Drawing: Humanize

Although this may be a simple doodle I thought up while I was being berated with conservative business theory in economics, I think its message is simple enough and powerful enough to stand on its own.

Power to the peaceful!
-mike