Dalai Lama

So Tom has had some work exercises at the National Cathedral lately and he came home one day and handed me these!  One of his contacts there had just given them to him! I had seen this event advertised but had assumed it would be too hard to get tickets so I was thrilled to have this opportunity.

 Parking around the cathedral is limited so our plan was to get there early to get a place then walk to some place nearby for breakfast or sit in our car and read until the cathedral opened at 8 AM.  Well surprise!  We walked out to get in our car and it was dead.  As. a. doornail.  If you look back over the past few months you will know this is not the first time this has happened but that is another story for another day.  Fortunately, because we were getting an early start, we had plenty of time to head to the Metro.  As we approached the cathedral after our mile walk from the metro we could hear shouting and singing and came upon this:

Now, frankly I don't really know that much about the Dalai Lama.  Not a follower or anything but was looking forward to hearing any world religious leader speak so I was surprised there were protesters there.  Apparently it has to do with a subset of followers of a different lama who they believe should be the "real" Dalai Lama.

The people on the other side of the street were there to welcome "His Holiness" so they were shouting across the street at each other.

 We arrived just in time to get in line and once we got inside I was amazed at how awesome our seats were!  Right next to the stage!

 He spoke to a full house and though it was difficult to understand some of what he was saying (pretty strong dialect) our favorite takeaway was his view on how we should deal with each other on a purely human level regardless of status, religious beliefs, income levels or political differences... striving for love, harmony and compassion.

 He asked for the baseball cap because the lights were too bright and he said he couldn't see the audience.  After he delivered his speech he sat down and had a discussions with a couple of the reverends from the cathedral then three students had been selected to each ask him a question.  He was very charming, had an infectious laugh that he displayed often but had a tendency to keep talking after you thought he had finished a thought.  In fact the last student started to walk away from the podium about three times then he would start talking again.  The whole audience laughed!  Overall it was a great experience.