This ancient nation with its own unique cultural heritage is dying," he said later the same day. "The situation inside Tibet is almost something like a death sentence.
The Dalai Lama's words, extracted from Pico Iyer's article titled A Hell on Earth, in the NY Times.
Growing up, watching The Diary of Anne Frank year after year on New Zealand television, I knew that my adult world would be so much better than the world that had allowed the Holocaust to occur.
One of the most difficult things to accept as an adult has been that 1. it's not a better world and holocausts are occurring even as I write this and 2. it's all but socially unacceptable to speak out about them.
This is a poignant and powerful little post Di. Thank you for caring. It helps to know we are not the only crazy ones who believe that things should (and could) be so much better.
ReplyDeleteAmen to Marianne's sentiment (not that I am particularly religious. You might have got the idea from the holy communion post comment ;) )
ReplyDeleteI know that Desmond Tutu and De Klerk refused to participate in a peace conference after the South African government refused the Dalai Lama a visa after capitulating to Chinese pressure. He has a lot of support, but not governmental (trade rules everything), it seems.
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20090324121307656C919432
Have you read John Simpson, Marianne? He has written some interesting books about these situations, mentioning the reality of President Clinton and the Camp David meeting. His books are quite delicious in terms of this feeling of finally accessing something unspun by someone who has been observing forever.
ReplyDeletePeople standing up for what they think is right or wrong really does make a difference I think, doesn't it, LD.