Last week I received the most amazing gift. I went to Ohio to see the Dalai Lama speak at the campus of Miami University. It was a last minute thing. My mom, who had a ticket, decided not to go and gave me her ticket. I cleared my schedule, did what I had to do and went to Ohio. It was an amazing experience but for more reasons than even I could have imagined.
My 9 year old daughter wanted to go, but there were not enough tickets so she wrote a letter to the Dalai Lama and wanted me to give it to him. I reluctantly took the letter thinking that would be good enough. After all, I could tell her later that the security was too great and I couldn’t get it to him, but I tried.
While waiting in the lobby for the presentation, I met the First Chief of the Miami Indians, which is how I ended up in Ohio in the first place because of my stepbrothers who are both Miami Indians. They were going to sing for his Holiness and they had extra tickets to a smaller presentation, which is how I came to meet the Chief. He mentioned that they were having a private meeting with the Dalai Lama at noon and though I didn’t have my purse because of the tight security, I did have Chloe’s letter in my pocket. I felt a nudge from somewhere and so I asked the Chief if he would be willing to pass Chloe’s letter onto his holiness. He said yes.
That felt like more than I could have wished for and later when I told Chloe I had handed her letter to a Chief, she thought that was pretty awesome so all was good. Later that evening at a dinner with the tribal members, the Chief motioned to me to follow him. He said, “The Dalai Lama read your daughter’s letter.” I replied, “Really?” I couldn’t believe it. But then he reached into his car and pulled out a white scarf, the very same that the Dalai Lama had been handing out to the various people he’d met that day, and the Chief said, “The Dalai Lama told me to give this to the little girl who wrote the letter. But do not unroll it until it is presented to her.” I started crying right on the spot. I felt a rush of emotions, gratitude, disbelief, but mostly sheer joy. It was beyond anything I could have imagined.
I am sharing this story because it is a reminder to me to live my life a little unreasonably. Had I not asked, this amazing thing would not have happened. I realize now that I have given up so many times before something has even had a chance to happen. I almost didn’t ask the Chief to take the letter. He could have said no. The Dalai Lama could have accepted the bag that the letter was in and never look inside, and he certainly didn’t need to give a scarf to a little girl he’d never even met, but he did.
It was a divine moment for me. I was open and vulnerable, it started before I even went to Ohio: just the thought of seeing the Dalai Lama up close and in person was enough for me. Everything else went beyond my expectations. It was a brush with the divine, and I entered that realm the minute my mom gave me her ticket. Staying open to possibilities sometimes requires us to really open ourselves and though that’s scary, it’s the only way. Nor will I forget the lessons I learned and the message the Dalai Lama teaches: treat others with kindness and respect; respect ourselves and other life forms; seek and promote peace.
This is a picture of the Dalai Lama reading Chloe's letter
Thank you for reading~ Suzanne