My Once in a Million Moment

Photo of the Dalai Lama when he was in Memphis, TN. The Mayor taught him how to "fist pump" during his stay there.

As I continue to live in Washington DC, I am beginning to notice a pattern of moments that literally take my breath away. A brief instance where a small town gal, like myself, just steps back and asks, am I really here right now?

One such moment happened last week when I came face to face with the Dalai Lama, last week.

As a life long protestant church goer, my church circle never referenced the Dalai Lama that often. I admit that it took Brad Pitt and the movie Seven Years in Tibet to actually grab my attention about the small peaceful man and the Buddhist religion. However, when I was packing for my DC semester, I lacked to pack an outfit for meeting Nobel peace prize winning religious leaders. But little did I know that in DC, opportunity to experience something great is not as far as I thought.

It all started when I was clearing story ideas with my editor. With the AP Daybook at her desk, my editor casually scanned the list of ideas while tossing out events she thought I could cover.

"The Dalai Lama is in town," she said as she scanned the Daybook, "You should probably go see him, he's speaking tomorrow at this conference"

It took me a few seconds to respond to that. The Dalai Lama? He was the guy one read about in the New York Times or tried to reference to appear intellectual. To actually go see him would be playing at a whole other level.

"Is that an option?" I asked, trying to hide the disbelief in my voice. My editor smiled and nodded her head.

"In fact, it's just one of those things you need to do while in DC, " she said, "You have to really."

The next morning I made my way to where the Dalai Lama would be speaking at the Mind and Light Conference, which was focusing on education and the future of the youth. Just for fun, I looked to see how much a ticket would be to attend as a normal civilian and about fell over at the time. Tickets were well over 350 dollars and that was for tickets booked in advanced! I thanked my lucky stars that I was considered press. I will not lie, getting to flash my press pass and walk in for free is literally one of the coolest thrills a cheap person like myself can get.

I managed to get into the building and find where the press were being seated. Then I walked to the stage trying to see where I could take a few pics while also rubbing elbows with the reporters around me. With another flash of my press pass I ended up at the edge of the stage the Dalai Lama would be speaking from. Me and the other reporters snapped mindless photos waiting for the religious leader to appear.

Finally the lights dimmed. Strange but calming eastern music began to play in the background. The reporters around me began to whisper that "he" was coming on to stage. I held my breath while also craning my neck to see if the Dalai Lama was indeed coming onto stage. I saw him get on stage and walk to his seat.

I couldn't help but smile, here I was watching the Dalia Lama amid all these reporters and viewers and I got a front seat view. I mentally prepared myself that was going to be the best of the show but then! The Dalai Lama got up and walked to the front of the stage. He walked in front of reporters and waved to crowd and chuckled ever so softly, (he's famous for it, did you know?)


This photo was taken a foot away from him. I was almost in too much shock that he was so close to take a photo, (I guess photojournalist is still a new thing for me).

I walked away from the conference in awe and in wonder. Besides wanting to do yoga and drink herbal tea, I also could n0t help but wonder how I got to experience what just occurred. I never thought about the Dalai Lama and never did I think I would be impacted by what he said. Now after seeing him, I feel compelled to read more on his thoughts on peace and education.

My walk back to the metro involved a stroll by the White House. A group of middle schoolers were taking a photo by the gate and I heard one girl say, "This is so cool we get to do this and be here. I can't believe this is really happening." I had to agree with her.