Free Tibet

Fifty years and counting. I wonder how

many times this scene was repeated

around the world yesterday.

I've felt a connection (unexplained)

with Tibet since I was 11 or 12—about the

time the Dalai Lama was forced to flee.

I'll never forget the way I felt when I

unexpectedly found myself 

five feet from him.

so what's so special about this photo?

Nothing. But five minutes before I was allowed to take this photo

there was another one I wasn't allowed to take.   I was here

near this side exit at the Hyatt Hotel talking on the phone with a

friend and one of the hotel employees came and said they were

moving a "dignitary" and would I stay where I was?  Sure.

Well, "dignitary" was putting it mildly, because the next thing 

I knew I was five feet away from the Dalai Lama!

I know he describes himself as "a simple monk," but

there's an energy field around him that you can actually feel. Don't

quite know how to explain it, but I literally got chills. He was here

to give a "teaching" talk on the Four Noble Truths at Radio City Music Hall.

(And the last place I would have expected him to be staying is the

Hyatt on 42nd Street—where the lobby is currently tackily 

decorated in honor of this week's all-star game!)