Surf Roots, Software Thoughts

One of these guys had chemotherapy for his cancer and lost his hair.  All the rest are his friends.

Seeing this picture on Facebook made me so happy that I decided to share it.  It turns out that one of these guys is my best friend, and this photo reminds me how grateful I am to have great friends and family.

“A friend is someone who is there for you when he’d rather be anywhere else.” - Len Wein

While driving back from a sushi happy hour tonight, a friend of mine asked me if I thought a genocide similar to the Holocaust could ever happen again in a westernized country. My immediate, gut-level answer was “no,” but it was unjustified at the time. I’ve since had an opportunity to think about why I was so quick to answer “no,” though my reasons are still perhaps unjustified.

Speculative questions such as the one stated above are, well, speculative. There is no way we can provide answers to them; we can merely make guesses at them. No one can predict a mass genocide with 100% certainty, especially someone as poorly educated in history as me. I think the reason why I was so quick to answer “no” was because I’m very positive. I don’t know if a genocide can occur again, so I answer “no” because it’s a positive answer. Perhaps having a positive attitude is unrealistic, but hoping and dreaming is the first step to getting anywhere, right? Being positive will lead to more internal happiness, which will then rub off on other people. Especially for me, being around positive people like Jim, Eric, and others really gets me pumped and makes me feel good. As you become positive, your friends will become positive as well, making their friends positive, and the cycle will continue.

I think my claims here are very subjective, so perhaps many of you won’t agree with me. However, I will say that a world with 100% positive thoughts is better than a world with 100% negative thoughts, so I believe in working towards the 100% positive world, despite how unrealistic that might be. Someone might argue, “Well some people just aren’t naturally positive.” My response to that is that I will continue to be positive and try to have an optimistic view and a smile on my face as often as possible; I’ll have positive thoughts that I’ll rub off on them :).

Today I was one of a few thousand who was fortunate enough to hear the Dalai Lama speak. He visited the University of Washington to receive an honorary doctorate degree and graced the audience, mostly composed of students and faculty, with advise and wisdom.

Applaud started right as the marshal welcomed His Holiness into the arena. Everyone was clapping and happy. Then suddenly when he finished climbing the stairs onto the stage, the applaud escalated to a level that I’ve only heard at sports arenas. Students were hooting and yelling, clapping and whistling. It was almost as though the room had been filled by hundreds of thousands of new people, when really only His Holiness and a few apprentices had entered.

My first impression of the Dalai Lama was that of a humble and grateful man. He bowed and smiled as he entered the room and insisted that people sit down, for he was of no importance. He walked slowly with his hands together in the prayer position, smiling all the while. President Emmert and other high educators said a few short words and eventually gave the Dalai Lama a purple graduation gown and a large plaque. Everyone was applauding, but really they were waiting for him to speak.

He began by speaking his native tongue to ensure that his gratitude was accurately communicated. His translator said how grateful he was to be given this degree and to be given the opportunity to speak in front of a crowd of students. After his thanks he told a few jokes about his poor English and his degree for which he didn’t study at all for. He spoke slowly and carefully, and his English was broken but understandable.

He started by explaining that peace does not depend on the sky but instead on ourselves. Violence, hatred, and war are human inventions, and only compassion and wisdom can be the basis for peace. One must be truly at peace with oneself before sharing peace with others, and to be at peace with oneself, you have to be able to use your mind to expel violent and angry thoughts, which come naturally to anyone included His Holiness. Conflict is also natural and unavoidable, and his hope was that dialog would be used to unite conflicting opinions instead of war being used to destroy them.

The talk was absolutely wonderful and enlightening, and though I could put more detail into my story I chose not to. Instead of supplying more detail I want to share one of the stories he told, which touched me the most of anything he said. He was telling a story about enemies and people who do not have compassion or internal peace. One of the students who was elected to ask him a question asked him, “How do you share your compassion with your enemies and with those who do not have compassion?” He answered, and I paraphrase, “I do not know (chuckling). When in the presence of such people I try to smile, tell jokes, and be as happy as possible.” I can’t help but smile and feel totally happy when I envision his kind, loving, welcoming face say these words.

There is more that I’d like to say, but I don’t think my small blog post would do his message any justice at all. I instead plan to try and be good to my neighbors and respect those around me as est I can. I will try to not let anger, greed, or jealousy affect me, and I will try to smile as much as I can. I’m very grateful I was given this opportunity to be in his presence, and I hope that you too will be given an opportunity to see the Dalai Lama speak.

Photo credit: here and Jeff Prouty.