Monday, November 3, 2003

   Tibetan Monk
Today a monk from Tibet visited my school, and he made such an impact on me.here's the articleI wrote a response to it so I would remember how this changed my life. :
Here is a man that the world has been ignoring. He has spent 33 years in a Chinese prison, one thin meal a day, used as draft animals, locked in a dark cell, cut off from the world, inmates dying and rotting left and right.
He was very passionate telling his story, crying at times, though not for himself. I can only imagine the sorrow he felt for the person next to him, for the women and children devastated, killed, raped, in the wake of the Chinese invasion of Tibet.
In torture the interrogators would stretch both his arms, both his legs, behind him until they were at his neck. Then they would hang him up on the rafters in this state. They would beat him with leather and pour boiling water and chili peppers on the wounds.
Shove a burning rock into his mouth, and continue this punishment until all of his teeth were gone within a month. Stick him with electric-charged pole. Shaking with passion, he said they would do this to women, except that they would rape them with the electric-charged poles, killing them most of the time.

All because they maintained that they were Tibetan, that Tibet was his country.

Genocide of a people. The Chinese viewed their invasion as liberating it from unmodern ways of life, from poverty. They came with troops and military force to "liberate" them.
Sounds exactly like what the US is doing to Iraqi people right now. I'm not saying our intentions weren't good. Saddam was opressing them. We have taken his place. We are "liberating" them with troops and military force.

Why do these things happen? Why was a peaceful demonstrater thrown in prison? Anger and selfishness. There are many conflicts in life; between husband and wife; between country and country. But these people hold anger in pride of their own self interest.
Too many people died and are still dying of this selfishness. The enemy is anger, not those who wronged you. This amazing person holds no grudge or hat to his tormentors. "Anger is the root of all suffering" he said though his interpretor. "Contain that anger and defeat it."

So many people go through the world oblivious to injustices such as his. "You take your freedoms for granted. You have too much opportunity to take advantage of what you can do and make a difference. Merely containing your anger is a wonderful thing."


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