The Book of Joy

After a few minutes of witnessing the girl’s tears, with concern in his
face the Dalai Lama began to speak to her. It was clear she was too
overcome to continue, and he now stepped into his role as honorary
principal and guardian of the school. “Now, you should think, here you’ve
got complete freedom and have the opportunity to study—not only
modern education but also our ancient, thousand-year-old culture. So
when you look at your situation that way, you will feel okay.
“We Tibetans, our population is quite small, around six million, but
we have a long history, and our own language, and our vast written
tradition, so you should feel proud. So then you can feel happy. Now, yes,
you can look beyond these sad and difficult experiences. Now you should
study hard, because this generation has the responsibility to rebuild Tibet.
Then you will feel happy.” The Dalai Lama was trying to help her to
connect her pain to the larger destiny of the Tibetan people so she could
find meaning and comfort beyond her trauma.
“Thank you,” the girl said, and returned to the embrace of her
teachers.
A young boy stepped forward in his small gray robe and blue pants.
“My name is Tenzin Tsering, and I’m from class seven. Now I’m going
to share how I escaped from Tibet with my father. As the morning
arrived, the moon was still there in the sky. My mother came and told me
to study hard and be a brave boy. As soon as my mother was turning away
from me, she shed a flood of tears. My father came beside me, patting my
back, signaling that it was time for me to say goodbye. I cried my eyes
out, not wanting to leave, but my mother insisted that I go, with tears in
her eyes.
“Soon the bus came as we were waiting outside my home. I left my
home with a heavy heart, and I stood staring through the window of the
bus capturing all of the beautiful land and people in my heart so that I
could recall them whenever I missed my home. As the snow began to
cover the road, my friends and I did not give up. We rode on the yak’s
back, and the elder ones walked in the deep snow of our land. We wore
sunglasses to protect our eyes. I saw a bridge, awaiting us to come and
travel through it. My heart was pounding so hard.