Hi everybody! This is my first post on my new blog! So happy to be here!
Anyways, a good friend of mine who shall be nameless today invited me and I think another friend of ours (or maybe my other friend told her and she invited me, I don't remember knowing who told who) to this movie at our local center to aid the people of Tibet so they can be safe & protected from harm with all the crazy goings on over in Tibet with the Chinese building (I believe they are building it right now) a railroad through the mountains so basically that's like that train that they built through the South Bronx, kind of killed the neighborhood, well also you have to see this video I don't remember the name of it, it was all about the Tibetans being attacked and in some cases actually tortured by some Chinese folks (women too, that was particularly hard to hear about, I would like to say if you catch my drift, however I don't expect anyone to catch my drift so forget it) anyway
After this movie i could not let it go, I was like I want to send them money or something but I wan't sure what I could do exactly . . . I want to also say that when the local Tibetan Center moved into the neighborhood maybe six months ago or maybe a little less than a year I don't know exactly, I had this idea that I would like to volunteer there doing probably light work but I'm pretty sure my schedule was really full at that time so I wasn't ready to move on that impulse . . . then after I saw this movie I thought that my schedule was still full even though it was on my mind . . . THEN, about a month later my schedule opened up -- stopped going up to an A Course In Miracles group which was really far north of here, shuffled around a couple of other engagements, and I started thinking that I would like to get a 4-hour job just so I could go up to the local monastery and study with a teacher there, you know, and pay for the education! That was weird in my mind because I am a dyed-in-the-wool A Course In Miracles devotee :-)
Anyway, What ended up happening is that my dear dear friend who has been with me through thick and thin for 14 years now got a job at the Tibetan Center helping with the thrift store and the gift shop and everything else that needs doing along with all the people who work & volunteer there! Actually, she told me about this about an hour before we went to see that awful movie! So all this was kicking around in my head until she had been working there for about a month or so -- we got to talking and when she told me about how much work she does over there, I felt so bad about her having to do all that work that I started volunteering there myself! I get the benefit of the good solid meditation practice (presumably) of all the gentlemen and ladies who are there :-)
Anyway, it's kind of like having that 4-hour job to cover the cost of having a spiritual teacher teach me what he is wise to, except that's not what I was thinking when I volunteered so I guess it's a gift on everyone's part :-)
Oh, yeah, and I almost forgot, the whole point of me wanting to write this post was that a rinpoche is coming to speak at our local center and I get to attend the entire evening tonight and tomorrow and next day workshop free of charge just because I volunteer! That's so cool!!!!!!!!
Thanks for reading :-) :-) :-) Thanks for checking out the blog!
-- ruth :-)
