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Perhaps it was the sunny and fairly warm weather (for December, anyway) or the fact that the auditorium was nearly full of students, but once the walkers began to talk, they were full of passion and fire. Jigme Norbu started the presentation by giving out some facts and brief history of Tibet. Next, Ngawang Norbu spoke of his former life in Amdo, almost breaking down in tears, before moving on to denounce the imprisonment and imminent death sentence of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche and the kidnapping of the Panchen Lama. "It is bullshit! Bullshit!" He cried, bringing the assembly to its feet for a standing ovation. Tenzin Jamyang spoke next and detailed with great emotion, the path his family took across the Himalayas to freedom. He too, almost broke down in tears as he described his mother carrying him over the treacherous, deadly terrain. Passang came on next, even while speaking in Tibetan he still managed to stir the crowd with an impassioned statement that as long as Tibet is occupied and he still can draw a breath then he will continue to demonstrate and fight for his country's freedom. A sentiment shared by all of the walkers. The program ended with a lengthy question and answer session with some very good, intelligent questions from the students, who were in awe of these men who had no country but tons of spirit. After
that, the walkers finished up their route by walking a little more
then 9 miles through the town of Lebanon. Undoubtedly sore muscles,
blisters and bad weather will be more of a factor before the walk
is done. But, for now, it's all heart and soul and strong spirit.
Rarely, if ever, have a group of walkers in any of our past walks
done a 20-mile day AND a presentation. Which may mean, even though
it's one of the shorter marches, it may end up being one of the
most strenuous. |
