My face was burning as I sat facing the campfire, next to a field of yaks. The sophomore class was on edge because the staffers at the Heifer International farm in Massachusetts had told us that yaks would attack when provoked. The farm had different “camps” each dedicated to an area of the world their organization helps. In the “Tibet” camp, a group of us had started to discuss how the Dalai Lama wasn’t allowed to return to his homeland when one of my closest friends Mary walked up to me. Mary was a highly energetic international student from China with an infectiously optimistic outlook on life. “The Dalai Lama is a terrorist,” She informed me with the same tone as one remarks that the world is round.
My eyebrows jumped to my hairline. …show more content…
The one with a bald head?” I asked incredulously. She must have confused the Dalai Lama with someone else, I thought.
“Yes, the Dalai Lama. The one with suicide bombers in his name,” Mary replied matter-of-factly. She looked at me as if I had been dropped on my head as a child and had thus forgotten some simple truths. My mind was swimming and blank simultaneously. I knew that the Chinese government censored information, but knowing and experiencing the effects first hand through my friend were quite different. The Dalai Lama is famous for being a preacher of forgiveness and tolerance between all people. How I could explain to Mary that what she considered to be a fact was a complete fabrication?
I tried to put myself in her shoes. What if I had gone to study in Russia or Brazil and the people there told me that Osama Bin Laden wasn’t a terrorist, but an activist for peace? Would I have believed the people in those countries? I doubted it. I thought about my time living in Scotland that summer. I learned a lot about the differences between Scotland and the U.S. and plenty of interesting facts I had never known before, but learning that the word “pants” means underwear in the UK was nothing like the truth I was attempting to convey to
My eyebrows jumped to my hairline. …show more content…
The one with a bald head?” I asked incredulously. She must have confused the Dalai Lama with someone else, I thought.
“Yes, the Dalai Lama. The one with suicide bombers in his name,” Mary replied matter-of-factly. She looked at me as if I had been dropped on my head as a child and had thus forgotten some simple truths. My mind was swimming and blank simultaneously. I knew that the Chinese government censored information, but knowing and experiencing the effects first hand through my friend were quite different. The Dalai Lama is famous for being a preacher of forgiveness and tolerance between all people. How I could explain to Mary that what she considered to be a fact was a complete fabrication?
I tried to put myself in her shoes. What if I had gone to study in Russia or Brazil and the people there told me that Osama Bin Laden wasn’t a terrorist, but an activist for peace? Would I have believed the people in those countries? I doubted it. I thought about my time living in Scotland that summer. I learned a lot about the differences between Scotland and the U.S. and plenty of interesting facts I had never known before, but learning that the word “pants” means underwear in the UK was nothing like the truth I was attempting to convey to