Hungry for Freedom

Today is one of those Lhakar to the extreme days, where so much is going on, I didn’t know what exactly to write about. But I wanted to make sure I took some time out to update Lhakar Diaries on what I’m up to.

First of all, I decided to wear a chuba to the office today – it felt very natural with all the global solidarity events for Tibet taking place today. This also came in handy today since I’ve been so busy lately, I haven’t had time to do laundry and am out of clean jeans.

Also, I decided to take part in the day-long fast today. I wasn’t originally planning on fasting today wondering how useful starving ourselves is to the movement, but yesterday, I was thinking about how young the Tibetans who had self-immolated were, comparing where their heads were at to where my head was at when I was their age. When I was 17, 18, my biggest concerns were things like, making sure I was ready for the next test/exam, hoping I’d made the school soccer team, or what’s Amala making for dinner tonight? I wondered what the young Tibetans who self-immolated were thinking when they took the actions they did.

The only conclusion I could come to was that they were so desperate for freedom that they took the burden of the Tibet onto their own shoulders and self-immolation was the only course of action they saw possible, taking their own lives without harming others, in the hopes that people around the world would take notice of the suffering in Tibet under Chinese rule.

Taking this into account, I decided that I wanted to try fasting today, if only to feel the teensiest bit of all the suffering Tibetans inside Tibet continue to live everyday. Right now it’s only 3pm and I’m not feeling so good.

But like PemYo mentioned, and how I usually approach taking action for Tibet, I don’t think sitting around, dwelling on the sadness of Tibet is constructive. So along with my personal decision to try to understand the pain and suffering in Tibet, I have been trying to contact influential Canadians trying to get them to sign the pledge for Tibet: www.StandupforTibet.org.

In my last Lhakar Diaries post, I contacted my Member of Parliament Peggy Nash, asking her to sign the pledge for Tibet, and yesterday, she did, along with two other Canadian politicians, MPP Cheri DiNovo, and MP Rob Anders. Today, I’ll continue working on this initiative until tonight, when I’ll attend a candle light vigil being organized by the Toronto Tibetan community.

Tibetans inside Tibet, under the worst circumstances are speaking out against China and taking action. Now it’s our turn. This is a global effort, so I hope you’ll all contact your government representatives or any other influential people you know, and try to get them to sign the pledge to stand up for Tibet. If you do succeed in getting them to sign the pledge, please contact Students for a Free Tibet at info@studentsforafreetibet.org to let them know so they can update the website and make our message to world leaders to intervene and stand up for Tibet even stronger.