Six thousand Oregon Teenagers to meet His Holiness the Dalai Lama

His Holiness will then meet with the original core group of youth, and they will have a more private interactive time with him. He can hear from them what their concerns are, what their ideas are about resolving some of the ideas of the day and how to help mentor other kids to be better citizens on our planet. Then he'll address the entire group and reflect upon what he has heard from their counterparts.

I've been aware of the Dalai Lama's work and greatness for many years, and the peaceful resolution he's trying to bring about for Tibet. It's probably fifteen years that I've been aware and watching with interest, and when I became personally involved in Buddhism I certainly became more interested in what His Holiness was up to.

This event with young people was part of the initial planning of the Northwest Tibetan Cultural Association. In my audience with him in June in Los Angeles, he said that Ethics for a new millennium is a more general message and he's hoping to deliver a more specific message aimed at youth.

I think His Holiness's message has to do with the tremendous pressure young people are exposed to every day. Many of them in today's modern culture face the same crises that His Holiness faces with his people, both in exile and those remaining in Tibet: violence, the threat of death, losing life and freedom, daily conflicts. There's an opportunity for the kids to see the Dalai Lama as a brother, as a person who has also undergone tremendous strife in his life and has seen the way to approach these conflicts with peace.

Young people in Oregon face the pressures of society and their peers to be involved in destructive behaviors – the usual array of drugs, alcohol, sex, tobacco, criminal activities are one level. Another level is the loss of family and connection, the loss of a feeling of belonging, of community. Many children today feel very alone, very disenfranchised from their communities and from each other. They are grasping at whatever comes their way that makes them feel they belong, so the challenge is to identify risky behaviors and identify positive behaviors and choose a path that will give them a happier and healthier future.

This event has to do with compassion, conflict resolution, non-violence, responsibility, so I would say it's truly aimed at the universal message of those things – this is not a religious event. It's not a political event.

We have a very talented and resourceful volunteer group who is steering this Educating the Heart event, and our intention has always been that rather than this be a symbolic event, it be a substantive event. Rather than these kids leaving saying, "Okay, I saw the Dalai Lama" – you know, for one thing why should kids even care. A lot of kids don't know about the Dalai Lama. In this culture they may know more about Nelson Mandela for instance.

So part of our pre-event work is to design – which we are in the process of doing – curriculums for kids who will be coming, particularly the core group but every kid who comes will have had some learning about the Dalai Lama and his efforts for peace and conflict resolution. After the event we expect that the core group, the 200 leaders, will go back to their communities and schools and continue ongoing dialogue with their peers and communities.

I think what inspires me the most about this project is that there is an opportunity for a shift among these kids – a cultural shift. Cultural meaning their culture, teenage culture – to create a shift in how they act in their daily lives and how they view each other with compassion and responsibility.

I believe that the Dalai Lama has a quiet way of moving people, of shifting people, affecting people very deeply whether they're Buddhist or any religion of any culture. He has a true gift and I think the time in Oregon is a very good one to hear from him because as you may know we had a shooting at Thurston High School in Springfield almost two years ago. It shook our state and continues to affect young people. We had a very personal experience with violence.

I worked a lot with teenagers and I believe that the mass effect of having so many kids together will affect them as well. I figure all these people in one place to hear the Dalai Lama talk about compassion and non-violence and peace, I think that the peer effect will also be substantial.