Teaching is hard

I never would of thought teaching others about culture could be hard. Wrong. I met two people today and talked with them about Antahkarana International and Tibetan culture and what I have been doing. They had no idea how our culture is so much like the Tibetan culture, or how in some ways we are losing our own culture and traditions. One of them said to me, " I guess I never thought about it, I just see the farm land disappear and don't give it a second thought until now. I realize we really are losing some of our most important cultures." While the other one pondered for a minute on the subject and said "To me Tibet is over there, I'm here. What do they have to teach me? So I don't think about it." This is what I tried to tell them, that if you look back in time, you can see how Tibetan culture has been lost, how the younger generation thinks that modern technology is the better choice than learning traditional crafts or working the land. That this happens everyday here in America, that we all and I am to blame as well, get lost in technology. We tend to want to send email rather than talk face to face, because it is easier or more convenient, and yes it is if you are needing something quick or sending something cross country, but what I see at times is when people are in the same room and still refuse to look at the other person and instead ask them to just email or text them. This to me is why people lose that human touch so to speak. Tibetans still believe in community, helping a person in need, and keeping your culture alive. I still have hope and believe that we do too, and that is what I was teaching them, to not turn a blind eye on their own history and traditions, to keep them alive because you never ever know when you may need them. We talked for over an hour about it, about life today, about what they see, and as I left, they both said "Thank you, thank you for doing this, for just talking, and yeah it's different having someone walk in here and just listen, and not have an agenda necessarily but just want to talk with an open heart." It was great to hear and I walked out of there with a sense of calm and well-being.