The question was, “How can I be
more compassionate; how can my
efforts to be compassionate
be more effective?”
His answer, politically careful,
was that it was an individual
question; that each person’s
contribution was different,
that one’s answer was not
necessarily another’s.
Before he spoke, under my breath,
I said, “the answer
is: just start.”
If you spend all your days
in thought,
about whether you’re wasting time
or if your “talents”
could best serve
some other way,
you’ve missed the point.
The object will not ever be
to change the world,
but change yourself.
It does not matter the reward
if what you do you know is right.
One need not over-complicate
the matter; just begin,
and do not worry on
the end effect, the bottom line,
the dividend, spiritual gain.
Just do it. Start
by smiling. Now,
right here, where
you are at.
And just keep at it.
Never stop.
20 MAY 2013
for the His Holiness the 13th Dalai Lama
