A plateau in the sky

During one class, I asked my students, to put forward their proposals to receive
my imaginaty ticket to any destination of their choice, free of charge. Imagination is difficult for some, but after some encouragement they managed to get into the spirit of it.

New York, Hawaii were just two of the suggestions, as they thought deeply about where they would wish to go. It could be that this was a little diffucult as
the price of the exit tax is very high and that is before even buying a ticket, so many a native never sees outside his own country and even travelling to some
province can be costly.

They asked me in due course where I would go and I replied that first on my list
would be Tibet. One replied that he had no interest or wish to travel there and could not understand my wanting to go there. At this point, another student
told how he had visited there last summer and at my request would be willing
to bring to class his photographs for us to see.

Yesterday, after the news reports in the paper and the difficulty that we all had to get into our emails, as well as the impossibility of watching 'you tube', I brought with me a newspaper article on the incidents that were taking place
in Tibet at present.

Upon hearing what I had to report, they insisted in trying to get into yahoo to watch some reports and this was done with great difficulty, but reasonable success. They when asked if they thought that Tibet should be independent, firmly insisted that no, they were part of China and all the country should be treated the same. Nevertheless they were distressed at the loss of life and violence shown on the clips.

After this, we looked at the photos brought by my student of the places he had
visited in Tibet. For all of you who have no dreams to go there, I can only tell
you that if you havenen't seen Tibet before you die, it would be a terrible shame.
As for myself, as soon as I can afford to go there, I will be on the first train out.

I was speechless. Lakes, green pastures, the Dalei Lamas palace and summer home that he had used before his departure, the temples, nothing could stand up to the splendor of seeing Everest in its glory, magnificent and proud or to
see the sun breaking through the clouds at morning sunrise next to the lake
that is high above where most people walk, almost 5,000 feet.... what can I say, I couldn't speak, my throat was dry, the only other place that has ever had such an effect on me, is the way up to Jerusalem, which still, after all these years, can
cause a catch in my throat.

The student who had not wished to visit Tibet now asked me again, why...?
I replied that in my youth, I and many others had seen and watched movies about Shangrila, the lost city that promised eternal youth. I went on to say that
I personally have no problems with age and welcome each passing year as a measurement of having lived, but to be up there, on a plateau, sitting at a lake,
above the clouds and beneath them at the same time, who can not feel small and insignificant in the face of nature.

Personally, I cannot wait, I will not leave this vast land without exploring and visiting the places of my dreams. I will just have to keep on working, teaching and writing until I succeed.