While you weren't out

I now know what it feels like to be a part of history.

If you weren't able to be in attendance, His Holiness the Dalai Lama encouraged everyone at the Distinguished Speaker Series event on Tuesday to be at ease. "We are all the same human being. Mentally, emotionally, physically."

The trait that we all share is the capacity to have compassion for each other. If, indeed, we are all the same, you were all a part of history too.

What we have in compassion, we make for with a lack of motivation - stories on student apathy have been running in The Spectrum since the 1960s. In recent history, for example, we've never roused more than (or anywhere near) 3,000 students in a Student Association e-board election.

Much like a motivation-bereft student, the Dalai Lama didn't speak about exactly the topic he was invited to. He did, however, tell us all exactly what we wanted to hear.

"The very purpose of our lives? I believe, happiness," he said.

We are encouraged, by the spiritual and political leader of Tibet in exile, to live our lives as happily as warm-heartedly as possible. Bring yourself happiness, he suggests, by bringing happiness to other people.

When asked about the deeper issues of life, like how best to change the world for the better, the humility that brought fame to Tenzin Gyatso shone through.

"I don't know," he said, to laughs of the audience. "Next question."

Humble he may be, but he's not a stupid man. Before the question was even asked, he'd given us our answer.

"Warm-heartedness will bring you happiness. If someone is constantly experiencing anger, even close friends begin to feel distanced from them. Your anger services your enemy."

He went on, "if something upsets you and makes you angry, simply forget about it." Listen to your fellow man, even when you're in the mood to shout. And if your fellow man begins shouting at you, keep listening to him.

This, his personal philosophy, is what won him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. This is how he non-violently liberated an entire nation.

If you weren't able to get a ticket in time, do your part to be a part of history by rousing up some motivation. What's the one recent issue that students cared enough about to raise their fists in unity around?

Facebook. Mini-feeds.

Even the Distinguished Speaker Series and Tenzin Gyatso weren't safe from how much so many cared about Facebook: check up on the "Drunken Lama" group. They raised their fists by attending the day of learning in style.

If that's what it takes to get students interested in what happens in the world around them, so be it. Perhaps someone out there can create a Facebook group dedicated to rocking the SA e-board vote and starting a ticket everyone likes.

Or perhaps in memorial to the retired profile of Brody Ruckus, you can start a group named, "If this group reaches 5000 members I will vote in the elections."

Whatever you end up doing, do it warm-heartedly and with respect for your fellow man. If achieving motivation ends up being too upsetting for you, "simply forget about it."

We were enlightened by the advice of a simple monk who quietly changed the world. Let's put it to use by compassionately changing ours.