Some days are just pretty cool.

There was last Saturday spent with — well, “with” — the Dalai Lama. As I’d mentioned in my last post, I was going to be fortunate enough to get to go see him, and I did. And was that ever a cool day. Not temperature-wise, as it was unseasonably warm, a gorgeous Seattle spring day (Paris and I both kept chasing shade in Qwest Field – her even more than me, I swear!). But the multitudes did indeed come out to hear what His Holiness had to say, and they were well behaved and peaceful, appreciative and energetic. One of the things I loved about his speaking style was that it was broken up often with laughter, and when he was done it was a rather abrupt, “Nice-to-have-been-here-and…GOODNIGHT!” sorta deal. Like he had wandered in, said what happened to be on his mind – the theme of this five-day trip was ‘Seeds of Compassion’ – and then simply stopped talking when he thought the audience had endured enough. Very humble. Very peaceful.

Not a difficult way for me to go to my Zen place.

Then today was another cool day, but for a completely different reason. This afternoon – back to the misty, cool grey of a typical Seattle spring day – I attended a presentation on OIF/OEF veterans issues at Edmonds Community College, given by the executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), Paul Rieckhoff, founder and OIF veteran. It’s part of IAVA’s “College Tour” program, as they’re trying to reach out to communities across the country on behalf of this generation of veterans, to speak about their unique needs, such as a completely overhauled GI Bill of Rights (gaining momentum in both Houses, with an actual chance of passing this session), further funding of TBI research and — hello! — mental health professionals of all stripes to handle what is anticipated to be the largest influx of veterans into the VA system since WWII. I’ve been enormously impressed with IAVA’s approach and their effectiveness in just the four short years of their existence, so it was indeed wonderful for me to be able to meet Paul after the presentation and speak with him some about these issues and about my passion for them.

All things being equal, IAVA is the type of organization I would give my eye teeth to work for, as they do have an office now in D.C. as well (headquartered in NY) and hire advocates and policy people to push their agenda on Capitol Hill. I would love, love, love to do that for even just a few years. But they’re on the wrong coast, damn them. Ah, well… we’ll see what I can do from here.

If you haven’t yet checked out their organization, please spare just a couple of minutes of your day and go to IAVA’s site now (I also have one of their banners on my right-hand rail). Take just a few moments out to read up on some of the issues that at least 1.5 million professional, devoted and courageous men and women in this country are and will be facing in the years to come.

There are moments when I just gotta do my spiel. I get very passionate about this stuff, as most of y’all know by now.

And that’s about it from here, for now. A few very cool days, with a couple of very different, yet very cool dudes.