Geithner and Zen

I am half way around the world in Bangkok and who do I see yesterday while having breakfast? Tax cheat, little Timmy Geithner. He is in Asia doing dirty work for world governance at the G20 Conference. Okay, for those of you who insist on absolute accuracy in every detail, I did not meet Timmy face-to-face. His picture took up 1/3rd of one page of my morning newspaper. Still it was enough of an encounter to ruin 4 minutes of my vacation.

Thank goodness the next page had a feature on an elderly Zen monk. He is quoted saying that as a 16 year old novice he was required to learn 60 verses by heart, all 4-lines. The first verse follows:

Waking up this morning, I smile.
I know that there are 24 brand new hours for me to live.
I vow to live every moment of the day deeply.
And try to look at everyone with eyes of compassion.

Well, this certainly sounds like a harmonious way of going through life. I thought about it some more and then turned back to the page featuring Mr. Geithner. I still saw a dishonest, conniving, elitist weasel. I guess it takes a few years of practice before the compassion kicks in. I’ll work on it.