You Coulda Knocked Me Over . . .

. . . with a hanging chad when I found out that George Bush and the Dalai Llama were both born yesterday. But then you know what they say about karma.

Well, wait. What do they say? This confoozlement led us to consult at the knee of Craig Johnson, a practicing Buddhist who has not let a previous life as an international investment banker cloud his big picture (which to say cosmic) perspective.

Sayeth Craig:

"Two men born on the same day, George Bush and the Dalai Lama.

"One who forgoes all thoughts of self to set the Wheel of the Dharma in motion, dedicates his existence to saving all life from suffering.

"The other, seemingly ethically mute to thoughts of peace and the fortunes of mankind; acts as an axis around which evil conspires.

"Kharma abounds in this contrast. It is prophetic, a struggle of such proportions that Christianity and Islam are reduced to bit players, themselves alternating between good and evil in the 'all' of the cosmos, in the all of time.

"Something strikes me as poetically divine that our President would more than likely just mangle the word sentient, as in saving all sentient beings from suffering, the Buddha's goal.

"I still believe in man and our inherent goodness. I think we have a leg up."

"The alternative is beyond my visceral ken."

Namaste, y'all.