East Meets West Meets Me

Brisbane, 1986

I come face to face with this Pope (John Paul II), in Brisbane, 1986, when he toured Australia.

It was under the most weirdest of circumstances, too.
On November 25, 1986, my Catholic neighbour asked my mother and myself, if we would like to see the Pope come down the street in his pope-mobile, as he made his way to the QE II Stadium for Mass.

Not being Roman Catholic (although I am a Liberal Catholic ... which is a very different, although similar branch of the religion in many ways), we didn't think that much about it, but had seen him a lot on TV, so thought "why not?"

Looking back now, it was quite surreal.
There would have been less than 100 people scattered over a 1/4 of a mile, down our street, and there were only the four of us standing on the corner as the Pope came past us, looking right into our eyes with a cheerful wave and a smile.
My mother was like a teenager who had seen her favorite pop idol and kept saying "he looked right at me with the cheeriest smile and gave me a wave" ... which he did, and he did the same to me and my neighbours.

After he went up the road, we jumped the back fence and were home again.
How many people in the world could literally have the Pope come to visit, like some great spiritual ice-cream man?

Dali Lama with a St. Bridget Cross

Also that year, the Dali Lama of Tibet came out and toured Australia, and I went and saw him in Brisbane city, (in the park right across from my church, oddly enough) and looked into his eyes as well.

I see the Pope and Dali Lama as both great men, but nothing more.
They may have more stressful jobs than you or I do, but deep down, they aren't that much different to you, or me.
They are/were just two human beings living on the same planet, breathing the same air, and trying to make the world a better place ... like we all should be doing.

The Dali Lama appeared in the park across the road from the Church I was attending in the 80's

"Hey, fella ... is that the Pope coming down the road?"