Dalai Lama urges young people to embrace globalization at peace conference in Denver

By: CHASE SQUIRES - Associated Press | Saturday, September 16, 2006 6:09 PM PDT ∞

DENVER -- The Dalai Lama urged thousands of teenagers at a world peace conference Saturday to embrace globalization and accept people from all countries as neighbors and collaborators, not rivals.

"There are no national boundaries. The whole globe is becoming one body," he said at the PeaceJam convention. "In these circumstances, I think war is outdated ... Destruction of your neighbor is actually destruction of yourself."

War creates environmental problems, trade gaps and humanitarian suffering that everyone must bear, he said, speaking for more than an hour at the convention, which brought together 10 Nobel Peace Prize laureates. He won the honor in 1989.

PeaceJam participants -- teens assembled from 31 countries -- opened their first day of lectures and interactive sessions with laureates at the University of Denver.

The Dalai Lama urged the teens not to get discouraged or think they have to stop all wars themselves.

Instead, their mission is to learn from the previous generation's mistakes and start now by opening dialogue with each other so there are fewer disagreements, misunderstandings and violent clashes in the future.

"If we look carefully, I think we are social animals," he said. "We need a sense of caring, a sense of concern for others."

Talley McLean, 15, from Fort Collins, Colo., said she had already attended sessions dealing with child enslavement in Africa, the Holocaust and genocide. Rather than being discouraged, she said she was energized.

"I probably learned more so far here than I've ever learned in school," she said.

First name only. Comments including last names, contact addresses, e-mail addresses or phone numbers will be deleted. Attempts to misrepresent your identity or impersonate any person will not be approved. All comments are screened before they appear online, so please keep them brief. Comments reflect the views of those commenting and not necessarily those of the North County Times or its staff writers. Click here to view additional comment policies.