Memphis Mayor Pro-tem Myron Lowery has been catching a lot of heat for greeting the Dalai Lama last week with a fist bump (aka “terrorist fist jab”). I think the bigger breach, of good humor if not protocol, was his salutation “Hello, Dalai!” echoing Louis Armstrong’s famous tune.
Judging by the video, the Dalai Lama didn’t seem to mind, but this is a man who responds to Chinese taunts with an impish grin, so it’s tough to say. (See the video here.)
Lowery himself wrote an editorial for CNN last Thursday defending the bump. He says he cleared it with the Dalai Lama’s people, who had encouraged him to greet His Holiness according to local custom. “It seemed like a good idea at the time. And with hindsight being 20/20; it still does. How often do you get to meet an international figure as captivating as the Dalai Lama? I wanted to make an impression, and break the ice, in my Southern hospitality sort of way,” Lowery wrote.
Proving once again that the InterWeb knows everything, eHow.com has a helpful primer on How to Greet the Dalai Lama properly. Step 8 is: Bow your head to greet him. Some Westerners like to peek while bowing to gain eye contact with this charismatic leader. Most Tibetans, however, prostrate in front of him and do not make eye contact.
For all the fuss, the bigger story may be the terrorist fist jab the Dalai Lama doesn’t get. President Obama says he will not meet with His Holiness when the religious leader visits Washington next week. It will be the first time since 1991 that the Dalai Lama has been in the nation’s capitol and not been granted a presidential meeting, according to the International Campaign for Tibet. I’ll be writing more about that in a story coming out Thursday.