The Dalai Lama visited washington dc several years ago. And I had the grand opportunity of filming him. This assignment took place at a downtown Washington DC hotel.

It was what we call a three camera shoot where you have three different camera crews, lighting director, it’s a cast of 1000s. But it is fun. We would get the hotel staff to take out all of the beds and tables. And we would bring in our TV equipment, a mobile studio, if you will, and it was great. And now our reporter anchor wolf blitzer legendary anchor for CNN, he is conducting the interview shortly after his arrival, the Dalai Lama arrives.

And it’s a magical moment he walks into the room. And you know, right off the bat, you are being blessed by greatness. So, we conduct the interview 30 or 40 minutes. And when it was over, we all stand out of respect as the holy leader departs. But then he looks at me and says, what do you think? And I’m wondering, what do I think? I don’t know what to think this great world leaders engaging me in conversation, and I drew a blank. And then he says again, what do you think? And now flop sweat is beating on my forehead.

And once again, he says, what do you think? But now, on closer inspection, it seems as he’s looking down at the floor, then he raises up his ceremonial robe. And he points to his feet. And he says, what do you think I have just bought my first pair of Chuck Taylor, high top red sneakers. I want to know, what do you think?

So of course, I said, you look great. No. And everybody laughed. It was a hilarious moment to say the least. But what I got out of that. And I think what the Dalai Lama was giving me even with his exalted position in the world, he was just a man who bought his first pair of chucks, and he wanted to know how he looked at them.

We’re all the same. We’re all humble beings. And he treated us as if we were just talking about sneakers.