shower gifts. 1. Diapers,

Baby shower gift ideas Baby shower gift ideas Baby shower gift ideas for the Mother-to-be that already has one - or more - children, from experienced moms. When you go to a baby shower for a first time mom, it’s so much fun to shop. After all, you know that she needs almost everything! Shopping for pregnant friend who already has one (or more!) kids is more challenging – after all, how do you know what she already has, likes or needs? If she knows the gender of the baby, she’s sure to get clothes, especially if she’s having a different sex than her first-born. Here are some tips compiled from several mothers of their favorite second-time baby shower gifts. 1. Diapers, wipes and lotions. This isn’t the most romantic of gifts, but most second-time moms tell us that this is a practical and always-appreciated gift. A package or two of newborn-sized diapers, sensitive skin baby wipes and lotion make a great gift basket! 2. Board Books are always a hit for children. Good sturdy backed board books can survive chewing, drooling and dropping, and are nice for young children of all ages! Look online for some suggestions or try these tried and true favorites: Good Night Moon, Moo Moo Peekaboo, Time for Bed, The Mitten, Mouse Count, and The Cheerio Play Book. 3. A soft blanket or unique stuffed animal is always a welcome touch. Most children bond to one special “lovey”, so look for something soft and unique. One nice idea is the blanket/animal combinations made by Stephen Industries, like the bunny blankets – a soft stuffed bunny rabbit head, with a blanket body, ready to be loved and cuddled. One source for this is http://www.bkpuffnstuff.com/nursery.htm. 4. Frozen Dinners are always a hit for second time moms. It’s hard enough to prepare a meal for the family when you only have one child at home, with the addition of a second (or more) time becomes even more precious! Bring two or three clearly labeled frozen dinners for her freezer. Be sure to write the contents and preparation instructions clearly on the outside, so she can tell at a glance what it is and how to make it. Using a disposable foil pan will eliminate any anxiety about returning the dishes, as well! 5. A Babysitting Certificate for the older child(ren). Offer to take her older kids out for a day – or two – after the baby arrives. She’ll appreciate the thought but probably be too embarrassed to initiate this, so just plan on calling her the week after the baby arrives to schedule your day. If you work, you can always offer to take the child(ren) on a Saturday afternoon, or after work for an evening. You might even consider scheduling a standing appointment – every Wednesday evening, for example, for a month – that way she can plan and prepare for her “free time!” 6. Picture frames and photo albums are always a welcome touch. If you’re a scrapbooker, you might also want to offer to make a scrapbook for her of baby’s first year, collecting photos and making special pages that you return for her to include in her album. 7. A Double Stroller is always a fabulous gift if there are other young children in the home. Check online resources like Epinions (research.epinions.com) to see what brands are recommended for the ages of her children. 8. A Gift for Mom is always a nice and personal touch. A gift basket with self-pampering items like lotions, a nice nightgown, home facial items, etc. will make her feel pretty and appreciated. If you give a gift certificate make it specific, like for a facial or a manicure/pedicure. 9. A fold-up Booster seat is a fabulous gift if she doesn’t already have one. These are travel high chairs but also double as secondary high-chairs at home if she has other little ones who still need a boost – and free up the regular high chair for the new arrival! 10. A Housekeeper Visit. If you can afford an outside housekeeper, give her a gift certificate for them to come and clean her house after the baby arrives. This will help relieve her of some of the drudgery that adds more demands on her time! If you can’t afford an outside housekeeper, consider offering to do this yourself. Bear in mind that like the babysitting, she’ll probably be embarrassed to take you up on this, so you’ll have to call to schedule this after the baby. Don’t take no for an answer, either – find a time that works for her, and just show up ready to work, with all of your own supplies if possible (that way you won’t have to bother her to ask where her broom, vacuum, cleanser, etc. are). Run a couple loads of laundry, clean her bathrooms and kitchen, and give her carpet a good cleaning and she’ll be thankful for life! When in doubt, a gift certificate to a nice children’s store such as the Right Start Store (which offers a great selection of unique kids products and has online shopping as well!) will always be appreciated. The most important thing is to have fun, and realize that every baby is a blessing! Happy Shopping! © 2002 Pagewise You are here: Essortment Home >> People & Culture >> Holidays:Gifts >> Baby shower gift ideas << Great gifts for school teachers Creative gift wrapping ideas >>

Anniversary Gift

Anniversary Gifts,Wedding Anniversary Gift,Anniversary Gift Idea,Anniversary Gift,Anniversary Gift for Him Her All Categories Anniversary Price Range Below US $10 US $10 to US$25 US $25 to $50 US $50 to $100 Above $100 Chocolate Refreshing delicacy and sweetness that your spouse would cherish for a lifetime. ... more Jewellery Exquisite jewelry items that your spouse would love to accessorize. ... more Teddy Bears A gift that your spouse would love to embrace and cherish forever. ... more Photo Frames Jewellery Jewellery Boxes Fresh Flowers Flower Hampers Cakes Show Pieces Teddy Bears Decoratives Designer & Luxury Flower Vases Households Kitchen & Gourment Painting Candle Holders Fresh Flowers Nothing says "I love" like a bouquet of freshest and beautiful vibrant flowers. The most lovable gift for her. ... more Jewellery Boxes Treasure the beautifully carved jewelry boxes designed with intricate carvings, colorful inlay work or embedded with exquisite stones. A perfect gift adorned with intimate feelings for anniversary and always. ... more Cakes Add a flavor of sweetness to the happiest moments of your life with delightful and mouthwatering taste of cake. ... more More Gifts For Anniversary -- Price: US$22.95 Price: US$5.95 Price: US$14.29 Price: US$38.95 Price: US$50.78 Price: US$83.95 Price: US$19.05 Price: US$3.95 Other Occasions Durga Puja Gifts Boss Day Gifts Karwa Chauth Gifts Congratulations Gifts Birthday Gifts Wedding Gifts Housewarming Gifts Birthday Flowers My Order Detail Track my order Questions about your order Feedback / Complaints Shipping & Returns Return Policy Delivery zones Calculate Shipping Others Secure Shopping Payment Options FAQ's Tool Kit Product Categories My Reminders My Wish List Home | About Us | Contact Us | Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions / Disclaimer Site developed & maintained by IndiaMART InterMESH Limited

Birthday Presents || Special

GDR Souvenirs - Birthday and Anniversary Presents Preface || Introduction || Official Gifts || Gifts to the Party Birthday Presents || Special Items || Site Map Information || Guestbook || Picture galerie Birthday and Anniversary Presents by Andreas Michaelis One might be forgiven for thinking that birthdays, even those that come in round figures, are essentially private or indeed contemplative occasions. Not so, if the birthday boy happens to be the head of a state or Party or is in some other way in the public eye. In that case, a birthday becomes a public event. The guests can no longer be hand-picked, nor the tidal wave of presents averted. Gifts made to GDR leaders, if they were of the right kind, tended to end up in the museum. They included both highly individual pieces and items off the mass production conveyor belts. These souvenirs sometimes commemorated significant social occasions, sometimes insignificant; some were presented by governments, some by ordinary working people; and, while some might be suited to the personality and office of a president, others were given in friendship or comradeship. Along with presents to mark birthdays or other occasions in the lives of the state and Party leaders, there are certain items that were presented by home or foreign givers on particular GDR anniversaries. Most of these, and the oldest too, were left by Wilhelm Pieck at his death. One remarkable for its origins was given to him in Moscow in December 1943: a desktop calendar handcrafted out of wood for the Communist leader by German prisoners of war in the Soviet Union. The red crayon inscription reads: Unity and peace to the German people - Wilhelm Pieck - From antifascist prisoners of war in USSR p.o.w. camp 158. Three presents given to Wilhelm Pieck in Soviet exile in 1936, on his sixtieth birthday, have survived. They were made by Soviet industries, using material from the current production line, and represent a kind of gift that seems to have appeared for the first time in the USSR in the 20s. These presents signalled a deliberate rejection of feudal or bourgeois traditions and a liberation from the material and artistic values of an old societal system then supposed defunct, and their meaning to the recipient lay purely in their symbolic function. Doubtless it would be going too far to suggest that there was an individual artistic style of expression peculiar to socialism as practised in the Communist bloc countries - but it remains true that this kind of characteristic symbolic gift was in evidence in almost every east European country till the late 1980s. The workers at the factory or plant in question would normally be identified as the givers of presents of this sort. Thus Wilhelm Pieck was given a ball-bearing mount by the workforce at the 1st State Ball-Bearing Works, a clock (inevitably) by the workforce at the 2nd State Clock Factory in Moscow and a smoker's set made of cogwheels by the Sergo Orjonikidse Machine Tools Works. In 1954 the workers at Zeulenroda furniture factory took Pieck by surprise when they remembered an anniversary he had probably forgotten himself: in 1894, the President, then an apprentice carpenter, had joined the German Woodworkers' Association, and his fellows in the craft were keen to mark his diamond jubilee as an active member of the trade union movement. On the side of the chest they made to celebrate the occasion is an image of Stalinallee (Stalin Avenue) in East Berlin, which East Germany touted as the premier socialist street in the capital of the GDR. Naturally the Communist bloc had another tradition, first practised in the Soviet Union: the naming of cities, factories, co-operatives, streets and public amenities after prominent Communist personalities, often when they were still alive. A danger was concealed in this kind of honour, however. If a personality fell out of favour, or was downgraded by his successors, the names all had to be changed. Thus cities, works and streets named after Stalin were renamed almost immediately after the 20th congress of the Soviet Communist Party in 1956, and Stalin memorials were toppled. Stalin was dropped from the leadership hall of fame. The boulevard once known as Stalin Avenue became Karl Marx Avenue, which it remains to this day (though the names of other leading Communists have been largely removed following the velvet revolution in eastern Europe). In 1946, for his seventieth birthday, Wilhelm Pieck, then leader of the German Communist Party in the Soviet zone of occupation, was given a number of china figurines and a metal sombrero by the Party's cell in Mexican exile. Rather more useful, no doubt, was a cigarette case embellished with portraits of Lenin and Stalin which he received from Soviet comrades for his seventy-fifth birthday. One motif that recurs insistently in the presents given to him on that birthday and his eightieth is the first of the GDR's five-year plans. It was launched in 1951 and declared over in 1955, ahead of schedule, the targets more than met. Even at that date, the propaganda that accompanied the beginnings of an East German planned economy could be grotesque, and the items that recollect this phase will doubtless tickle many now. It would only be fair, however, to bear in mind that in the first decade of the GDR's history the struggle to fulfil plans was accompanied by a genuine sense of a fresh start, a new and energetic departure - and in this respect it was finally a more honest thing than the ossified, dogmatic planned economy of the 70s and 80s,with its clichés and hot air. Slogans such as Peace - Reconstruction - Prosperity, or the five-year plan emblem together with its motto The key to our success, are eloquent not only of the political vocabulary favoured during the 50s but also of the hopes and longings of the East German people. Among the many activities mounted by the Freie Deutsche Jugend (Free German Youth) was the Wilhelm-Pieck-Campaign , intended to prompt greater effort by the country's young people and the working population in general, to mark the President's eightieth birthday. On this occasion, the apprentices at the Bitterfeld electrochemicals combine gave Pieck a stylish folder containing documents and statements concerning their FDJ group. At their deaths, Pieck and Grotewohl left several hundred folders of this kind, with enough material for a hefty tome, or a feature-length satirical programme. Elsewhere, workers in factories set a good example in cost-cutting. If honorific gifts were produced in series, a given item could be made at a fraction of the cost of an individually-crafted piece. The figure of a muscular miner in a combative attitude, an optimistic expression firmly on his face, was far and away the most frequently given present for Pieck's eightieth birthday. He received numerous gifts from comrades in the Federal Republic too. Most of them were little items with some local connection, such as a figure of Roland from Bremen , or one of Hamburg's typical Hummel figures . The GDR leadership's duties routinely included visits to factories. These visits served primarily to demonstrate the closeness of the state and Party leadership to the working classes. In 1953, Prime Minister Otto Grotewohl visited the Ernst Thälmann Polygraphics Works at Saalfeld. He may have been critical of the work being done by the graphic artists and designers there; at all events, for his sixtieth birthday the following year he was presented with an entire collection of draft designs for new product labels. In the 50s, in addition to the obligatory gift, a leader might be honoured by having a work team (at least) named after him. Long before he officially took over the reins of the state and Party, Walter Ulbricht was so popular that labour collectives bore his name as early as 1953. For his sixtieth birthday, one of his work teams presented him with a desktop set praising his endeavours on behalf of peace, unity, democracy and socialism. Ten years later, as chair of the GDR's Council of State, he received for the first time one of the traditional presents from the Soviet armed forces in Germany - generally bombastic and symbolically top-heavy affairs. That first gift was a model of a Soviet cosmonaut memorial. A present from the Soviet armed forces to Otto Grotewohl has survived too, a figure reaching for the stars and thus symbolizing humanity's unceasing striving after higher things - an allegory that recurs frequently in Communist and socialist iconography. The Honecker era, too, in due course provided the Deutsches Historisches Museum with a number of anniversary presents. The desk set given to Erich Honecker, on his sixtieth birthday, by Lieutenant Colonel Kurkotkin, commander in chief of the Soviet armed forces in Germany, and bearing a personal dedication, particularly intrigues all who see it. The martial character of the set was no doubt intended to convey that the SED First Secretary could count on the massed firepower of the Soviet Union behind him, and thus settle in to a quiet period in power. The composition - typical in approach, given its origin - does in fact include a number of useful items, regardless of its military character and offputting design: a radio, a thermometer in the TV mast, a calendar, and four ball-points disguised as missiles. Ten years later a Soviet-German joint-stock company, SDAG Wismut - which was the last company in East Germany to remain under partial Soviet administration and control (till 1990), because of the uranium it was mining - presented a conversation piece inspired by mining. The bismuth workers, honouring an established tradition, selected a particularly fine mineral sample. The musical box they built into the sample seems never to have been used. On the same occasion, Honecker was presented with a pick by the Senftenberg Brown Coal Combine. It was not to be the last he received in his lengthy career as head of state and Party. It was not only the leaders of state and Party that were given these heavily symbolic presents; the tradition was observed at every level of the state and Party hierarchy. Stasi boss Erich Mielke kept a trophy room, as it were, at his headquarters in Normannenstrasse. Numerous honorifics are now on display there, gifts to Mielke or the ministry on a variety of occasions. Some were passed on to the Stasi ministry's information centre, whence they were made over to the Museum für Deutsche Geschichte in 1990. There are the usual plaques and tapestries, but one of the Stasi ministers birthday presents was a rather unusual model of an electric oven. In the GDR, 7 October was a national holiday, an annual celebration of the establishment of the first German workers' and peasants' state, and the date was marked with a grand parade, a government ceremony, and countless local festivities around the country. And every five years, on jubilee occasions, the state and Party leadership celebrated in lavish style. Leaders from friendly countries, and representatives from around the world, would pay their respects to the GDR. Again, it is the presents made by the Soviet armed forces that are especially striking. The model of the Soviet memorial in Treptow Park, which symbolizes the liberation of Germany from fascism and stresses the role played by the Red Army, was a gift to mark the GDR's silverjubilee in 1974. The outsized helm presented to Honecker on the 35th anniversary by the Schwerin SED regional leaders alluded to the well-worn image of Erich Honecker as the great helmsman of state. The accompanying letter is a gem, sparkling with all the routine phrases that had become de rigueur among the Party leadership echelons. The regional first secretary thanks our dear comrade Erich Honecker for his outstanding personal contribution to the conception and realisation of policies designed to assure the happiness of the people and the safeguarding of peace, and asserts that the people of our region are paying tribute to these fine socialist politics by making greater endeavours than ever before, in every field of society. By the time of the 40th anniversary celebrations, however, a gloomy knowledge of imminent upheaval darkened the leaders' festivities - though surely none of them could suspect at the time that it was to be the GDR's very last birthday.

Groomsmen Gift

Barware Gifts, Groomsmen Gift Ideas Personalize FindGift.com! -- Login | Sign Up | List of Services Gift Ideas Gift Registry Gift Shops Gift Bookmarks Home | Help keyword search Gift Giving Made Easy! A free service dedicated to helping you find creative gift ideas! Home Categories Bridal Party Groomsmen Barware Refine Search for Bridal Party Gift Ideas Groomsmen Always Friends Barware Cigar Theme Golf Theme Office Theme Weird & Wacky Any Price $0 - $10 $11 - $25 $26 - $50 $51 - $100 $101 - $200 $200+ Related Links Sign Up for our FREE Bridal Registry! Wedding Gift Ideas Use our Gift Wizard to customize your gift search Use our Gift Finder to find gift ideas customized to the likes/dislikes of the recipient. Wedding Party Gifts Take care of the wedding party! Unique gifts, free shipping www.fromthegroom.com Custom Bridal Party Gifts Personalized gifts for groomsmen, bridesmaids & more. Top quality! www.Wedding-Presents.com Viewing 1 - 10 of 230 gift ideas found Four Piece Personalized Pint Glass Set from Things Remembered ($29.95) This is sure to be their favorite new drinking set. Our good-looking pewter beaded medallion pub glasses hold a pint of their favorite brew. And when you have them engraved you create a very special and unique gift. Limited time offer! Buy any gift and get the 2nd gift, of equal or lesser value, at 50% off! Questions? Contact Things Remembered . Add to Gift Bookmarks Add to Registry [ More Gifts from this store ] [ People Who Liked This Gift Also Liked ] [ Report Error ] Stainless Steel Round Flask with Glass Window and Funnel Gift Set from Uptown Enterprises ($23.96) 5 oz. Stainless Steel Round Flask has a glass window trimed in gold and comes complete with a stainless steel funnel. This beautiful set comes in an elegant gift box and each is engraveable. Always 20%-50% off retail prices. Custom engraving is available for those perfect gifts, collectibles, or keepsakes. Questions? Contact Uptown Enterprises . Add to Gift Bookmarks Add to Registry [ More Gifts from this store ] [ People Who Liked This Gift Also Liked ] [ Report Error ] The Men's Club Custom Etched Mug from Wedding-Presents.com ($18.95) Toast each other in style with our Custom Etched Sports Mug. The traditional mug will hold 25 oz of your favorite brew and is personalized with up to 3 lines. A terrific gift for groomsmen, hostesses, housewarmings and more! *Money Saving Coupon* Save 15% off your order! Use code 'findgift' during checkout. Hurry, offer expires September 30th! Questions? Contact Wedding-Presents.com . Add to Gift Bookmarks Add to Registry [ More Gifts from this store ] [ People Who Liked This Gift Also Liked ] [ Report Error ] Cell Phone Style Stainless Steel Liquor Flask with Leather Case from Uptown Enterprises ($18.71) 3 oz. cell phone style stainless steel liquor flask with genuine leather case. Leather case has belt clip for a realistic look. Always 20%-50% off retail prices. Custom engraving is available for those perfect gifts, collectibles, or keepsakes. Questions? Contact Uptown Enterprises . Add to Gift Bookmarks Add to Registry [ More Gifts from this store ] [ People Who Liked This Gift Also Liked ] [ Report Error ] Personalized Tavern Beer Glasses from Spilsbury ($49.95) These personalized beer glasses make the perfect thirst-quenching gift! Set of four 16-oz. glasses are colorfully screen-printed with "Welcome to [your name]s Tavern. Good Friends Great Buzz." Dishwasher safe. Buy any 3 or more Jigsaw Puzzles and save $3 on each. Questions? Contact Spilsbury . Add to Gift Bookmarks Add to Registry [ More Gifts from this store ] [ People Who Liked This Gift Also Liked ] [ Report Error ] Stainless Steel Liquor Flask and Funnel Gift Set from Uptown Enterprises (priced within $10.00 - $24.99) 6 oz. Stainless Steel Flask with Captive Top and Stainless Steel Funnel Gift Set. Comes in a Black Gift Box and Makes a Great Gift for any Occassion. Custom Engraving is also available for that perfect gift! Always 20%-50% off retail prices. Custom engraving is available for those perfect gifts, collectibles, or keepsakes. Questions? Contact Uptown Enterprises . Add to Gift Bookmarks Add to Registry [ More Gifts from this store ] [ People Who Liked This Gift Also Liked ] [ Report Error ] Personalized Pub Glasses from ShopIrish.com ($39.99) Drinks with a cheerful Irish flourish! With a guarantee of "singing, dancing, blarney," these pub glasses are custom-printed with your family name. Set of four glasses; each holds 20 oz. USA. $3.99 Standard Shipping on ANY Order, ANY Size within the continental US! Questions? Contact ShopIrish.com . Add to Gift Bookmarks Add to Registry [ More Gifts from this store ] [ People Who Liked This Gift Also Liked ] [ Report Error ] 3 Piece Stainless Steel Bar Set from Chefgadget.com ($26.95) This sleek looking all stainless steel 3 piece bar set makes a perfect gift. Includes a 16 ounce cocktail shaker, a strainer, and a jigger that comes in an attractive 10.5 x 10" gift box. Free shipping on orders over $150 and receive a free gift with select purchases! Questions? Contact Chefgadget.com . Add to Gift Bookmarks Add to Registry [ More Gifts from this store ] [ People Who Liked This Gift Also Liked ] [ Report Error ] Personalized German Beer Stein from Simply Sublime ($27.99) Personalized German Beer Steins to coordinate with our popular bar signs and coasters! These 22 oz ceramic beer steins are fully customizable with one of a kind designs you won't find anywhere else! Personalize any of the text! No extra charge per letter. Christmas Delivery Deadline: December 1st Questions? Contact Simply Sublime . Add to Gift Bookmarks Add to Registry [ More Gifts from this store ] [ People Who Liked This Gift Also Liked ] [ Report Error ] Personalized Set of 4 Ceramic Bar Coasters with Holder from Simply Sublime ($29.95) Decorative yet fully functional, these vibrantly colored ceramic coasters are 4.25 "x4.25" each, have a cork bottom and are stain resistant. Price of the coasters includes the redwood and wrought iron coaster holder. Personalize any of the text! No extra charge per letter. Christmas Delivery Deadline: December 1st Questions? Contact Simply Sublime . Add to Gift Bookmarks Add to Registry [ More Gifts from this store ] [ People Who Liked This Gift Also Liked ] [ Report Error ] Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | viewing 1 - 10 of 230 gift ideas found Bosses Day Oct 16, 2005 24 Shopping Days Left Bosses Day Gift Ideas Sweetest Day Oct 15 Halloween Oct 31 More Holidays Seasonal Gifts Wedding Gift Ideas Anniversary Gift Ideas Autumn Theme See this month's Top 20 Gift Ideas Gift Helpers » Anniversary Gifts » Flower Meanings » Monthly Flowers » Monthly Birthstones » Signs of the Zodiac » Additional Resources FindGift.com Newsletter Sign up to receive seasonal and unique gift ideas via email. Email Address Merchant Login | Add Your Products to FindGift.com | Press Room | FAQs | Contact FindGift.com Conditions of Use | Privacy Policy | Site Map © 1997-2005, Registry Online, Inc. FindGift.com and its logo are trademarks of Registry Online, Inc.

Birthday Present Would be

VOA News - Dalai Lama Says His Best Birthday Present Would be for People to Practice Compassion Text Only Search )" name="submit" V OICE OF A MERICA VOA Home Tibetan Home Regions/Topics Subscribe to E-mail Select Language About VOA Internet Audio Regional News Tibet News Asia Europe Middle East Africa U.S.A. Americas Radio Programs Newscasters Frequencies RFA Tibetan Contact VOA Dalai Lama Says His Best Birthday Present Would be for People to Practice Compassion Exclusive Interview with VOA Tibetan Service 08-07-2005 Exclusive Interview with VOA Listen to Exclusive Interview with VOA Watch the Exclusive Interview with VOA Tibetan Service As thousands of people are getting ready to celebrate your 70 th birthday in many different ways, do you have any idea about what you would like for your birthday presents? Because of their unwavering faith and trust in me, people are gathering at different places to celebrate my birthday, and for that I feel thanks and appreciation. I am just a simple Buddhist monk, and so I really don’t take that much interest in celebrating birthdays. Whenever I begin a new day, I always pray that the day will be a meaningful and beneficial one—that is, in helping and serving others. I feel that this thought is more important than celebrating a birthday. However, since people are celebrating my birthday with joy and happiness and with faith in me, I would like to offer them a few words. I am now seventy years old. During this lifetime, since I was fifteen or sixteen years old, I have taken on the responsibility of Tibet’s temporal and spiritual affairs. It was a responsibility that was too difficult to shoulder, but because of my karmic relations with Tibet, I took the responsibility and have served the country to the best of my ability. In the past 46 years, I have had to live as a refugee—most of my life has been spent as a refugee. During this time, the most difficult and saddest thing has been hearing endless stories about the sufferings of our Tibetan people inside Tibet: so and so died, a father died, relatives died, imprisonment, death by hunger and so on—endless stories of suffering and torture. Despite these difficulties, there are two reasons for not losing hope or being discouraged: First is that the people of Tibet have an unwavering faith and trust in me, and secondly, the teachings of the Lord Buddha help me to maintain my mental balance. I never become hopeless or desperate. I always have this thought: whatever I do, I do it for the benefit of others. As Shantideva says in the Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life: “And now as long as space endures, As long as there are beings to be found, May I continue likewise to remain, In order to drive away the sorrows of the world.” So when I think these thoughts, they give me courage and determination to face these problems. Because of these, I am not a desperate person, but a happy one. I now share my thoughts with my friends—both male and female. Every human being desires happiness and desires not to suffer. From my experience, I can say that to have a meaningful and happy life, inner development is more important than life’s external factors. The way one thinks is more important than the accumulation of wealth and external environment. It really makes a big difference. You have to bear this in mind. To have a compassionate and altruistic mind is the basis for happiness in this life and also the beginning of happiness for your next life. So the best present my friends could give me for my birthday is to be good, compassionate and altruistic people. So if people are celebrating my birthday with joy and happiness, I would like to say thank you. E-mail this article Print Version Top Story Dalai Lama Says He Expresses his Desire to Go on a Pilgrimage to China More from VOA Chinese Border Police Arrest Tibetan Refugees Time is Running Out for Tibetans to Solve the Tibet-China Problems: Tibetans Should be Proud of their Rich Culture: Dalai Lama Tibetan Chief Minister Says It will take two or three Years to begin Resettling Tibetans from Nepal in the US Rights Group Calls For Release of Tibetan Monk Dalai lama Meets with Press in Tucson Dalai Lama Blesses a Prayer Wheel Dalai Lama Meets with Tibetans Dalai Lama Meets with Children of Idaho Dalai Lama Says His Best Birthday Present Would be for People to Practice Compassion FAQs | Terms of Use & Privacy Notice | Broadcasting Board of Governors | Site Map | Archive | Link To Us | Contact Us