A new age greeting for a traditional man

Mayor of Memphis, Myron Lowery is according to Cnn a very down to earth and friendly guy. This was demonstrated by his informal, some say inappropriate greeting to the Dalai lama. This questionable greeting was a fist bump which has become relatively popular in western culture. Some people were greatly offended that anyone would even think to greet such a symbolic and important figure with such an informal and perhaps 'disrespectful' greeting. The mayor defended his unusual greeting by saying that he was told by the Dalai lamas that the important figure had a great sense of humor and would enjoy the exchange. This was apparent upon the trial because the Dalai lama reportedly laughed and returned the gesture.


As for this writers opinion of this 'incident' I don't think it should be in the news at all. Yes, meeting the Dalai lama is important and probably a once in a lifetime opportunity however the way the mayor chose to greet him should not be such an issue. Due to the fact that the Mayor checked to see if it was acceptable to greet his holiness in that way with his 'people' I see no problem with this decision and obviously if his holiness had no problem with it then no one else should be concerned with on whether it was appropriate or not. I myself would not greet the Dahli lama with a fist bump if I had the opportunity to meet him but that does not mean I deserve to pass judgement on others and how they choose to greet each other.