So you think you can tell

So the government of South Africa has denied entry to the Dalai Lama into South Africa. At once the controversy of Tibet has reached into South Africa. So Pres. Motlanthe, Mr de Klerk and Archbishop Tutu, and all of you distressed and torn, from Facebook to Bejing, so you think you can tell which way the moral stones should fall. Can you tell which it is: A man of peace, a freedom fighter, or a terrorist? Do you think you can tell?

So, so you think you can tell Heaven from Hell, blue skies from pain.
Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?

And did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?

And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?
How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year,
Running over the same old ground.
What have we found? The same old fears.
Wish you were here.
[lyrics by Pink Floyd]

Notwithstanding the outspoken indignation of messrs de Klerk and Tutu, and the rest of the so-called free world, one cannot help wondering where ends the Dalai Lama's divine walk and starts his subservience to Western interest in unsettling China's relentless rise. Indeed, we may very well count more than two lost souls in the fish bowl. Who can tell Heaven from Hell when it's someone else's backyard? When does the smile turn into a veil; at what point does the trading start? How far can one tread the thin line of passive resistence? And where lie the blue skies then?