This is a tremendous piece of radio--somehow it manages to take a topic that could easily crash over into sentimentality and make it instead deeply deeply moving, because the narrator has managed to think so clearly about what it all means. In fact, it would be a great piece even if there were'nt a Karmapa involved--he's almost a shaggy dog in this story. I think no listener will complain that this is too long--it's the kind of lovely thing that one wishes were on ATC every night.