Day 70: Three Cups of Tea

In 1993, Greg Mortenson, failed to reach the peak of the second tallest mountain in the world, K2. He was within 600 meters of reaching his goal--a goal he had worked to reach for years and for which he had spent several months on the mountain. In a moment his quest ended, as he rushed down the mountain trying to save the life of one of his fellow climbers who had succumbed to the lack of oxygen at this incredible altitude. During his descent, he became lost himself and disoriented. As he stumbled down the mountain alone, starving and literally freezing to death, he was rescued by the kindness of strangers in a small, isolated Pakistani village. He didn't know their language or their customs. He was a foreigner, an American no less, who had no claim upon their limited resources or mercy. Miraculously, they nursed their American friend to health and he became a part of their family.

Greg Mortenson, while recuperating, decided to return and build a school for the children of the village. Over several years, he struggled at great personal cost, both socially and financially, to build this school for his "family" in Pakistan. Ultimately, he succeeded and built a school dedicated to educating these poor Pakistani children and improving their quality of life.


Over the past decade, Greg Mortenson has continued his journey and mission--to provide education for children, especially girls, in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

His non-profit organization, the Central Asia Institute, has organized and helped fund the completion of over 60 schools in the region. The book, Three Cups of Tea, that Mortenson co-wrote, chronicles his journey and his amazing accomplishments.

I learned several lessons from this book. First, people are generally good and kind. In the news we read of only the bad and hear what the wicked of the world do. This tends to taint our perspective on humanity as a whole. After 9/11, the tendency in America was to view Islam as a fundamentalist, radical religion, whose followers were willing to kill and torture to accomplish their goals. The reality is that true followers of Islam are humble, faithful, dedicated people who love their God, family and heritage--much like we try to do ourselves.

Secondly, I learned that people can still make a difference in this world. A simple man, with no financial resources, found a way to serve the poorest and weakest among us--the children of an often forgotten third world country. Through pure determination and motivated by love, he was able to construct schools that are changing lives for the better. When others sought to solve the regions problems with bombs and missiles, he put himself at great personal risk to find a better way. His way was to educate the children and give them the opportunity to solve their own problems in the future.

There has been some dread associated with this deployment--mostly due to having to leave my wife and kids for an extended period of time. However, I feel that slowly, I am starting to understand more clearly the mission that my Heavenly Father would have me fulfill over the next year. He loves his children throughout the world. He wants them to be happy. Many of the people of Afghanistan know nothing but war, violence, and poverty. Conversely, I have been blessed with innumerable spiritual and physical blessings. This is an opportunity for me to serve my brothers and sisters in Afghanistan and share with them the blessings that I have been given. I hope that I can dedicate myself to making a difference in the lives of these wonderful people that I will soon get to know.