Three Cups of Tea

Three Cups of Tea

I will now officially do my first book review. If I really understood how this whole blogging thing worked I could probably get payed money for this. I don't so for now, my imaginary followers, be content with a simple review simply to get out some thoughts and questions this book left me with...

First of all, fascinating! I had no idea non-fiction could suck me in like that. The man is incredibly. It's refreshing to hear a story of a hero with no heroesc behavior. He has acomplished amazing things and it's obvious the author of the book has a deep respect for him but it is not a hollywood story. Some times, I think, fiction creates the idea in our head that "things like that couldn't happen in real life." where as maybe some of those "crazy" things aren't so far fetched. But the biggest thing the book left me with was the conformation of something I have held as theory for a long time.

The book does not develop in a chronological order but skips around to eventually fill in the life of Greg Mortenson. A life that eventually lands him, lost and despaired, in a small Pakistani village just outside of K2 called Korphe. When Mortenson wandered in thinking he had reached Askole and would find his guide waiting for him he was greeted by the village nurmadhar or cheif. Mortenson, a foreigner who didn't speak the language, was give a cup of butter tea sweatened with sugar (a treat they rarely aloud themselves) and a place to get some much needed sleep.

With the broken english spoken by the nurmadhar's son and Mortenson's knack for languages they came to the understandings; Mortenson was not in Askole, his destination was Askole and he must stay in Korphe untill he had regained his strength.

This stage of the story was my favorite as Mortenson, who had come to Pakistan as a climber and knew very little about the land and it's people was exsposed to the Balti's relentless hospitality. Mortenson wasn't allowed to feel like an intruider for a minute in fact he was treated more as an honored guest. A parade of  dirty barefoot children followed him where ever he went. Though food was in no way in an abundance, Mortenson did not want for a meal during his stay in Korphe. It is no suprise that he would grow etached to these villagers. Maybe anyone in his circumstance would love these people and hold preciously the memory of the time he spent with them, but Mortenson could not turn a blind eye to these people and there poverty.

One day Mortenson asked to be shown the village's school and was led to a place up a steep path to a open area coated with a layer of snow where huddled 82 children working alone on the lessons there teacher, who only came 3 times a week, had left them with. Mortenson realizing that he was looking at the school he'd asked to see, then and there, with out knowing it, picked the course the rest of his life would take. He took Haji Ali the village numadhar by the shoulders and said "I going to build you a school."

The list of this incredible mans acomplishments is lengthy but the one that impresess me like nothing else was this. Education was and is a huge problem around the world. But Mortenson was here. These people needed him. He didn't know how he would do it, but he would build those children a school and from there would weave his way through Pakistan and eventually Afghanistan. The tag line on the cover of the book is: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at at Time. And though he would be ridiculed for it he would spend time with the students of each school he built. Learning about them. Learning about there dreams. To Mortenson is was all about the people all about the children.

Great as this book was, it left me with one problem. Through out, it's never quite clear were Mortenson is spiritualy. He acts the way we all think a christian should but never professes God and calls himself a humanitarian. He "accepts" the religions he encounters and even goes through there rituals for prayer to Allah. He meets so many people, touches so many lifes it's crazy to think what could have happened if he'd told everyone of those greatfull villages that his love came from christ!

Even still I'm inspired by his acomplishments and as I said before his list of acomplishments is no short story. And every person that his story reaches and inspires adds to that list. I would like to add that he has made me confident that it is all about people. Not in groups but as individuals. That when you take the time to actually know someone and respect there ways you find the gate to really making a differance!

"...love is all that matters..."

-Lorain