Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Three Cups of Tea

I lived in a small village called New York on September 11th, 2001. A woman in my ward had chard business cards blow into her yard. I had a brief conversation with an angry man on his stoop about how all foreigners should be sent home. American hate was at a high during the months afterward. Maybe you saw a bumper sticker that read "Nuke them all and let Allah sort it out".
Greg Mortenson, Author of Three Cups of Tea was in Pakistan when he got word about the Towers. Working in a village to build schools for their children, he was moved by the village women who brought him eggs, (all they had to offer) to give to the women in the village of New York to help with their suffering.
"Three Cups of Tea, One man's Mission to promote Peace one school at a time" talks about the path that lead him to work so hard for Muslims on the other side of our planet. Balti, Pakistan, a small village in the shadow of the second largest mountain in the world, is where his journey began as a mountaineer. It transformed into a goal to build a school for their children who studied on the cold ground with out a teacher. But it continued on to a career of building more than 50 schools and talks about the sweet people who are so misunderstood by Americans. He meet so many honest people who only want a better life for their families. You will not be able to read this book and not view people differently. And Greg Mortenson wants you to read this book. He wants people to know that only a fair education will bring peace to this world. And Pakistan's aren't the only ones needing educating.
The book gets it's name from a saying that Haji Ali, Balti villiage leader told Greg on one of his many visits.
The first time you share tea with a Balti, you are a stranger
The second time you share tea with a Balti, you are an honored guest
The third time you share tea with you become family.
I wish I had more eloquence to give this book a proper review. You will just have to read it and fill in the details I can not.

2 comments:

Kristy said...

Oh, how I wish the "world" would see the real Muslims. The ones who pray for peace. The ones we are fighting for to give them peace. Their hearts are big. Their need is great.
I need to look into this book. I have heard before it was good - just need to take the time to read it! :)

Pack of Robinsons said...

You ought to. You have a unique perspective of them from your sister that should be shared as well.