Sunday, November 17, 2013

Three Cups of Tea: The Most Inspiring Book I've Ever Read

This book has changed me on so many levels. First, it is the first book to ever take us inside Pakistan and Afghanistan to show us the people, their customs and their culture. While I've always respected Muslims, now I understand them more than I ever did.

Second, through the book, after having "met" Greg Mortenson. I feel I am a more well-rounded person knowing who he is and what he is doing. I am so impressed, amazed and awed by him I would value meeting him as much as I would value meeting President Obama. The things he has accomplished in his lifetime are Nobel Peace Prize worthy and if he doesn't win it, I will be disappointed.

At first, I really enjoyed being able to witness the way someone else lives. I live in a big city and sometimes people tend to think that everyone lives the way we do. Greg Mortenson's life could not be more different from mine. The child of American missionaries, he grew up in Tanzania and as an adult, became a successful mountain climber. The mountains of Pakistan, where some of the tallest peaks in the world are, became a second home to him, a place where he was so comfortable, he fit right in, sleeping on floors, living without running water and dressing, out of respect, in their cultural clothing.

After mountain climbing and a career as a nurse, he literally fell into a new career, building schools for girls, first in Pakistan and then in Afghanistan, through a nonprofit he cofounded called the Central Asia Institute. While all of us over here have wondered about the people on the borders where we fought and dropped missiles, he was there, among the people, seeing it all from the inside out and fighting terror through education, not war.

I now consider Greg Mortenson an influencer I want to follow. My first instinct was to look for him on LinkedIn and Twitter. He's not there. My second instinct is to make a donation to Central Asia Institute, and that is something I will definitely do.

In the meantime, I highly recommend this book for EVERYONE. You can get it at your local library or at Amazon.

Please check out my novel, In Fashion's Web on Amazon.

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