Three Cups of Tea

My fantabulous friend Patrick in San Francisco sent the book Three Cups of Tea to me a few months ago and I finally took the time over my awesome vacation to read it. Whoa. Talk about inspiring.

In a nutshell, an American mountain climber, Greg Mortenson, after a harrowing (read: failed) attempt at ascending K2 basically stumbles, completely ill-of-health and frozen solid, into a tiny town in the mountains of Pakistan where he's catered to until his strength returns. And it changes his life. He witnesses the boys and girls of this town attending "school" in extreme outdoor conditions and promises to come back and build a school for these students. But this true story isn't one of the rich American guy coming back and tapping into his wealthy friends for financing. He's an otherwise unknown nurse who works the night shift, sleeps in his car and denies himself any/all modern conveniences in order to save every penny he earns for these poor, Muslim kids on the other side of the world.

He's a man on a mission and this dangerous adventure takes him repeatedly into Pakistan and Afghanistan during pre- and post-9/11 turmoil. The book allows us to experience the obstacles he encounters along with the riveting political, cultural and social dynamics of the region that our news coverage doesn't provide.

Most importantly, it shows how the simple act of providing the poorest students with a balanced education, is making them much more willing to trust Americans and, in turn, difficult for the extremist Islamic religious schools (or madrassas) to recruit.

And it shows how one man can, in fact, change the world -- one village at a time.

Lastly, although the following pales in comparison with everything else the book describes, there was something mentioned toward the end that stopped me in my tracks once again. A friend of Mortenson's named Julia Bergman heads to Pakistan with him to lend a hand in some extremely hazardous conditions. She shows up wearing a necklace that reads, "I Want To Be Thoroughly Used Up When I Die."

I simply love that. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die.