One Man's Mission to Promote Peace

I read Three Cups of Tea awhile ago, but never posted about it. I didn't want to read it, because it seemed like everyone on the train was reading it- and I'm SO not about trendy.....hehe....but I got over it and LOVED it. Read it- it'll change your life.

I liked Mortenson's way of telling the story. Very straightforward, very practical, non-political. It is very compelling, a quick read and will give you a hope for peace in the middle of the "war against terrorism."

There was one chapter in the book that was fairly political, because he was in Afghanistan during 9/11. These exerpts are from that chapter, so if they overwhelm you, know that this is the only section of the book like this:

Mortenson talked of the tribal traditions that attended conflict in the region- the way warring parties held a jirga before doing battle, to discuss how many losses they were willing to accept, since the victors were expected to care for the widows and orphans of the rivals they have vanquished. 'People in that part of the world are used to death and violence,’ Mortenson said. ‘And if you tell them, ‘We’re sorry your father died, but he died a martyr so Afghanistan could be free,’ and if you offer them compensation and honor their sacrifice, I think people will support us, even now. But the worst thing you can do is what we’re doing- ignoring the victims. To call them ‘collateral damage’ and not even try to count the numbers of the dead. Because to ignore them is to deny they ever existed, and there is no greater insult in the Islamic world. For that, we will never be forgiven.’

'…as best as I can tell, we’ve launched 114 Tomahawk cruise missiles into Afghanistan so far. Now take the cost of one of those missiles tipped with a Raytheon guidance system, which I think is about $840,000. For that much money, you could build dozens of schools that could provide tens of thousands of students with a balanced nonextremist education over the course of a generation. Which do you think will make us more secure?'