Read This.

i highly recommend that everyone who lives in this country read this book.

whether or not you agree with specific parts of the book is besides the point. as a whole, it provides various points that Americans need to understand and take into consideration, especially post 9/ll.

for example:

the majority of Americans take a lot of what this country provides us for granted. many other countries, in this case, Pakistan would be blessed to be provided with even a fraction of what we all take to be the norm in our sheltered lives - fresh water, school, plumbing systems...

education is key and ignorance is the main cause to so much worldly conflict that exists. so often kids complain about going to school every day when there are children in other countries who never have the chance to get that schooling, or who will go out and sit on the ground and educate themselves in the middle of winter because they are just so eager to learn - girls and women in particular. a major theme of the whole book is how Afghanis and Pakastanis get frustrated with the Americans over fighting the war because they feel that if we would have helped them in their pleas to educate their children...they wouldn't be so ignorant and the problems wouldn't have escaladed to where they are now. it's an interesting concept that i cannot do justice in a mere summary.

do not ever think that because you are one person and you do not have much that you cannot make a difference in the world. Greg Mortenson struggled his through-out his young adulthood to make ends meet and to find generosity in Americans to help his cause. but his passion and his dedication payed off. it takes a single person to get a ball rolling that can ultimately change the world.

"It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can do little. Do what you can."

- Sydney Smith

not all people of the Middle East and the Muslim world are terrorists. many Americans struggle when it comes to stereotyping - they do it far too often. the Taliban and Al-Qaeda are a small fraction of the Muslim community. reading this book shows you how much the people of the region suffer under the unfair reign in their countries, and show them to be some of the most kind-hearted, misunderstood people in this world.

my favorite part of the whole book is when Mortenson returns to speak with one of the first female graduates of one of his schools, the granddaughter of one of his earliest mentors. When asked what she was going to do now that she had gotten her degree to be a health worker, she said she didn't just want to stop there, but that she wanted to be a "Superlady." In the context of her entire speech and the knowledge of where she had come from and what culture she was raised in...it gave me goosebumps.

i promise, if you read this...you won't regret it. it will make you think a lot, and its definitely not a quick read. but it is very very worth it.