Please Read

"If you really want to change a culture,
to empower women,
improve basic hygiene and health care,
and fight high rates of infant mortality,
the answer is to educate girls."
Greg Mortenson*


Now that our warriors are spread throughout the Afghan countryside I have wondered and worried about Greg Mortenson's school building progress. My aunt sent me this NY Times article and, naturally, I want to share it with you.

When I get all caught up in my own tiny life, when buying a new car seems like the most important thing in the world - buying a new car and making meatloaf and bleaching pee-stained jockey shorts - I forget to see the much bigger picture.

I forget to see the look on the face of mothers and grandmothers whose children have to dodge bombs to get to school - if a school even exists. Like reading the Soaring Impulse blog this article shook me out of my "it's all about ME" world for a few minutes. It made me smile. It made me want a new number 2 pencil and a black/white Composition book. It made me want to learn something new. Can you remember when learning new things was exciting and not a pain in the arse?




Please take a moment to read what Friedman has to say. I'm not a real political person. I know there are two sides to the question of war. My emotions guide my thoughts. If I were in charge of the world I'd ask everybody to lay down their guns and pick up a book (or a ball, or maybe an orange crayon). And I'd look those mothers in their big brown eyes and promise that one day soon their little ones would know peace.




Wishin' and hopin',
Merry ME


* Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at at Time
http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/27837.Greg_Mortenson

P.S. I found this video at Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/Listen-Wind-Greg-Mortenson/dp/0803730586/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1248125625&sr=8-3

Comments

Sorrow said…
this was a wonderful book! and I was most fortunate to have the funds to donate to this very worthwhile cause.
Thank you Merry for keeping the Love alive!
July 20, 2009 at 7:33 PM
Fire Byrd said…
This is a fantastic book. It made me cry and outraged and sad all at once.
I love that it is now on the reading list for American High school kids, well at least in Philly.
I'm always telling people to read it.
xx
July 21, 2009 at 4:03 PM
Anonymous said…
I've checked out 'Listen to the Wind' and found my Christmas book for 2009. It looks lovely. It just warms my heart to hear the stories of these little girls teaching their mothers how to read. lg
July 22, 2009 at 1:35 PM
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