Greg Mortenson

(http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/mor0bio-1)

A few years back I happily skipped out to our family room on a Christmas morning, excited to see what was in my stocking. As I reached my hand in all the way up to my elbow I pulled out many wonders, one of them being a book called Three Cups of Tea. I love to read and soon delved into the text. What I found was a man who inspired me and millions of people across the world to care about others.

In 1993, Mortenson climbed one of the highest peaks in the world, K2. The climb was a little rough and Mortenson recovered in a Pakistan village called Korphe. The children there inspired him. Females are not traditionally educated in the Pakistan/Afghanistan culture. Mortenson saw a need and promised that he would help the village build a school.

Mortenson followed through with his promise and started raising money to build the school. Donations were made and a school was built along with several others.

(http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/mor0bio-1)

A lot of us hear about the amazing humanitarian efforts that Greg Mortenson put forth but we don’t often think about the risks he took to do it all. After September 11th, Greg received a lot of slander for helping middle-eastern countries build schools. He was also captured by the Taliban and imprisoned for eight days.

I hope that we can all learn from the example he has set forth. It is important to care about your fellow citizens, no matter what part of the world they are from, and to stay strong and stick to something you are passionate about, even when times get tough and the world seems like it is against you.