Recommended reading

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time (Paperback) (I read this one) One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations...One School at a Time (Hardback)
by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin.

This is a non-fiction story based on Mortenson's own journey as a simple mountaineer and humanitarian. After failing to reach the summit of Pakistan's K2, the world's second tallest mountain, and being ill and disoriented, he wandered into a village and the time spent there would change the course of his life. Dedicated to returning to Pakistan to build a school for this one community, his personal sacrifices included living out of his vehicle to facing the dangers of a war-torn country. What started with a desire to give back to those who'd helped him, grew into an organization which has educated children, empowered women, and trained fathers with lifeskills which together enable the communities to thrive. With a desire but no knowledge of how to go about even the first step towards his goal, he persevered and learned as he went. As an American, he represents the best of us to a world foreign to us.

What I believe I was left with more than anything else was the evidence of what one person truly can do when that person actually acts upon the thought that so many of us have. We all see ways in which we think the world or life itself can be improved and most often the thought of doing something is fleeting or easily put aside due to daily responsibilities and routines. I suppose that it's when something touches us individually to a point that we can't ignore that thought or it imbeds itself into our waking moments and heart that we move beyond our routines to take action.

The Kite Runner
by Khaled Hosseini

A novel set in Afghanistan, it involves the story of the intertwined lives of two boys of different tribes and social ranks who grew up together but parted due to one's betrayal of the other. Though the family of one boy eventually escapes the politically torn county by immigrating to America, the distance which lay between them had nothing to do with geography. Despite their differences, love bound them to one another and would eventually bring them back together in an unexpected way.

I bought this book one afternoon when I had time to kill. While I read the first few chapters right away, I put the book aside until later in the evening when I was able to relax. Having planned to go to bed early, I was surprised when it became 10:30 without my notice. Needless to say, I was so caught up in the story unfolding before me that I couldn't put the book down and finished it at midnight.

I've thought about the story today, not so much the story itself as the thoughts it's generated...what we do to ourselves as we grow for ourselves and those around us, especially our parents; our perceptions, our needs and what we'll do to fulfill them define us and shape us. Often, tough decisions are required and we're not up to the challenge and we're left with a lifetime of guilt or regret and sometimes, just sometimes, we're offered the opportunities to right wrongs which hold us in place.

Beyond the stories within each cover, when you're able to see a foreign land through the eyes of someone native to it, your perspective is changed forever. That is one extra gift given by both authors.