Three Cups of Tea

Authors: Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
Virtue: Compassion

There are many virtues displayed in this book: perseverance, patience, generosity, determination. But the one quality running through the whole story, the motivation for it all, is compassion.

This is the story of Greg Mortenson, a mountain climber who in 1993 attempted to clime Pakistan's K2. When the attempt failed Mortenson was separated from his team and ended up wandering into an isolated village where he was cared for and nursed back to health by the villagers. While recovering he was moved by the sight of the village children holding classes in a field and scratching their lessons in the dirt. Not only could the village not afford a school but they could not even afford the $1 per day cost of a teacher.

When recovered Mortenson left the village promising to return to build a school. And he did. This book tells of his fundraising efforts back in the States, his adventures building the school, the foundation of a non-profit organization to build more schools and the growing friendships he established in the communities who benefit from the education.

This is a touching story and perhaps the most significant sign of that is the reaction people have after reading it. I read it because my father read it. I had watched him grinning and chuckling and misting up while buried in its pages. He read it because my grandmother read it. When we went to visit her she had borrowed it from the library and her face just melted when she talked about it. "Oh," she said. "That book's just delightful."

Now after reading it myself I can tell who's read it as soon as I mention the title. The other person's face will start beaming even before they tell me they have read it too. Clearly this is not just about one person's compassion but a story that has the ability to inspire compassion in others.

Greg Mortenson is now the executive director for the Central Asia Institute, the organization he helped found to continue building schools. Their website is http://www.ikat.org/.

To learn more about the book Three Cups of Tea visit http://www.threecupsoftea.com/.