Three Cups of Tea

I just finished listening to an interesting book entitled Three Cups of Tea. The book chronicles the story of Greg Mortenson, a mountaineer from Montana who builds schools, especially for girls, across Afghanistan and Pakistan.  In 1992, Mortenson's sister died of an epileptic attack. To honor his sister, he climbed Pakistan's K2, the world's second highest mountain.  While nearly dying in the attempt, he stumbled upon a small village called Korphe. The kindness of the villagers spurred him to make a promise: he would return to build a school.  Three years later, and wild twists ranging from fund raising in the US and negotiating prices for building materials in Pakistan, Mortenson built his school. 

A dying scientist heard of Greg's work and gave him enough money to endow the Central Asia Institute (CAI). After decades of work, today the CAI has built hundreds of schools. According to the website:

As of 2011, Mortenson has established or significantly supports 171 schools in rural and often volatile regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan, which provide education to over 68,000 children, including 54,000 girls, where few education opportunities existed before.

The book matters, on many levels. First, his crusade to "fight terror with books" has hit a nerve among peace-loving Americans in the age of "The War on Terror."  Second, education is tremendously powerful (as are all institutionalized mediums for exchanging ideas. For example, in early 2000, wealthy Saudi donors began investing millions in building wahabi madrassas.  A madrassa is an Islamic theological school, and wahabism is an extremist version of Islam. In 2001, the World Bank did a study on these madrassas.  Nearly 20,000 madrassas were educating 2 million pakistani children, 80,000 of whom, the World Bank estimates, became Taliban fighters.  What many desperate children learned in these schools was directly connected to the burning buildings of 9/11.  Education matters.

Mortenson is being hailed as a national hero--he is even up for the Nobel Peace Prize this year.  And Mortenson ought to be hailed for the many great things he has done.

However, he is the quintessential secular hero. He is essentially agnostic, and he built schools that provided a moderate Muslim education.  Noble, yes. But the story of Three Cups of Tea reminded me of how odd Christians are in the world.  Secular people believe that the problem is "outside themselves," thus seeking solutions in "the world", such as building schools. But Christians believe that the essential problem is "inside ourselves"--sin--and the solution is a Savior. 

In my opinion, Mortenson is genuinely a noble man. But there is a something--or Someone--missing at his core.  He has inspired me to lift up my eyes to the hills, and use education as a tool to improve the lives of many.  But at the top of the hill, there is a God who calls out from Zion to all those who are hungry, thirsty, and in need.  Education can change lives, but the Gospel can change the world.  As Milton has said, the end or learning is to repair the ruins of our first parents. Their ruin was not ignorance, but sin.  Ignorance is a plague, but sin is at its center. Schools can be an eternal influence in as much as they bear the Name.