Making a Difference

“As-Salāmu `Alaykum” means “Peace be with you,” in the Arabic language. It is a shocking thing to think of peace and Islam in the same sentence post 9-11. But, it is true. Greg Mortenson believes that as well. He has been working for years to help build school of Pakistani children. He dreams about peace for the Middle East just like my generation does. Not only does he believe in helping the children of Middle East get an education, he wants American children to get an education to help save the next generations from the mistakes of the past. Mortenson firmly believes that education is the key to everything. I could not agree with him more.

Mortenson told the school today that eighteen percent of freshmen do not graduate. He also told us that on hundred and twenty million children do not go to school in developing countries. He wanted us or our children not to be that statistic. Mr. Mortenson also gave the students some helpful advice to succeed and make a difference. The first one was that ignorance is the enemy. That is will be true even past the end of time. Ignorance is a plague that breeds hatred like bacteria. This plague is the source of violence and hate crimes all over the world. So what can be done about it? There are three key tips to help stop the virus of ignorance: listen more, respect others and build relationships. These three tips are highly important to opening eyes to the truth. The more people learn the truth about the world, the more hate and violence will be stamped out for future generations.

Another useful tip is to know that failure is not a negative thing all of the time. In order to succeed, one must fail at first. That way, they can learn from their mistakes and build up to be much better in their dreams for the future. Great minds experience it all of the time. Even Mortenson himself messed up during his freshman year focusing on his social life on campus than his academic studies. His book did not even seem to have a chance at first. One out of eight books makes it to the Best Seller List. Mortenson’s book, Three Cups of Tea, would have been one of those seven if he had not changed the subtitle in time. One of the problems that people have with achieving success in that they tend to micromanage. If everyone took time to delegate, more projects would get done faster. Mortenson learned that the hard way while building the bridge and school in Pakistan. Maji took his notes and clipboard and locked them away so that the work could continue. As a result, a school ended up being complete in a shorter time than three years. Delegating can be seen as sort of a failure and surrender in the eyes of the people on the outside. But sometimes, surrender and failure are necessary evils to the road to a better future.

The third point that Mortenson got across was to take care of yourself as well as others. Taking care of the mind and body are crucial to having a brighter future. Mortenson advised the students today to take use of all of the resources at college. Knowledge is everywhere one looks. They just have to know where to find it. But, education is not only found in books. To really understand how the world works, one has to experience all malice as well as the positive. One cannot understand how to put an end to poverty unless one lives and experiences it firsthand. A person with that knowledge of poverty and other evils of the world knows how to fix the problem for themselves and generations to come. Plus, the more one knows about the world, the more lives will be saved. One out of three children in the village mullah dies before their first birthday. This is because the people lack the knowledge for better prenatal care and medicine. If they are given the knowledge to do things differently, more children would live to see their childhood. One thing I did notice about Mortenson is that the feminists would be proud of him! He really does support education for females. He said this little quote that I am so fond of, “If you educate a boy, you educate an individual. If you educate a girl, you educate a community.” That is so true in so many ways. Mortenson’s speech leads me to think that the Taliban are scared of women! They always go to illiterate women to recruit their sons for violence and terror. Plus, the Taliban burns down girls’ schools to prevent them from having a proper education. Why? An educated woman will not let her son fight in jihads for an illusion. Therefore in the Middle East, women have more power than men in the long run. Also, girls when girls are educated, three things happen. Poverty ends, understanding in the world spreads like wildfire, and to help change the present for the future. In short, Mortenson says to educate girls to save the world!

I really did enjoy Mortenson this morning. He proved to be down to earth and very truthful. He really did his points across to everyone in the room. One last thing that stuck out in my mind was that God helps the weak. That is turn in many ways. He helps the weak by sending out people like Mortenson to send the truth around instead of violence. Violence is not the answer. Education and the truth are.