Change has been on my mind lately. It was a theme during the election. There was so much excitment around the world when Obama won because the very fact that he is a Black man embodies change. My buddy, Greg Tamblyn, sent a request out through cyber space for folks from around the world to send him newspapers the day after our election. He received 60 papers reflecting the global excitment about our big change. And he created a wonderful poster you can get from his web site: www.gregtamblyn.com which has front pages from about 20 of them.
I heard Mortenson interviewed on the radio yesterday, thought about Obama and about change For those of you that don't know Mortenson's book is a great story about change. He went to Pakistan to climb K2, the second tallest and argueably the most difficult mountain to summit on the planet. He failed, was rescued by a local man and vowed to return to build a school in his little village. The book is about his adventure and what he learned in the process of fullfilling that vow.
BTW, he has now been involved in building 77 more schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
What does this have to do with Obama? Mortenson has invested his time, effort, energy and attention in remote areas of conflict where our troops and those of other natioins struggle to win the hearts and minds of the people. At the same time they fight the Taliban. And things aren't going well. The Taliban has re-emerged stronger than ever and Obama's response is to double the number of US troops deployed to Afghanistan. While our military forces struggle in their efforts on both fronts, Mortenson's experience is different. He not only has captured the hearts and minds of the people, he has Taliban converts teaching in the schools.
Perhaps I should restate that. He has been captured by the friendship of villagers, just like the one that rescued him and had a conversion experience himself. It wasn't a religious conversion. It was a psychological conversion and is still ongoing. He thought he knew what was best for the people he wanted to help. He had to learn that they in fact knew what was best. It wasn't a school that they needed first. They needed a bridge.
What a wonderful metaphor. Now Mortenson is a bridge. He has gone over and come back with the boon from his quest. What he learned can help us individually and collectively. So much so that he now consults with the department of defense. It seems that wives of military leaders have read his book and encouraged their husbands to do so. Some, including General Petraeus, have. In fact he sent Mortenson a note with three bullets:
1 Build Relationships
2 Respect
3 Listen
Imagine that. I think he got it. I hope he tells the Commander in Chief. Maybe more military forces aren't the answer. However, another volunteer force might better serve our foreign policy aims there and elsewhere. A real Peace Corps.
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