Three Cups of Tea

Picked by: Sarah

I don't collect things, so when I travel I bring the kids a few things like t-shirts, a pocketful of unspent Euros I won't bother to convert and will forget to take on the next trip and a cool new stamp on my passport.  Lately, though, I started picking up one or two books from the airport.  They can be expensive unless I get them on sale (prices in Euros looked great until I got good at the currency conversion).  Even having a Kindle now won't deter me from this new ritual.

On a flight home from London, I picked up this book by Greg Mortenson.  The title caught my attention a while ago but non-fiction books are not my 'cup of tea,' as it were.  However, I read this start to finish on the flight.  I was so engrossed by its thought-provoking and inspirational story, I left my very nice Brookstone neck pillow behind on the plane.  (If you find it, you can keep it.  I just 'had' to spend the ridiculous amount of money to buy another one.)

I picked it up because I wanted to be more knowledgeable about the conflicts we Americans are (involved / meddling / improving / fatigued / polarized) in the Middle East.  And because on NPR, I hear stories about how women are treated and I feel equal parts sympathetic and helpless.  And maybe because I had recently been surrounded by Europeans with a superior grasp of geography, global economics and world-view, I felt compelled to overcome the typical American egocentricity and educate myself.  It's as much a story about Afghanistan and its people and culture as it is about one American's desire to make a difference, despite overwhelming personal, political and life-threatening odds.  Reading it doesn't put another stamp in my passport, but I feel as if I traveled there and now understand better how what we do here can affect people half a world away.
 Whether it's for better or worse is up to each of us to decide.
 Interested?  Pick up the book and read more about it on the Three Cups of Tea website.