Mortenson on Bainbridge

Another reason to love living here. Bainbridge (and beyond: the rest of Kitsap County) was asked by Eagle Harbor Book Company and the Kitsap Library to read Three Cups of Tea, the story of Greg Mortenson's mission to build schools for girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Last evening, the high school gym was packed to the back doors with those of us who read the book. I came away with a keen sense that fighting terrorists is futile; that fighting for peace through education is powerful and worth while. I learned that a penny buys a pencil in Pakistan, and that that pencil gives hope to someone's future mother. A penny! Over and over Mr. Mortenson stressed an African proverb: To educate a boy is to educate an individual; to educate a girl is to educate a community. I have a renewed appreciation not only of what Mr. Mortenson is doing in the Middle East but of what our teachers are doing right here.