Facing the Facts on “Face the Nation”

Every once and a while a person full of great kindness and compassion sets forth on a mission of extravagant measure to help a portion of humanity. One of these people is Greg Mortenson, author of “Three Cups of Tea,” and someone who has helped fundraise and oversee the construction of more than 150 schools for mostly female students in Pakistan. Bob Schieffer informed our group that Mortenson would be a guest on “Face the Nation,” and so I tried to read the entire book before today, but with all our recent adventures and fitting in time to play tourist, I only made it halfway through. Regardless, his story is so powerful.

While trying to climb the second highest peak after Everest, K2, he wandered off the path and was lost. Luckily he was found and nursed back to health by a group of people in Korphe. Overwhelmed with gratitude, he asked what he could do for the village in return for their kindness. They told him they needed a school because the government had promised for years to provide one but had not. And so he returned to California to raise money to build a school. That’s only the beginning.

Now he has helped make more than 150 schools a reality and started consulting with our military four years ago because he is familiar with being an outsider in a culture where we are currently at war. The book “Three Cups of Tea” is now required reading for high-ranked military officials and those who are deployed overseas. Mortenson is truly someone who understands that it is culture that must be adapted to in order to build strong bonds with another nation.

With our seats in the control room, we watched the broadcast of the Sunday morning show, which featured a brief interview with Gen. Ray Ordierno, who offered his insight about the last American brigade being taken out of Iraq but said if our help was still sought, it would take some deliberation whether or not to send more troops. Sen. Lindsey Graham also commented on the state of affairs in Iraq, and Mortenson answered questions about his mission to build schools and how he has advised military officials in the recent years.

Schieffer concluded the episode with commentary on the Internet, and how once an idea is out there it can become viral. He cautioned about the fallacies on the web, including recent concerns about President Obama being a Muslim, which 18 percent of Americans and 30 percent of Republicans believe to be true.

After the broadcast, Mortenson spoke with us briefly, answering our few questions in his reserved, shy manner. I wanted to ask him to speak about the transition process about learning a new culture and how he advises the military men who have to go about doing the same, but it seemed like a question that would require too much of his time to answer so I held my tongue, hoping I would discover the answer by the end of the book.