Μαΐου 19, 2008

Στα ψιλά γράμματα

Είναι από αυτές τις ειδήσεις που περνούν στα πολύ ψιλά γράμματα των ελληνικών ΜΜΕ, αν περνούν και καθόλου. Ο Αμερικανός Greg Mortenson από την Minnesota μας θύμισε το μύθο του Αισώπου με τον ήλιο και τον άνεμο που συναγωνίζονταν για το ποιος θα βγάλει πιο εύκολα και γρήγορα τα ρούχα ενός ανθρώπου. Έτσι και ο Mortenson προτίμησε να χτίζει, αντί να βομβαρδίζει σχολεία....

True stories, May 1st 2008
From The Economist print edition

Hope and inspiration fuel the most popular biographies and autobiographies
WHEN Greg Mortenson, a six-foot-four night-nurse and mountaineer from Montana, first visited Pakistan in 1993 to climb K2, the world's second-highest peak, he failed in his mountain quest but ended up doing more to win hearts and minds in the region than any amount of official American propaganda.

Mr Mortenson began by planning a five-room school which, using local craftsmen and materials, he reckoned would cost $12,000 to build. Then he set about writing letters—to senators, to millionaires, to Oprah Winfrey and to a fellow footballer who, like him, had attended the University of South Dakota. In all he wrote 580 letters, and received a single cheque in the post (from the student footballer) for $100. But he never gave up.

Today Mr Mortenson has built 55 schools, as he says in his bestselling memoir, “Three Cups of Tea”, one school at a time. And still he has more to build. Who says you need guns to fight the war on terror?




Το βιβλίο του “Three Cups of Tea” βρίσκεται στην πρώτη θέση σε πωλήσεις παγκοσμίως στην κατηγορία βιβλίων βιογραφίες και αυτοβιογραφίες, σύμφωνα με το Amazon.com.

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