From Love Comes Education

A book that affected my perspective of what it means to offer a public school education is "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortensen, a story of how after failing to achieve a major goal, his purpose and mission became clear, "to promote peace... one school at a time." It reads like a documentary about the discovery of this mission. By pursuing through a dangerous and desperate environment in a foreign land, Mortensen achieves the impossible in a way that deepens your appreciation for the opportunity children receive when provided with a public school.

Greg Mortensen and villagers of Warizistan

How many children in the United States dread getting up in the morning to go to school? Would their attitude be different if they knew someone had struggled, fought, and risked his/her life to establish the school? And, for that matter, how do we not know someone did fight to establish a school?

If I knew that someone had sacrificed his/her life to provide me - a stranger - with a quality education, I don't think I would have hit the snooze button so often in my school age days.

Education means something different to each person you ask. To Greg Mortensen, it meant an opportunity to provide children with hope where there was none. Do you appreciate the education you received or do you often wish you could have gone to a different school, a better school, or a bigger school? Think about it from a new perspective and embrace the feelings that come up. Positive or negative, just feel and reflect on the emotions and choose to see the loving opportunity from the situation.

Mortensen understands transferring negative emotions to positive outcomes. As he says in his book, "If we try to resolve terrorism with military might and nothing else, then we will be no safer than we were before 9/11. If we truly want a legacy of peace for our children, we need to understand that this is a war that will ultimately be won with books, not with bombs.”

If inspiring children to choose a peaceful education is your passion, choose one of these small at-home actions, and you can help make a huge impact!