Outside Reading #2

Greg Mortenson was taken in by a small village in Pakistan, and after gaining the trust of the people in the village, learned about their daily life and what true poverty the people live in. After learning that the children don't have a school building and only have a teacher for three days of the week, Greg tells the people that he will build them a school. Since Greg had very low income, it required remarkable sacrifices for this to be accomplished. Greg had to make many decisions in order for his school to be completed. Greg wanted to give all he had into the trip, and even, "decided not to rent an apartment. He had the storage space. And La Bamba's backseat was the size of a couch"(49). The enormity of Greg's passion for his mission was not shown as clearly before as in this choice. Deciding to live out of a car is an example of Greg's moral decisions, where he wanted to give everything he could to the people in Pakistan.
When buying supplies in Pakistan, Greg’s helper, Abdul, helps him bargain for supplies. When Abdul bargains, he brings in religious reasons for giving a better price. Greg hears Abdul tell a salesman, “A true Muslim would leap at the chance to help poor children instead of trying to steal their money” (65). When Abdul is trying to bring down the price he questions the seller’s religion, an act that arouses thought over the ethics of both men. While it is probably a good practice to keep religion out of business, Abdul makes a valid point about giving to the poor, a good, ethical act of any person, and especially of a devote Muslim. Whether or not religion should be brought into the problem, trying to sell lumber at a high price to an organization set out to help the poor is unethical.

Mortenson, Greg, and David Relin. “Three Cups of Tea”. New York: Penguin Group, 2006.

Outside Reading Quarter 2: Post 1

The memoir of Greg Mortenson's actions in Pakistan and Afghanistan opens with his failure to summit K2 and his reaction to this failure. A strong man and very experienced climber, Mortenson is surprised by his failure and amazed since this was one of the first times he has really failed at a big goal in his life. His tells of his childhood through recollection and shows the reader that his past has been full of charitable acts and that his parents were public servants wanting the best for the world. Before reading this memoir I read a summary and know that it specifically focuses on his building of schools. He spent some of his childhood in Tanzania while his parents built schools for people living there, which developed in him a sense of responsibility. His care for other people is demonstrated by his kind actions towards his sister who suffered from epileptic seizures, and help set him up as a character that always cares for others. He is unhappy at his failure to summit the mountain not only for personal goals that may have been accomplished, but also because the trip had been in honor of his sister.

The book also starts to explore the ethical choices that people have to make every day. Although we have not discussed this topic yet in class, very obvious ethical choices needed to be made in Mortenson's trips. Two men were planning on summating a mountain, when a third man had fallen ill. Mortenson recounts, "Dan and Jon were the real heroes," he says. "They gave up their summit bid to get Etienne down"(14). This decision was an easy one to make, but did require a moral decision. Dan and Jon could've simply left Etienne on the mountain for another group to help and complete their summit dreams. This would be almost the same as murder, and anyone in this situation would do the right thing, as Dan and Jon did, and assist Etienne down the mountain. Later in the story Mortenson's guide keeps a close eye on him, even during his Muslim prayer practice. Mouzafer would, "steal a glance away from Mecca to make sure Mortenson was still nearby"(22). This action gets into a religious decision, and I won't call myself an expert of Islam by any means. However, I do believe that during prayer time you should be devoting yourself to God. I believe that Mousafer made the right decision by making sure that Mortenson stayed out of trouble and alive, even if it meant not completely devoting his time to God. Saving a man's life probably makes up for skimping on prayer. The ethics explored early in this story show people making good decisions that led to a positive outcome for all.

Mortenson, Greg, and David Relin. “Three Cups of Tea”. New York: Penguin Group, 2006.