Rawalpindi
Shopping in Rawalpindi is a colorful affair filled with long sessions of tea-soaked bargaining prefacing each purchase of materials needed to build the school at Korphe--and for Greg Mortenson those purchases come with a price. For what cause would you sell all the memorabilia from your parents, your favorite car, and the gear from your favorite hobby?
For me, like Mortenson, it would be a combination of several factors personal, phlisophical, and perhaps political that would lead me to that course of action, because something so drastic and life-altering can't just be for one thing, even something as good as building a school in Korphe. I respect the people of Korphe, as I do all people in their situation. Desperate, poor, barely clinging to life, but still hospitable and kind to strangers. I respect and like them, but my respect does not go so far as to do such damage to my current life for the sake of giving it all to them. To me that is not the best way in which my assets could be used. For what cause would I do that? I have no idea, seeing as if I had found one by now I would already have done, and most likely quit collage in order to pursue it because after so great an investment I could not simply say "Now I have given enough and my conscience is satisfied." After so great a loss I should be left with nothing except that cause. And I might as well go all the way with that cause, and dedicate my entire remaining life to it to see that cause through. I have not yet found any cause to match that description, because if I had I would not be writing this.
ReplyDeleteFor myself, being compared to Mortenson is a hard thing to do. Mortenson has given up his time and money to build a school for children that had no place to learn. I am envious of the feeling he had when he thought about the school, the anticipation and giddiness of the way the children's faces would be like when they see a man, who at first was the same as all the other mountain climbers the Korphe people had come across can do in the world. I have thought about all of the things in my life that I would give in order to have that same feeling Mortenson had, giving up my clothes, my jewelry, books, television and everything important to me. At first, the feeling of all of that being gone is hard, until you think about a child. someone in a hospital bed that doesn't have to be there, you find one thing in someone that can make the biggest difference of all; life. If I were to find someone that I could help with all of the "things" I had, I would sell everything in a heartbeat.
ReplyDeleteWhat Mortenson did to build the school in Korphe was amazing. He was willing to give everything he had included selling all the memorabilia from his parents. Personally, I wouldn't sell all the memorabilia from my parents and my favorite things except the person who I love so much need help or someone who really needs help. I'm willing to give all I have if they can save one's life. A person's life is much more precious than all the things I posses.
ReplyDeleteMortenson made many sacrifices to help educate the children of Korphe, such as time, money, and giving up everything he owned, as well as the memorabilia from his parents. For me, it would take a lot more to give up so much the way Mortenson did for people I am not very close to. My most beloved possession was given to me by my parents when I was very small, and I would never give it up for money, jewelery, or let alone children in Korphe like Mortenson did.
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