Peace Education

With the book on the New York Times Best Sellers List for 69 weeks, I may be the last person to read Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace….One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson ad David Oliver Relin. Yes, the book has been on my “to-read list” forever but I never heard the kind of buzz I heard for Eat, Pray, Love. Just in case you haven’t already been urged to read this book, let me say it right now – read this book as soon as you can!

If you’ve ever been overwhelmed by the seemingly monumental problems in the world and by discouraging setbacks of trying to live right…

If you desperately search for a get-dirty-and-exhausted real-life hero…

If you wonder about raising children in a world that’s lost essential kindness…

The story of Greg Mortenson from mountain climber to humanitarian will give you hope. This little book will change your assumptions about other cultures. It also reminds you that hardship and doubt are part of meaningful choices. Finally, you rediscover your belief in individuals who live lives of truth, honor, and compassion.

We aren’t all meant to be Greg Mortensons. At least I’m not ready to leave the comforts of home. But I recognize in Greg Mortenson certain social-emotional skills that make great things possible – I want to learn some of those. And I want to teach those to our children at a time when we believe we’re too busy to hang around for that third cup of tea. Too busy to linger, to listen, or to care.

Peace education is not something to be added onto ridiculously burdened skill-lists or to jam-packed curricula; peace education is the daily practice of seeing other people’s points of view, respecting differences, generously extending the benefit of the doubt to sometimes hurtful situations, and searching for compassionate choices instead of defensive over-reaction. Mortenson shows all of us how to effect positive change through relationship-building. As you read this book, imagine all the ways it can make us better parents and teachers.