Three Cups of Tea Post 6-B

Dear Greg Mortenson,

I read that you got lots of hate mail. "'I wish some of our bombs had hit you because you're counterproductive to our military efforts'" (275; ch. 20). Don't let that get you down. You are certainly not being counterproductive! If kids in Afghanistan are getting brainwashed, I think the problem down there is ignorance. That goes for America too. Propaganda seems to almost always favor going to war in Asia. When I was working on a paper for English 10, I was surprised to find that the saying "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" is often used in a positive way. Revenge is something that we should not even consider as an option.

Another letter stated that, "Our Lord will see that you pay dearly for being a traitor" (275; ch. 20). I'm not quite sure what he (or she) was thinking when he wrote this. I assume he was referring to you helping Muslims. As far as I know, the Bible doesn't say that we should kill anyone of a different religion. I'm not sure exactly how we should deal with them, but if I needed to guess, I would assume that they might have a hard time following the Bible if they're blown to bits.

I'm glad to hear that you haven't given up. Even if it was bad to educate Afghan kids, they are still better off learning at your schools than at the madrassa schools. "But the World Bank concluded that 15 to 20 percent of madrassa students were receiving military training, along with a curriculum that emphasized jihad and hatred of the West at the expense of subjects of like math, science, and literature" (244; ch. 19).

I hope you continue to help build schools!
Adam Anderson