Greg Mortenson Interview (page: 6 / 6) Best-Selling Author, Three Cups of Tea	Print Interview

How did the book Three Cups of Tea come about?

Get the Flash Player to see this video. Greg Mortenson: I am not a writer. I'm not an author. And I had hundreds of people ask me, "Please write a book". First of all, I don't write a lot. I like to read. I also am so busy with my work, raising money, going overseas, and then running an organization, also trying to be a dad and a husband. But finally, in 2004, after 9/11, I realized that people in America are really yearning to understand more about the societies in Islam. So over two years, with a co-author, we got the book Three Cups of Tea written. I never intended it to become a bestseller. I just wanted to bring a message about what education can do. When I first wrote Three Cups of Tea, I picked the title, "Three Cups of Tea." What it means is -- Haji Ali, the village chief taught me: the first cup, you're a stranger; second cup, a friend; and third cup, you become family. But the process takes several years. And what he means is that in order to do something, you need to build relationships.

But the publisher, Viking Penguin, they picked the subtitle, One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism... One School at a Time. And although I'm a military veteran, I really objected to the subtitle Fighting Terrorism. Because I started this eight years before 9/11. The reason I do this is to promote peace. I really think education and building relationships is the key to peace, so I contested that. But in the end, I was told that only 12 percent of non-fiction books make a profit, and two-thirds of all bestsellers are pre-chosen by the publisher. So they said, "We're going to have you fighting terrorism so we can pitch the media so the book will do well." So finally, I conceded. But I said, "If the book doesn't do well, then I want the subtitle changed in the paperback." Every week I would say, "I want that subtitle changed." And the hardcover didn't do very well. So finally, I got a call in December of 2006 from Paul Slovak, who's the Chief Editor at Penguin, and he said, "We've decided to change the subtitle of Three Cups of Tea to One Man's Mission to Promote Peace... One School at a Time."

So the paperback came out January 30th, 2007. It's been a New York Times bestseller ever since then. The Pentagon has bought several thousand copies to use for counterintelligence training. Christian ministers use it in their sermons. The Islamic community in Chicago is really promoting the book. Several synagogues in Philadelphia are using it as a joint reading. Women's book clubs, liberals and conservatives, Republicans and Democrats. I think what really resonates for people, one, is that education can make a difference. Everybody believes in education. Number two, everybody wants to have hope. We can't live in fear. We have to live in hope.

I think also we need to think out of the box more. We can't use conventional wisdom or rationales sometime to figure out solutions to the very complex world that we live in. We need to listen to the people sometimes. Take a quiet seat. I also think that dialogue -- discourse and debate -- is very healthy. And by engaging with people who we might even perceive as our enemies, that's the only way we can really come about with some solutions to many complex problems we face today. And ultimately, you know, we have children. I think that when I look into the eyes of my two children, they're seven and 11, my daughter Amira and my son Khyber, I see the children in Africa and Afghanistan and Pakistan. I think we should do everything we can to leave them a legacy of peace. And sometimes it will take significant commitment. It will take courage. Sometimes we're going to have to face danger. The real enemy, I think, whether it's in Africa or in Afghanistan or America, is ignorance. It's ignorance that breeds hatred. To overcome ignorance, we need to have courage. And we need to have perseverance. I'm very optimistic about the future. I think that there is hope, and that it comes through our children.

You have a number of web sites, including Ikat.org. What's Ikat?

Greg Mortenson: The easiest website is threecupsoftea.com. It's our book, and it goes to our Pennies for Peace, and our nonprofit, Central Asia Institute. Ikat is the silk of central Asia. It's also found in Africa, and down in New Guinea, and some of the Aboriginal cultures. Ikat is a silk or cloth that is individually died and then woven together in this beautiful tapestry. We use it to represent the resilience of the people of Central Asia. There's all these strands of different cultures and societies ebbing and flowing. Afghanistan, traditionally, for millennia, has been at the waxing and waning point of empires and civilizations: the Ottomans, the Mongols, the Greeks, the British, the Turks, now the U.S. and others. They've all come together in this one little place on the planet.

Get the Flash Player to see this video. There is a saying that Afghan people will tell you, that when God created the world, it was good. And then he took the leftovers and threw them on the ground. And that created the country of Afghanistan. And that's kind of a sad way to describe your people. But also, that is linked to what is universal in the Torah and the Bible and the Holy Koran. It says that the best, the most important thing that a person can do is to take care of the widows, orphans and refugees. And I often see Jewish, Muslim or Christian leaders infer or imply that "God is on our side." But I really think that God is on the side of the widows, orphans and refugees. And unless every single one of those people -- those innocent children, those widows, those women -- are taken care of, that nobody has the right to say that God is on our side.

Do you think that there is still an American Dream? What defines the American Dream for you?

Well, the American Dream for me is...

Get the Flash Player to see this video. Greg Mortenson: When I first came back to the country of my birth, I was 15. I hadn't spent any time here. And so my first hour in high school, I got beaten up, and the kids put a garbage can over my head, and they started hitting me. And it was because I said, "I'm an African." And it was, as I mentioned, there was confusion about that. And it was very devastating. I wanted to run back to Africa, which I thought was my home at the time. But when I joined -- we were completely broke -- I was 17 years old, four days after high school. I joined the U.S. Army in '75. And it wasn't a popular time to go into the Army. It was right after the Vietnam War. And actually, it was in the Army where I met men and women from all across America, from the inner city, from ranches, from farms, from rural areas and urban areas and blacks and people of Hispanic descent. And I realized that this is a great country. And I saw people coming together. I also saw that there was dissension in the upper ranks about what happened in Vietnam. And that being an American, it's okay to be a patriot. I still get goose bumps when I sing the national anthem. But at the same time, I feel that it's very important that when we feel that our country is doing something, like in Iraq or something, that we can stand up and voice our opinion. And also to listen to the people.

[ Key to Success ] The American Dream

Get the Flash Player to see this video. To be an American also is to be able to dream the ultimate dreams. This country is still the greatest place on earth. If somebody who can come from nowhere and be not afraid to have the biggest dream you could try and fulfill, and it could happen. It's also I think a country that we need to -- America really is not so much about being American, but we are a global community. We've come from all over the world, including the natives who first lived here. So we are pretty much a microcosm of the global community. And when we think of ourselves as Americans, I think it's important that we see ourselves as part of the whole global community. I think we also need to export our good values that we have as Americans. We are people of great generosity. We're people of courage. We're people of compassion. That's what people think of individual Americans as. We have that value. And I think when we're looking at policy, ultimately politics isn't going to change the world. It's people who are going to change the world. And it starts building relationships one at a time.

[ Key to Success ] The American Dream

Thank you very much for sitting down and talking with us.

Greg Mortenson: Thank you.

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