For Valentine's Day

and Everyday

THINGS TO DO

  1. Love your neighbors.

  2. Love your enemies.

      --Jesus

~ ~ ~

Three Cups of Tea was the title of the first book of Greg Mortenson, founder of the Central Asia Institute. The three cups of tea referred to a Balti sayig that Haj Ali invoked during one of Mortenson's first visits to his village.

 

Ali told Mortenson that with the first cup of tea shared with them, one was a stranger. With the second cup, one was a friend. With the third cup, however, one became family--and for their families they were willing to do anything, even to die.

Mortenson wrote that of the many lessons that the old man, Haj Ali, imparted to him that this was perhaps the greatest. For Mortenson, it underscored the paramount importance of taking the time to build relationships, while simultaneously affirming the basic truth that in order to get things done in that part of the world it was essential fo listen with humility to what others have to say.

  --Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan  by Greg Mortenson (p.51).