"I came to respect and depend on the vision of Syed Abbas" Mortenson says. "He's the type of religious leader I admire most. He is about compassion in action, not talk. He doesn't just lock himself up with his books. Syed Abbas believes in rolling up his sleeves and making the world a better place. Because of his work, the women of Chunda no longer had to walk long distances to find clean water. And overnight, the infant mortality rate of a community of two thousand people was cut in half".
"Then Mortenson talked of the tribal traditions that attended conflict in this region - the way warring parties held a jirga before doing battle, to discuss how many losses they were willing to accept, since victors were expected to care for the widows and orphans of the rivals they have vanquished.
"People in that part of the world are used to death and violence" Mortenson said. "And if you tell them 'we're sorry you father died, but he died a martyr so Afghanistan could be free' and if you offer them compensation and honor their sacrifice, I think people will support us, even now. But the worst thing you can do is what we're doing - ignoring the victims. To call them 'collateral damage' and not even try to count the numbers of the dead. Because to ignore them is to deny they ever existed, and there is no greater insult in the Islamic world. For that, we will never be forgiven" (...)
"I'm not military expert. And these figures might not be exactly right. But as best as I can tell, we'ce launched 114 Tomahawk cruise missiles into Afganistan so far. Now take the cost of one of those missiles tipped with a Raytheon guidance system, which I think is about $840,000. For that much money, you could build dozens of schools that could provide tens of thousands of students with a balanced nonexstremist education over the course of a generation. Which do you think will make us more secure ?"
( excerpt of Greg Mortenson's speech to the american military ).
--- "Three Cups Of Tea" by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin ---
Despite a writing I don't always appreciate (being a european, I prefer understatement than melodramatic sentences americans tend to favour), this is one of the best reads of the year - I know, it looks like I'm saying that for every other book I read, but this one is so instructive, and gives some hope : there is people out there, of every color and creed, who make a difference and makes you less pessimistic about this world ...
Très bonne lecture de la semaine : "Trois tasses de thé" de Greg Mortenson. Au delà de l'écriture grandiloquente comme seuls les américains savent la faire*, on y apprend plein de choses sur cette zone qui fait peur à tout le monde (la zone tribale entre le Pakistan et l'Afghanistan) et on y voit tout un tas de gens, américains, pakistanais, afghans et autres, qui redonnent le moral par leurs faits et gestes.
* J'avais un jour dit d'un film qu'il était bien mais "trop américain" devant une amie américaine, ce à quoi deux autres personnes présentes avaient approuvé. Elle nous a regardé, l'air interrogateur, et aucun de nous trois n'a jamais réussi à lui faire comprendre ce qu'on comprenait tous par "trop américain". Aujourd'hui je ne vois guère que ce mot, grandiloquence, pour résumer le concept, mais on pourrait en écrire un roman ...
"Then Mortenson talked of the tribal traditions that attended conflict in this region - the way warring parties held a jirga before doing battle, to discuss how many losses they were willing to accept, since victors were expected to care for the widows and orphans of the rivals they have vanquished.
"People in that part of the world are used to death and violence" Mortenson said. "And if you tell them 'we're sorry you father died, but he died a martyr so Afghanistan could be free' and if you offer them compensation and honor their sacrifice, I think people will support us, even now. But the worst thing you can do is what we're doing - ignoring the victims. To call them 'collateral damage' and not even try to count the numbers of the dead. Because to ignore them is to deny they ever existed, and there is no greater insult in the Islamic world. For that, we will never be forgiven" (...)
"I'm not military expert. And these figures might not be exactly right. But as best as I can tell, we'ce launched 114 Tomahawk cruise missiles into Afganistan so far. Now take the cost of one of those missiles tipped with a Raytheon guidance system, which I think is about $840,000. For that much money, you could build dozens of schools that could provide tens of thousands of students with a balanced nonexstremist education over the course of a generation. Which do you think will make us more secure ?"
( excerpt of Greg Mortenson's speech to the american military ).
--- "Three Cups Of Tea" by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin ---
Despite a writing I don't always appreciate (being a european, I prefer understatement than melodramatic sentences americans tend to favour), this is one of the best reads of the year - I know, it looks like I'm saying that for every other book I read, but this one is so instructive, and gives some hope : there is people out there, of every color and creed, who make a difference and makes you less pessimistic about this world ...
Très bonne lecture de la semaine : "Trois tasses de thé" de Greg Mortenson. Au delà de l'écriture grandiloquente comme seuls les américains savent la faire*, on y apprend plein de choses sur cette zone qui fait peur à tout le monde (la zone tribale entre le Pakistan et l'Afghanistan) et on y voit tout un tas de gens, américains, pakistanais, afghans et autres, qui redonnent le moral par leurs faits et gestes.
* J'avais un jour dit d'un film qu'il était bien mais "trop américain" devant une amie américaine, ce à quoi deux autres personnes présentes avaient approuvé. Elle nous a regardé, l'air interrogateur, et aucun de nous trois n'a jamais réussi à lui faire comprendre ce qu'on comprenait tous par "trop américain". Aujourd'hui je ne vois guère que ce mot, grandiloquence, pour résumer le concept, mais on pourrait en écrire un roman ...
No comments:
Post a Comment