Got a call from Tim Fung yesterday. He was a friend of a friend, just doing that “I wonder how Gloria’s been these past 40 years”. But what I found out from him is that an old friend, Gene Kunitomi, had died about 2 ½ years ago…. Stunned.

We were friends back in the ‘60’s and early ‘70’s, and in the ‘80’s Gino (as we called him) had a dream to cure cancer. He was sure that he could do it. Working as a lab tech at U.C. Berkeley, he was so excited about the things that were being discovered. He wanted to find the common thread so that all cancer could be defeated. Enthusiastic about Interferon and animated by being involved in the research, his passion and optimism were engaging. Gino died of cancer.

And that’s what happens, I guess, when we lose contact. We find out about the passage of people that we knew were “out there somewhere”.

A similar thing happened after Harry & I returned from traveling around the country for a year. I received a call from the daughter of my best friend from junior high school. Jeanie had died about a year-and-a-half before the call.

But wait! That can’t be true! How can Jeanie have died? I wanted to call her and check to see if her daughter was telling me the truth (and at the same time I knew that no one would call with information like that if it weren’t so).

Old friends. And how many more are out there waiting to pop out of existence like virtual particles creating a void in the force?

I can feel the void today.

If you are an old friend or family member, thanks for being part of my life. And if you’re a new friend, thanks to you, too!

Got Me!

Every so often a book will grab me and not let go. It's usually because it touches some part of me that has a desire to be opened to deeper thought or to a way to participate in adding something positive to a world that is awaiting that kind of focus.

When I finished reading Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace, One School at a Time ( by Greg Mortenson), I realized that he was carrying out the dream of so many of us. Life handed him the opportunity to provide something enormous in this world by creating schools, mostly for girls, who were not previously allowed to be educated, in Pakistan and Afghanistan. What a huge shift it was from being a mountain climber to being the leader of such a powerful gift to the world.

Y'know how we imagine what a book will be like by its title?
Authors and publishers are keenly aware that this affects the interest that people may have in reading a book. Well, the idea of "three cups of tea" reminded me of being a child, with a little table and small chairs on the lawn, serving tea to my little girlfriends. We pretended that we were grown-ups and our conversations consisted of the idle chatter that we perceived that grown-ups had. So the picture on the front cover of the book, of little girls who were wearing hajib, the traditional head-coverings that females wear in Muslim countries. And it had nothing to do with my American-child-of-the-'50s interpretation.

It was reading reviews about the book, reading listserv comments, and even Oprah had spoken highly of his work, that caused me to decide to have a second look. And I'm grateful for their recommendations! I was moved by Mortenson's depth of commitment, his ability to gather human and financial support for his passion, and the sharing of this work with the world so that we, too, can see how to create change in peaceful ways.

And this morning I finished his second book, Stones Into Schools, Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs, In Afghanistan and Pakistan. I always slow down my reading speed as I near the end of a book that touches my heart...this one was no exception.

As much as I loved Three Cups, this book gave me insight into the depth and breadth of his work. It is written with such a commitment, detailing to the process of educating girls in extremely remote areas. He shares about the difficulties of supplying materials and the roughness of the terrain over which they had to be delivered. And the best part about it is how he has influenced the American military strategy by teaching them that we must first build connections within communities in order to have their support. He has affected the way we are now dealing with the war that continues in Afghanistan. It provides a way that we can be seen as supportive rather than as "infidels".

The books have inspired so many people to contribute to his organization, Central Asia Institute (http://www.ikat.org) and to develop other ways to help make the world a better place. One of the people he thanks, at the end of the book, is Jane Goodall (my own chosen heroine).

It's always difficult to finish a book like that...one that gives hope for a better world, that comes from a place of love rather than control, that affects the lives of people who have been both manipulated and ignored.

My first thought, after reading Three Cups, was that Mortenson should receive a Nobel Peace Prize. I was delighted to see that he was nominated in 2009 and that this has been repeated for 2010. The decision of the Nobel committee will be announced in October of this year...may this unassuming man be so honored. He has shown us all that when we follow our hearts we can truly participate in making the world a better place for all of us.