Taking Challeges Head-On

Greg Mortenson’s journey depicted in Three Cups of Tea is the farthest thing from easy. One of the first things that Greg does when trying begin gathering resources was write letters. While writing letters does not seem like a headstrong, difficult approach to his help efforts it truly was. Mortensen did not write just one or two letters, he wrote over five hundred letters. Lacking the personal resources to type even one letter, He had to pay to word process at a local computer lab. It was a long and mostly fruitless process. He spent a great deal of time trying to notify the most prominent figures in the country to help his cause. Though most of the letters were unsuccessful, the few that did bring help made all of his time and effort well worth it.

My effort to learn French, though much less extreme, reminds me of Greg Mortensen. I have been trying to speak French for a little less than two months and it is not going very well. Much like what I said about Greg’s letter writing, it is a long and for the most part fruitless process. I know very little, I can see the words and know the meaning but I cannot speak them at all. It is very hard for me to learn other languages. I took four years of Spanish in high school and didn’t retain hardly any of the speaking skills. It is frustrating to spend time practicing and not being satisfied with the results. Eighty percent of the time I really do not like French, but the twenty percent of the time where I say something and actually get my point across makes it all worth it.