here's to nights at the library.

"Educate a boy, and your educate and individual. Educate a girl, and you educate a community."

African proverb via Greg Mortensen

Greg Mortenson spoke at Devotional lastweek, author of "Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time."

listen to it online for free: http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=1867

That book is a must-read for me (and all of BYU, actually).

His book is about building a system to educate girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan, which has now built over 78 schools in the most remote areas of the world.

And why did he do this?

To promote PEACE.

Peace can be accomplished through books, through knowledge, through women. Whether here in Utah or Arizona or across the world in Pakistan, peace can be achieved through learning. I have seen this principle in motion as I have observed families that do not have books in their home, children who have no encouragement to attend school, whose parents overlook homework, reading and studying. In my all-Hispanic bilingual elementary school, those same kids joined gangs, had sex and were failing classes — in the fourth grade. Maybe, what those kids needed, was a real mom.

And education is a marvelous blessing. By using our education, we can spread peace. It’s not all about getting through school getting good grades for yourself so you can go to graduate school. Sometimes being in college fosters an atmosphere of complete selfishness, a total focus on you and what you want in life. It’s easy to get caught up in your goals and forget why we’re all really here.

I wholeheartedly agree with Mortenson, and hope that I can live up to his faith in education, and women.

"If we try to resolve terrorism with military might and nothing else, then we will be no safer than we were before 9/11. If we truly want a legacy of peace for our children, we need to understand that this is a war that will ultimately be won with books, not with bombs."

song of the day: (credit goes to erik for this one) - Wishing Well by Airborne Toxic Event.