by Jeff Salz – Anthropologist, Explorer, Mountaineer, Author & Television Personality
My friend, Martin Perelmuter – who runs Speakers’ Spotlight in Toronto – wanted my take on the Three Cups of Tea story.
Though I’ve not met him, Greg Mortenson is a fellow adventure/climber/humanitarian/author and speaker…
So this whole thing strikes pretty close to home.
Here are my thoughts.
I’d like to hear yours…
Jaffe and I have been following the story since we tuned in to the initial 60 Minutes segment.
I must admit, I tried to get through the book when it first came out and could not.
It was too formulaic.
I wish I could say I smelled a rat, but I did not.
But I couldn’t smell the tea either.
Embellishment is no crime.
Or most of us speakers would be doing time.
Though it is the tagline for my most requested speech,
Loco Rivera – my gaucho friend – never did say:
“There is nowhere to go. And nothing to do. But to be of service”
But he would have. Could have. Lived his life that way.
And I needed a tagline.
A speaker needs to be able to tell the truth even truer than it happened.
Like a painter painting the flower even brighter than it is.
He makes the truth … ‘truthier’.
And makes the world a better place.
Which is his goal
Embellishment is no crime.
Embezzlement is.
That is where the questions must be posed.
Did Mortenson use the suffering of the children of the Himalayas
to line his own pockets? That’s what we have yet to ascertain.
If he did, that would be criminal.
For more info on Jeff Salz, please contact Speakers’ Spotlight.
