Letter of the day: Author shows how a personal touch makes a difference

Last week, we saw Greg Mortenson (author of "Three Cups of Tea") speak at Bloomington Jefferson High School. Raving about his amazing work building schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan is easy and worthy. What impacted us unexpectedly was Mortenson's presence and patience during the book signing after his presentation. While his publisher furiously tried to hurry along the book signing, insisting he stop personalizing his books in order to speed up the process, Mortenson continued to address every person by name, shook their hands, thanked them for coming and took the time to ask a little about the person and personalized each signed book. He was completely in the moment, and showed how to build connections and relationships even during a brief encounter. His method of promoting peace in Pakistan and Afghanistan was demonstrated firsthand at his book signing by his patience, demeanor and compassion. Thank you for your extraordinary work! ROLF AND JULIA BELGUM, MINNEAPOLIS