If you’re watching the news about Pakistan right now you’re probably shaking your head thinking about what a terrible place it must be. For me too the news is quite upsetting, but possibly for different reasons.  It got me thinking, and I worry about all my friends there. Worry about what it’s like to try and make a normal business work in these times. Especially all my friends working in tourism, trying to run a hotel, work as a guide, run a restaurant or travel agency. Or just raise a family and live a normal life. But you know, life does go on, and the Pakistani’s I know are resilient and tough. They will continue to make the best of their situation, and they won’t get discouraged.

If you know me you may have heard this before but it deserves to be said. -My experience over the past 3 years has shown that Pakistani people are some of the warmest most hospitable and welcoming on earth. Their faith in Islam is genuine, deep, and admirable; it is the root of who they are. Their dedication to family and friends is inspiring and heartwarming. Their concern for foreign guests has to be seen to be believed. To think that my Pakistani friends would risk their own safety and well being for me is something I’ve grown accustomed to. To realize they would do the same for a stranger may be surprising but it’s not untrue.

What more can I say? I can’t summarize the problem or the solution. But when I think that someone out there might be watching the news and get the impression that Pakistan is a land full of crazy terrorists with a hate for outsiders I’m upset. Holding that kind of view is as hurtful to my friends there as the terror strikes and fighting is. So if you get anything from this or from reading my stories in the past just realize it is a such a small minority causing the problems you read about. The majority and in my experience all the Pakistani’s I’ve met are wonderful, compassionate, moral, hardworking people. Please think good thoughts about them during this time.

I few words is all I have and it feels like I don’t do much to help all those people who have helped me. We paragliders often float through don’t we?  Going to foreign lands with our wings, often flying in far off places which are remote and poor. It’s romantic and adventurous but selfish; mostly we just leave without giving much back or helping those we come across. I’ve been inspired by a paragliding friend recently who’s doing something different, she’s making an effort to help, and in a really interesting way.

Anyone in the market for a diamond ring? Please have a look, this is really worth it!

http://www.committedtotheworld.org/index.html