Three Cups of Fail: The live version

Tonight I had the pleasure of sitting through an hour of regurgitation. I attended the David Oliver Relin lecture in Cowles auditorium, and wasn't entirely thrilled. The amount of change that Relin has catalyzed in the world is definitely impressive, and I respect his accomplishments greatly. He gas reported on strong current issues, some that other news companies won't even touch, such as Land Mine victims in Vietnam.

His lecture began on a strong footing: A little bit of canned humor, a few half hearted laughs from the audience. His soft voice made it fairly easy to focus on what he was saying, but wasn't pointed enough to really draw you into his words. He proceeded to shoot off into a minute or three of the obligatory thanks that every speaker spews to the audience, showing his clearly genuine appreciation to the hosts.

I may be a bit of a cynic, but Relin's lecture seemed to draw the bulk of the ideas from Three Cups of Tea. However interesting the book may have been, and however relevant the topic is to our modern day, we DID read the book, so spending the better part of an hour telling us the story that we just read doesn't exactly accomplish much.

However, Relin did have a story that resonated with my cynical little mind. When he graduated, his parents gave him a plane ticket to anywhere he wanted to go in the world. He chose India, in order to experience a totally different culture. The next six months were spent riding a motorcycle of questionable mechanical fortitude around the country, immersing himself in the local culture, and gaining experience that would become valuable for a job as a foreign correspondent.

It is my goal to some day be able to travel with absolute freedom, without any schedule or obligations. I believe that immersing oneself in as many foreign cultures as possible yields a stronger and more complete person, as well as a more deeply developed world view.

The rest of Relin's lecture consisted of him paraphrasing his book, along with some slides. Might it have been more effective to have us just attend the lecture, or read the book, and not require both? Both had 90% similar content, and so the redundancy was a mite bit aggravating.

My personal views aside, David Oliver Relin is a skilled speaker, and an even more skilled writer. I thoroughly enjoyed his book, but not entirely his lecture.

Or maybe I'm just too much of a cynic.