Thank you for visiting Challenge21!

You may very well be asking, "What is this all about, anyway?" The brief thoughts below are a bit of an explanation. If you find yourself wanting more, please check out my blog post Why Mountains? Why The Triple Seven Summits?. The video at right will also help and, of course, you can contact us directly for more information.

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Over the last 20+ years, I've been able to travel the world and meet people from various cultures, backgrounds, religions, and ethnicities. In those travels, I've seen huge disparities in living conditions and general well being.

What I've learned is this: These people, many of whom are my friends, are not poor because they're less smart, less skilled, less trustworthy, or less determined than me. They are, by in large, in the situation they are in - and I'm in my situation - simply by virtue of geography.

In most cases, people in Nepal, Bolivia, Uganda, or Indonesia are as smart, or smarter, than me. They're as tough, if not tougher, than me. They're often more hard working, more determined, and more focused than me. The big difference is they were born in the developing world, and I was not.

And that has taught me something else: by virtue of my luck of having been born to relative prosperity, it is my duty to try to help others, and help them better their lives. I must use my passion and my skill to make the world a better place; otherwise, it's all for naught. As Gandhi said: Be the change you wish to see in the world.

While I and many others can easily get excited about bringing electricity to villages, or providing laptops to kids in the developing world, at the end of the day none of this provides any benefit if those same people in those same villages are dying the following week from water-related disease, or if the school remains empty because everyone is busy hauling water to live.

So, we must start at the foundation.

On a mountain, we cannot begin with our focus on the summit, for it is a long, long way off. We've got to start at the bottom, at the most basic level, and work our way up, bit by bit. And, if we do that, combined with a good strategy, solid teamwork - and perhaps a little luck - we'll make it to the summit.

Short is the little time which remains to thee of life. Live as on a mountain.
- Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations"

As I gaze each night at my two, young children, and think of the billions of others who, again by virtue of geography, are far less fortunate than my kids, I get more motivated to make an impact...to make a difference...to show them that we can all be the change we wish to see in the world.

So, I hope you'll follow along on our journey to create lasting change, and please let us know if you have any thoughts, comments, criticisms, or suggestions...We'd love to hear from you!

Namaste,