On the heels of CBS’s 60 Minutes’ program about Greg Mortenson’s alleged fabrications in his books, the twitterverse and blogosphere have become abuzz with the chatter that delights in controversy.

Whether the allegations are accurate or not, is important from the perspective of publishing non-fictional memoirs. There needs to be confidence that the narrative isn’t fabricated. This is especially true if it inspires its readers and even more so if it results in making donations to a charitable cause like the Central Asia Institute and its mission to build schools.

That said, and without any further investigation on my own part, it does not surprise me that elements of a non-fictional memoir should be simplified to aid in reading it. Just as we can easily find home movies to consist of moments of interest embedded in long stretches of boring renditions of the mundane, and feature films to be continuously engaging, a memoir often needs to make simplifications to convey an underlying truth.

But to debate these points is to miss several gargantuan truths which are, to my knowledge only occasionally and superficially mentioned amid today’s discussions.

First, be mindful of the fact that when Greg Mortenson returned to the USA after leaving Pakistan, he, unlike the vast majority of the rest of us, elected to sell everything, living out of his car for some time and attempted to raise the funds for the first school. He wrote innumerable letters. He put up while others talked.

There’s no denying the fact of the several schools that have indeed been built. There’s no denying that in most of those schools an education is being delivered. There’s no denying the several thousand children who have benefited and there should be no denying the threat to their successors if the charity should suddenly lose its expected funding.

And wherever the education isn’t being delivered, we should seek to solve that problem rather than point fingers of blame to the one among us who has dedicated himself to this purpose.

Highly regarded authority, Peter Bergen, also CNN’s terrorism correspondent and frequent visitor to the affected region, was at pains on CNN this morning to point out that even though some of the information in Greg’s books might have been inaccurate, the underlying truths haven’t been compromised and that the CAI’s efforts are worthwhile. From what I can tell on that count, with the furore extending to discussions of the use of funds, no one seems to be examining just how much of that money has been going into an endowment versus being immediately deployed. Clearly, the more that is directed in the endowment direction, the smaller the fraction of raised funds will appear to have been expensed for the charitable purpose in any given year. To compare those with the funds used for marketing is to fail to understand the dynamics of fundraising in the USA and the cost of marketing. So many charities fail in this regard due to their under-funded marketing efforts. CAI has approached the marketing task professionally. Lastly, who in his right mind would eschew promoting of a book that is at once directly relevant and persuasive to would be donors to give to a charity that has been conducting efforts to the extent that CAI quite plainly has.

One dark spot on this in my view is the need for a response on the allegations of only one set of audited accounts since inception of CAI. This, to my mind is damaging and should either be rebutted if untrue or rectified with immediate effect.

I sincerely hope the CAI continues to be supported and the under-served children of Afghanistan and Pakistan are given the opportunity they deserve. Let’s stop this craving for the entertainment of amphitheater and let those among us who have the courage to step off the treadmill of career to go and make a difference to other people’s lives, get on with showing us how to do what we have ourselves lacked the courage to do.