There are some people who are so inspiring, whose actions are so breathtaking, that we are so taken aback, so paralyzed by their courage, that our only course of action (temporarily) is to stand and reflect on how we could be more like them. Malala Yousafzai is one of those people. You may have heard the name. Hopefully, you have heard her story, or at least the recent events that have catapulted her into the public sphere.
Malala, a precocious 15-year-old girl who has grown up in a Pakistani nation that has been plagued by the Taliban for a decade now, was shot in the head and neck on October 9th when a gunman infiltrated her school bus and demanded that she be identified. Why would someone do this to a 15-year-old girl?
Admittedly, until the shooting, I had never heard of Malala Yousafzai. However, regardless of my own ignorance, she has been a major world player in the struggle for equal education for girls since 2008. Her fearlessness, her activism and her leadership garnered her international recognition when she began writing for the BBC in 2009. In 2011, South African Social Rights Activist Desmond Tutu nominated her for the International Children’s Peace Prize, and she won. She also has schools named in her honor. In a turbulent and precarious Pakistan, where terrorism runs rampant, Malala’s progressive stances are contradictory to the Taliban philosophy, and they decidedly took action.
Mindless acts of violence are ubiquitous in the daily news, whether they be religiously, politically or socially driven. Often, they are petrifying. We are not aware of how to stop them from occurring. Moreover, we could not even guess what course of action we would take if we were the oppressed people seen in the news. We do know, however, that somewhere out there, people have it in them to muster up the boldness to stand in the face of oppression, to stay strong.
With the presidential foreign-policy debate last night, we are forced to remember that there are a myriad of people out there that do not share the same values that we do. They are against the very freedoms that are the fabric of our society. But we don’t only need a president who can stand up to those that oppose freedom, that oppose education. We don’t only need a strong military that can do so. We need a strong public that is well informed, one that is well-equipped to fend off evil.
Malala Youfaszai is alive. She is recovering in a hospital in the United Kingdom and has emerged from her coma cognizant of her surroundings and without any brain damage. Once fully recovered, she will continue her righteous quest. But the Taliban is committed to continuing what they have begun. Embarrassed by their failure to murder Malala, they have issued a statement of intent to complete their task and assassinate both Malala and her father Ziauddin, a revered Pakistani poet.
A classmate of Malala’s was recently quoted, saying, “Every girl in Swat [their hometown] is Malala. We will educate ourselves. We will win. They can’t defeat us.” Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently launched a UN petition with “I am Malala” as its slogan. I have a difficult time believing that most people are Malala. I surely do not think that I am. But I do think that many Malala’s exist and we are very fortunate to have them among us. If we can all be as passionate about the good in the world as she is, I can guarantee that we will be living in a better world every day. May she have a speedy recovery.
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