I was hoping that Malala Yousafzai would win the Nobel Peace Prize, but it was not to be. Certainly the OPCW is a deserving winner, but the Nobel folks could have sent a real message to the world by awarding it to a courageous 16-year old girl who stood up to the cowardly Taliban by daring to promote education for females.
She floored Jon Stewart on the Daily Show the other night with her response to Stewart's question about her reaction when she learned the Taliban wanted her dead:
I started thinking about that, and I used to think that the Talib would come,
and he would just kill me. But then I said, 'If he comes, what would you do Malala?' then I would reply to myself, 'Malala, just take a shoe and hit him.' But then I said, 'If you hit a Talib with your shoe, then there would be no difference between you and the Talib. You must not treat others with cruelty and that much harshly, you must fight others but through peace and through dialogue and through education.' Then I said I will tell him how important education is and that 'I even want education for your children as well.' And I will tell him, 'That's what I want to tell you, now do what you want.'
Good Lord, what an answer from an amazing, articulate, person! Sixteen years old! Watch the entire interview.
I've got another hero to join the likes of Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Jackie Robinson.
And she's a girl!
You go, Malala!
"We realize the importance of light when we see darkness. We realize the importance of our voice when we are silenced. In the same way when we were in Swat, we realized the importance of pens and books when we saw the guns." - Malala Yousafzai
We saw her on Jon Stewart as well and we were amazed! She's so intelligent and articulate and passionate. True glimmer in her eyes is contagious.
Posted by: Erin | Friday, 11 October 2013 at 09:36 PM