“ Guys, she is like…our age.”
This was a statement a girl I went to high school with made while giving a speech on Malala. In my senior year, we had to pick someone who we considered to be a leader to do an extensive research project and a presentation on. The only catch was that nobody in the class could research the same person. This nearly started a war over four girls in the class who wanted to do Malala, resulting in my teacher having to draw names from a hat.
The girl who was chosen gave a fantastic 10-minute presentation on this amazing woman and in the middle of it, took a moment to make us all appreciate what this girl, who was only a few years older than us, had accomplished.
Malala has accomplished a lot, so before I carry on about all the reasons I find her inspiring, I will list some of her biggest accomplishments, especially those that might not be as well known in the west.
- At 11, she gave a speech titled, “How Dare the Taliban Take Away my Basic Right to Education”, to protest school closings. The speech was widely published through Pakistan.
- At 12, when the Taliban closed all women’s schools in her area. She began writing a blog for the BBC about her experience living under the Taliban.
- Over the next few years, she was featured in documentaries by the New York Times and interviewed on TV. This resulted in her identity as the BBC blogger being discovered.
- In 2011 she was awarded Pakistan’s National Youth Peace Prize, now known as the National Malala Peace Prize.
- Nine months after being shot she spoke at the United Nations and a few months later won the UN Human Rights Prize.
- In 2013 she was named one of Time magazine’s most influential people.
- She published two books.
- She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014.
- She founded the Malala Fund, that works for a world where every girl can learn and lead.
- She is just an overall really inspiring person.
What has to be the most amazing thing about Malala is her incredible resilience. She got shot in the head on a school bus, and still, she did not miss a beat.
I remember being in sixth grade and hearing her speak at the UN. She was only 16-years-old.
Malala is best known for being a champion of women’s education. However, that day hearing her speak she imparted another message.
The post 9/11 world made fear turn into hate for Islam in the eyes of many Americans. For people born after 9/11, this was most of what we heard. Until I started taking world history courses, I knew very little about Islam except that it was the faith practiced by the perpetrators of 9/11.
Hearing Malala speaks about her Muslim faith opened my eyes. I remember her speaking so eloquently about the loving faith she practiced vs. the version infused by hatred practiced by very small sects of the religion, like those in the Taliban.
Before hearing her speak, I wondered how she was able to maintain faith in a religion that oppressed women to the point of her being shot on a school bus. How could she love something that caused people to hate her? It was because of her words that I no longer see the world as so black and white. She made us understand her beliefs in a whole different way.
This is such an important message to a world where we make these assumptions all the time. We assume that a broad belief dictates every belief and opinion that we have. For most of the world, that can not be farther from the truth.
A year after this speech, she won a Nobel peace prize. She was 17-years-old! At that age, I was excited to have had my first job. This girl was speaking at the UN and writing her biography.
Ok, back to resilience. Again, can I reiterate she got shot in the head! While that was one terrible event that happened to her, it was what she made out of the outcome that is so damn inspiring.
She could have stopped her activism. After she recovered, she could have lived a quiet and thriving life in England. Even at this point from what she had accomplished in her early life, she would have deserved it. She could have said, I did my part for mankind, and now I am going to enjoy a lovely peaceful life.
But no, less than a year into her recovery she got back out there. She spoke, she wrote, she advocated, she innovated and she inspired.
I think about Malala all the time, and also the quote from my classmate “Guys, she is like…our age.” I think about the significance of that, and Malala reminds me that no matter what might be working against me in life, it will never hold even the most minimal comparison to what she, and so many activists like her, have had against them. If I can impart even a fraction of the significance she has on the world; I will be happy.
To end, I will leave you with one of many fantastic Malala quotes.
“If one man can destroy everything, why can’t one girl change it?”