Malala Yousafzai is a teenager from the Swat Valley of Pakistan, a region bordering northeast
Afghanistan, a place defined by high mountains, green meadows, clear waters and bloody conflict.
By the age of 12, Malala was an activist.
In 2009, she wrote a diary for the BBC which described the atrocious deeds of the Taliban
and advocated equal opportunities and education for women.
In 2011, Malala was nominated for the International Children’s Peace Price and, in December
of that year, received Pakistan’s first National Youth Peace Prize for her efforts.
She also received death threats.
Malala was repeatedly warned by the Taliban to be silent.
To immediately discontinue her public criticisms and to stop speaking out for the rights of
an obviously inferior gender.
In the eyes of the Taliban, Malala and all women were to submit and accept their place
in the order of things.
But Malala was not silent.
On October 9th, 2012, as Malala Yousafzai and other girl students were riding home from
school, armed gunmen halted the vehicle and opened fire.
Two other girls were seriously wounded.
Malala was shot in the head.
At the age of 15, for the terrible crime of insisting that girls had the right to get
an education, to better themselves, to break the cultural shackles which imprisoned them,
Malala Yousafzai was the enemy.
To the Pakistani Taliban, her words were as dangerous as any weapon of warfare, because
they challenged the order of things, because they insisted that fanatical men did not deserve
to be the masters of her world, because they were spoken by a defiant, free, female voice.
For this, the Pakistani Taliban declared war on a little girl because she was “the symbol
of the infidels and obscenity.”
But Malala did not die.
She escaped death by inches, and her recovery has inspired millions across the planet.
Among the first public photos of Malala’s recovery is this one, the young girl reading
a book a symbol of the very education the Taliban wishes to deny.
Schools have been renamed for her.
Petitions for girls’ education are being circulated in her honor.
And for the moment, millions of eyes are opened to the brutal, cowardly, oppressive cultures
that seek to keep women’s rights, to keep human rights, under their boot.
Malala Yousafzai’s story is a compelling one.
Unfortunately, it is not a new story.
Every day, atrocities like this are committed around the world.
And for thousands of years, tyrants have been terrified that those under their control will
rise up and wield the most dangerous weapon of all: an idea.
This is a critical moment.
This horrific act of violence and oppression charges us to take a long, hard look at things
and decide that we cannot, we will not stand quietly as our fellow human beings are tortured
and executed for the crime of thinking for themselves.
That we refuse to be threatened into submission.
And that we will not stop fighting until those oppressed are physically and intellectually
free.
Thank you, Malala, for showing us how powerful a single voice can be, for providing an example
of real courage, and for reminding us that the fight for human rights is not the responsibility
of any one person, but is instead the responsibility of us all.