Malala is Resilient
by Erin Kronabetter, Alex Morales Lerma, Sophie Mixa, Vianca Cuevas & Sequoia Bulson-Bratton (in order)
How many life-changing struggles has the average American adult been through in their lifetime? One, maybe two? Children in developing countries go through even more than that before they turn 18. Malala Yousafzai has overcame many challenges in her short life time, including sexism, the right to education, the Taliban and losing her home.
The people of Pakistan are very religious and traditional so their beliefs often put men above women. To add to the existing sexism, the Taliban has radical views that completely limit women. Malala describes the cultural sexism that girls experience from birth, saying, “I was a girl in a land where rifles are fired in celebration of a son, while daughters are hidden away behind a curtain, their role in life simply to prepare food and give birth to children,” (Yousafzai 13). Women, like Malala’s mother, are expected to stay in the home and care for their family and they normally do not go to school. Malala and her friends aspired to do more than that. Her father was a strong believer that women are equal and deserve education. His beliefs influenced Malala and helped to empower her. Malala did not let the Taliban stop her from going to school. She was threatened but continued to fight for her right. One of her role models is a strong Pakistan leader, Benazir Bhutto. She says, “No struggle can succeed without women participating side by side with men. There are two powers in the world; one is the sword and the other is the pen. There is a third power stronger than both, that of women" (31). Malala knows that women are equally important to society. She uses her powerful voice to overcome the sexism that prevents her from going to school. Malala battles her cultural beliefs and the Taliban’s sexist values by continuing to fight for the education of females around the world.
“It was school that kept me going those dark days” (135). This quote represents represent how important education is for Malala. Personally, for her, a school is much more than a place you go to get an education and learn new things, for Malala school is place where you learn to be a person and you learn how to face problems in life. Probably Malala wouldn't have been so brave without an education, because without education nobody would know how to properly express an opinion, or how to convince someone of something, or how to even read. Education is much more than a word, education is power, education changes the world, education rules the world. Everyday people talk about being successful, about how successful they are because they were persistent and hard workers. But what those people don't realise is that they are hard workers and persistent because of education, education made them persistent and hard workers. Malala's fight is all about education, because she knows what it is to not getting a bad education or not getting education at all, and as she says on her book, not receiving education is one of the worse things that can happen to anyone. And Malala is fighting a fight that no one wants to fight, she is brave enough to do the dirty job, she is risking her life for the people that don't have a voice, she is speaking out for the millions of uneducated people in the world that don't have a voice to speak out. She is making governments slowly realise how needed education is in third world countries.
By standing up to sexism and her right to education, Malala put herself in harms way of the Taliban. Malala and her family began to receive several threats from the Taliban saying that Malala should stop attending school and that her father should stop speaking out against them. Malala said, “I don’t know why, but hearing I was being targeted did not worry me. It seemed to me that everyone knows they will die one day. My feeling was nobody can stop death; it doesn’t matter if it comes from a Talib or cancer. So I should do whatever I want to do,” (224). Malala didn’t let these threats from the Taliban scare her or make her stop standing up for what she believes in. One day while riding the bus to a field trip, two men stopped the bus and asked for Malala. Malala and two of her friends were shot by the Taliban men. When Malala regained consciousness a few days later, a doctor explained that, “the bullet had entered through the side of my left eye where there was a scar, traveled eighteen inches down to my left shoulder and stopped there. It could have taken out my eye or gone into my brain. It was a miracle I was alive,” (282). Malala shows resilience by surviving the shot in the head. She became strong and healthy again after being shot and continues to speak out against the injustices in her country.
Being a women in Pakistan Malala felt as though her gender was being silenced. A group called the Taliban restricted girls from attending school. In certain areas of the world women are thought as being less than men. Cultural traditions play a big role in sexism but in Malala’s case the Taliban’s belief is the problem. Believing that women shouldn’t attend school and claiming school was meant for boys was an attempt by the Taliban to make the people of Pakistan ignorant. Attacking anyone that disagreed with them, the Taliban had almost all the control. Malala did not give up, standing up for what she believed in and overcoming all odds was only the beginning. Speaking out to her people rejecting the idea of being silenced, Malala encouraged her classmates to keep going to school. The Taliban was frustrated and embarrassed that someone stood up against them especially a female child. Taking all desperate measures to silence her the Taliban threaten her family that things would only get worse if Malala kept attending school. Disregarding the threats Malala, proceeded to attend school. October 9th 2012 her fighting had to be paused unfortunately. Malala was shot in the head while riding a school bus. The news that a little Pakistani girl who was shot in the head spread like wildfire when heard why. Shocking the world with her bravery Malala stood strong for her supporters while recovering from near-death injury. Some argue that it's a miracle that she's still alive, others say it's karma. Whatever it is Malala not only fought for her fellow classmates but has greatly impacted people all over the world.
When the Taliban kept putting up rules and rodeblocks Malala kept fighting and never gave up for what she believes in. Malala showed her resilience by protesting, talk shows, and she also wrote a book. Malala ability to overcome her struggles made her become a better person.
At only 16 years old, Malala has fought through more difficulties than many adults. She is able to keep going during these hard times because she is resilient. Her actions inspire many young people and make a huge change in the world. As she says, “When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful.”