“Education went from being a right to being a crime.
But when my world suddenly changed, my priorities changed too.
I had two options, one was to remain silent and wait to be killed. And the second was to speak up and then be killed. I chose the second one. I decided to speak up.
The terrorists tried to stop us and attacked me and my friends on 9th October 2012, but their bullets could not win.
We survived. And since that day, our voices have only grown louder.
I tell my story, not because it is unique, but because it is not.” – Malala Yousafzai’s Nobel Lecture Dec 10, 2014
If you haven’t read I Am Malala, I encourage you to do so. I am still in the process of reading it, but I am so humbled and astounded by the wisdom that this young girl has. She has had to fight so hard for everything she has, and yet she is peaceful and optimistic.
Malala was a joint recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize today. She is here to remind us that things need to change.
I also read up a bit on the Nobel Prizes. I’d heard it so much, but never really knew where the name came from.
Alfred Nobel was a Swedish man who was wildly successful in his life. He was an inventor and engineer. One of his contributions to the world was dynamite. There was a moment when his brother died that the newspapers made an error and thought Alfred was dead. They wrote articles about how awful he was because he brought dynamite into the world, and it had killed countless people. It is believed that this is when Alfred decided to leave a different legacy. At his death, he left his fortune to a trust that would be rewarded in prizes. The Nobel Prizes.
There are people in this world who go through extreme trials. Or those who make decisions that benefit the world for years after they are gone. It makes you take a step back and look at your life. What is your legacy?
I’ll close with some more words from Malala’s speech today. (Visit her website at Malala.org)
“Dear sisters and brothers, let us become the first generation to decide to be the last.
The empty classrooms, the lost childhoods, wasted potential—let these things end with us.
Let this be the last time that a boy or a girl spends their childhood in a factory.
Let this be the last time that a girl gets forced into early child marriage.
Let this be the last time that an innocent child loses their life in war.
Let this be the last time that a classroom remains empty.
Let this be the last time that a girl is told education is a crime and not a right.
Let this be the last time that a child remains out of school.
Let us begin this ending.
Let this end with us.
And let us build a better future right here, right now.”
What’s Tomorrow?
December 11