Does it seem to you that people have been on edge recently? Maybe it’s because the full moon was this week. Or because temperatures are dropping. Maybe we’re all empathizing with the people impacted by Hurricane Sandy on the East Coast.
Whatever the reason, it seems like people are frowning more and smiling less lately.
Perhaps the cause of the crabbiness is that people are sick of politics and the debate over candidates and amendments and signs.
We all need to take a time out and think about the political situation in America versus much of the rest of the world. We’re lucky we can have these heated political discussions and no one gets carted off to jail for expressing an opinion contrary to the ruling party.
When I was bothered by the rhetoric this week, a news story reminded me how lucky I am to live in a country that values education for all our children— boys and girls.
We argue over the politics behind the No Child Left Behind Act or the Race to the Top education initiative. We bicker about how best to educate our kids.
But we don’t have to confront the horror of the family of 14-yearold Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan who was shot by the Taliban just because she wanted to go to school. This brave young teen boldly stood up to the terrorists and said girls should be allowed to study. And for that, she nearly lost her life.
Like a modern day Anne Frank, Malala kept a diary, detailing life under siege. I hadn’t heard of the heroic young woman until after she had been shot. But reading about her now—going through the blog entries she wrote under a pseudonym for BBC—is heartbreaking.
In one entry, she notes that she and her friends decided to wear colorful dresses to school. During the morning assembly, they were told not to wear colorful clothes as the Taliban would object. She didn’t say what the Taliban would do if they objected to a girl’s choice of attire.
It made me think about American girls with their goth black or glittery pink tops and matching neon-colored tennis shoes. Such a simple thing, but it is a vivid image of life in the United States. We have the freedom to express our feelings through words, through the way we dress, and in the things we study.
I pray that Malala will recover and will get to go back to the classroom. News reports say she is doing well. And the citizens of Pakistan are parading in the streets, angry at her plight, pledging support for her quest for education.
She has since been nominated for the International Children’s Peace Prize by Bishop Desmond Tutu and has been awarded Pakistan’s first National Youth Peace Prize. Honors indeed, but I’ll bet Malala would have preferred to just be able to attend school in peace—maybe wearing a bright purple outfit.
We are so blessed to live in a country that values education for all of our children. We have caring teachers who welcome kids to well-lit classrooms with desks and chairs and textbooks and art supplies. Teachers who welcome boys and girls, in all different kinds of clothes and with all different kinds of attitudes. All without fear of any repercussion.
So, smile. Yes, we have an annoying political season to get through that seems to start earlier and earlier every cycle. We disagree; we debate; we quarrel and we complain. But truthfully, we have things pretty darn good in the United States.
I don’t mind if I have to sit on
the floor at school. All I want is
education. And I am afraid of
no one.
Malala Yousafzai
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