Malala: The girl who was shot for going to school

By Mishal Husain

BBC News, magazine article

A Taliban fighter stopped a school bus asked for a girl named Malala, then fired 3 shots at her with his rifle. It all began a few months earlier when Malala Yousafzai stood up for woman rights in specific, education for women. The Taliban had banned all women from getting an education, Malala rebelled against this and kept going to school in her home town of Swat valley in Pakistan. This lead to her getting shot by a Taliban fighter, what happened after this changed her life for ever. A bullet shot went through her head so doctors had to put her in a medically induced coma. Yousafazi went through three different hospitals, each with specialists working on saving her life. She made a full recovery and is now an education activist with many peace prizes.

The theme endurance is addressed throughout all of her ordeal, even after she had survived the shooting people were still trying to kill her. Malala said; “I told myself, Malala, you have already faced death. This is your second life. Don’t be afraid — if you are afraid, you can’t move forward”. What she says to herself shows that she can’t constantly live in fear and not keep doing what she wants instead needs to keep striving and move forward. It shows her strong mentality of never giving up and always doing things to her full potential.

This article connects with the rest of the world as there are many people out there that have got severe injuries and have fought back to achieve their goals. These people have exceeded past what they thought was possible, the doctors, surgeons and others took part in a huge role in enabling the person to survive. Malala said; “The Taliban could take our pens and books, but they couldn’t stop our minds from thinking.” She is showing that every human has the power of thinking and using their minds, which the Taliban or anyone else couldn’t take away from them.

It teaches us that there are very strong people in society that will stand up for what they believe is right. Even standing up for small things can make a difference in your life. What Malala Yousafzai did was beyond the thought of most people as going against the Taliban would likely result in death. She said; “We were scared, but our fear was not as strong as our courage”. This shows us that she was afraid of what could happen but knew that her courage was much greater. She went on to say; “Life isn’t just about taking in oxygen and giving out carbon dioxide.” This is a reflection of her mentality, which shows that there is much more in life than just living. In her case it was to help women get their rights to education.

What Malala Yousafzai did connects with my personal view point of standing up for what is right and taking action for things that are wrong. She said; “I wanted to speak up for my rights” this is exactly what she did, it was a big risk especially from where she came from but proved to be successful in the end. Her strong mind set allowed her to speak her voice and opinion on what she thought was right, it remained this strong after getting shot which helped her battle through the struggles. Without this extremely strong mentality it would have been much harder to make it through her situation.

The magazine article “Malala: The girl who was shot for going to school” shows you a tough young girl who stands up for her rights and endures getting shot by a Taliban fighter. It will encourage you to stand up for what you think is right instead of not doing anything. The events that occurred changed Malala Yousafzai life forever, arguably for the better.

Julius

October, Term three