New Series of Posts, Post One

Since beginning this blog, I have tried to write about whatever I was experiencing in my life in hopes of helping others in some way.  I believe many of the things I wrote sparked conversations that helped people, so I am glad I did what I did.  However, I have felt a bit like I have been processing my life in a public way, not at the level celebrities do or anything of that nature, but publicly nonetheless. 

This time I am experiencing right now I want to process privately. I am finding a sense of purpose and learning about my goals in ways I haven’t before, and I am excited for many of the things in my life that are happening within the next few years. I’m beginning to find a sense of identity that I feel I have lacked for many years. I’m enjoying processing things on my own, and not necessarily writing about them for others to read at this point.

However, I do miss writing on this blog and having conversations about different things I write about.  One of the things I wanted to do in 2019 was write about 365 inspirational people on this blog.  I started in January and quickly stopped, because honestly, that’s a lot, and nobody was going to read that in its entirety.  I’m not sure how I’m going to set this up for now, but since I am not writing about my personal experiences here this summer, I am going to write about people that inspire and motivate me instead.  Hopefully, this will keep in the spirit of motivating, inspiring, and conversation as my blog has in the past, without me needing to process this season of my life publicly.

Today, I am going to focus on just one person, but in future posts I may feature more people, again, I’m not sure how I am going to set this up quite yet, but I will hopefully work out some kind of a system that makes this easy to follow.  A wide range of people inspire me, so I’m sure at some point, you’ll also be inspired by something about one of these people. 

 I could begin with any number of people. I’m not aiming to alienate any of the people that may read this, but many of the people that inspire me work for and speak up for rights of other people and are therefore politically involved. Today, however, I am going to begin with a politically involved individual that is not from America.

One: Malala Yousafzai

Malala is just a few months older than I am.  Turning 22 this month, Malala has already won a Nobel Peace Prize (at age 17). She was born in Pakistan and was shot in the head at age 15 by the Taliban for speaking out about girls’ right to education. 

I did not know much about Malala until this year.  I’d heard her name, knew she fought for education for girls, and that she’d met Obama. I vaguely remembered that she came from a place of violence. And I had heard of the Malala Fund. When Malala and I were 15, we lived worlds apart.  She lived in an unsafe environment and had to stand up for her right to receive an education.  I lived in America, grumbled my way to school each morning, and never wanted to hear of violence, which is probably why I never caught the fact that Malala had been shot in the head for speaking about women’s rights.

Though I have yet to read her book, I Am Malala, it is on my list for this summer, as well as her latest book, We Are Displaced.  I recently watched her documentary on Netflix, He Named Me Malala, which is incredibly inspiring. Also on Netflix is her interview with David Letterman on My Next Guest Needs No Introduction. She also was in a documentary called Class Dismissed prior to her attack.

Malala hasn’t said that she is angry at the person who shot her, which considering the number of things she lost and had to relearn due to the shooting is incredibly inspiring and a true testament to forgiveness. She went through many surgeries. She is deaf in one ear now and has a cochlear implant (among other things, but as a deafie, this one stands out to me).  Her attack caused people to speak out all over the world. After the attack, she was taking to Birmingham due to how critical her injuries were. She has lived in England since then but has traveled lots to do her work and to spread her message.

Her relationship with her father, a teacher, is also a prominent part of who she is, and a large part of the documentary on Netflix (I highly recommend). She began her activism by anonymously writing for a BBC blog while in Pakistan and during the time her access to education began to be taken away. Then she was displaced within her home country. She eventually started the Malala Fund, which works worldwide to promote education for girls. She’s currently studying philosophy, politics, and economics at the University of Oxford. Since 2013, her birthday, July 12, is Malala Day. (Celebrate by learning more about Malala and how to support education worldwide!)

Malala is incredible in many ways. She’s an eloquent speaker, instilling passion and fire within the messages she delivers. She is serious about her message, and sticks to it, even when she speaks to the world’s most powerful leaders. She also sticks to it in her life – the day she found out she won the Nobel Prize, she finished the school day before speaking to press. She faces criticism from many, but she doesn’t focus on it. When she woke up from her coma in a different country, she asked about her father. She survived a monstrous attack and does not speak ill of the people that shot her, just their ideology. My favorite thing about her I think though, is her relationship with her brothers.  It really shows how grounded she is, and I find her quite funny in these moments. I have so much to continue to learn from this peer of mine.

To see more about Malala's work, visit https://www.malala.org/.