What Are We Stronger Than?

Day 192 of Photo Inspirations — What Are We Stronger Than?
I heard my grandson’s speech, “The Making of a Leader”, so many times that I almost had it memorized by the time he went to Nationals in Minnesota.  In one of the points he made, “Leadership is Influence”, he gave an example of this young girl from Pakistan, Malala Yousafzai, who started writing a blog about human rights issues for young girls when she was only 11 years old.  When the Taliban took over four years later, they were outraged at her writings. Malala refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education. When she was fifteen, she almost paid the ultimate price. She was shot in the head at point-blank range while riding the bus home from school, and few expected her to survive.

Her miraculous recovery took her on an extraordinary journey from a remote valley in northern Pakistan to the halls of the United Nations in New York. At sixteen, she became a global symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest nominee ever for the Nobel Peace Prize.  In 2014, the 17-year old became the youngest person to ever win the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to promote and protect girls’ right to education.

I’m not sure what you wished for on your 17th birthday, but Malala’s birthday wish was that “we all raise our voices for those under oppression, to show our own power and courage is stronger than their campaign of fear.”  In an article she wrote for The Washington Post, she told of spending her birthday in Nigeria, where she spoke up for the girls kidnapped by Boko Haram and called on the country’s leaders to do more to help them.

Malala gave an interview to ABC News, in which she launched the #strongerthan campaign for women’s education.  She explained: “We want to say that we are ‘stronger than.’  So I say that I am stronger than fear.  I am stronger than violence.  I am stronger than terrorism.  I am stronger than every kind of thing that stops me from getting education.”

So are you and I.  Like Malala, our lives can change the world in ways more dramatic than we can know today.  In a day and time when stardom is all about the greatest singer or actress, the hottest model or band player, the most muscle bound athlete or talented dancer…..it’s so inspiring to hear about the REAL heroes and stars that are truly making a difference in this world.  I applaud anyone who is willing to pay the price for our world to be a better, kinder, safer place to live.  It sure causes me to desire to be a “leader with influence” like my grandson spoke about and like Malala was so passionate about.  Leadership IS influencing others to make this world a better place.  Thanks to Malala and many others, we see it in action.