“I started thinking about that, and I used to think that the Talib would come, and he would just kill me. But then I said, ‘If he comes, what would you do Malala?’ then I would reply to myself, ‘Malala, just take a shoe and hit him.’ But then I said, ‘If you hit a Talib with your shoe, then there would be no difference between you and the Talib. You must not treat others with cruelty and that much harshly, you must fight others but through peace and through dialogue and through education.’ Then I said I will tell him how important education is and that ‘I even want education for your children as well.’ And I will tell him, ‘That’s what I want to tell you, now do what you want.'” – Malala Yousafzai, The Daily Show
People are beyond human, beyond what we are biologically constrained to be. There are some people, some human beings that have overcome the rat race of this world. The ideologically pure, the idealist, the girl that believes anything is surmountable. These people believe there is some idea that is truly bigger than them, something that society and mankind needs to advance. It’s so goddamn beautiful. She has a little heart and it goes out to all the children in the world that need an education. It is the heroism of people that has led to great social change, that inspired the Civil Rights Movement, that led to socialist uprisings across the world, to fascists seizing power in Germany, to the Greeks fighting for freedom against the Turks.
We are saved and led by our idealism, our burning desire in something greater than ourselves, our hope. Today, the fighters of Al-Qaeda and radical groups are in Somalia, Mali, Nigeria, Syria, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Unions struggle for workers in Mexico, Brazil, Spain, Greece, and across Latin America. In the United States, hard line Republicans refuse to back down from their demands to overturn the Affordable Care Act. Environmentalists sacrifice the comforts of modern consumerism for eco-sancutaries.
It’s so motivational to know people are inspired by beliefs they hold higher than thsemelves. That if you truly believe in something there will be people with you that will fight with you and go for that change. That as a human being you can make a real change to the rest of humanity, to your community, If reading about the latest government shutdown and how they refuse to solve anything and you want to change it, you can. Inspire your local community, do better than what has been done.
You’re better than what’s come before you, so you better prove it. It’s your duty to overcome the restraints set on you by the former generation and to rise above it. So go do something, be a Malala or a John Muir or a David Brower or a MLK Jr. or a Ghandi or a George Orwell. Go out and be the change you want.
Friends of Friends 