Malala Yousafzai

Of all of the events in the past few years the story of Malala Yousafzai has interested me the most.  Malala a young girl of Pakistan became famous through an anonymous letter she wrote to BBC about what it was like living under Taliban rule.  BBC requested that she continue her accounts through a diary and very soon her work was well-known across the world as well as in Pakistan.  It was dangerous for girls to attend school in Pakistan, so her and her friends did so in secret.  One day, however, a Taliban gunman opened fire on her school bus.  Malala was shot in the head, but miraculously survived.  Since this time Malala has made an almost full recovery, written a book, and become the youngest person to receive a Nobel Peace Prize.

With her fame Malala has become an advocate for oppressed women around the world.  Malala artfully uses kairos through her book “I am Malala” in which she elaborates on her younger years and attempts to explain the complexities of the conflict in Pakistan.  Yousafzai capitalizes on her ordeal and the outrage of the world by teaching people that all she wanted was to be educated.  She loved school and loved to learn and she highlighted the fact that not only was it frowned upon for women to be educated but that it was also dangerous. She wanted to be heard and to speak her mind, but mostly she wanted people to listen and to understand her pain.  Had Malala not been shot no one would have actually cared about a girl who cannot go to school in Pakistan.  It is sad, though, that it took such drastic measures for her voice to be heard.