What can drive men, into such a religious fervor, that they would not stop at anything to have a young girl killed; simply because she speaks and writes about wanting her and other girls to get an opportunity to get an education?
These religious fanatics are who many of us have come to know as the Taliban. They are the most recent cowards of our time today as they cannot comprehend what drawing a line is, with taking the lives of women and children.
Thankfully, whatever God they may believe in that would drive them to commit this cowardly, did not hear their prayers. It looks like Malala, their latest known victim is going to survive their attack.
Finally, we are starting to see many in the world realize, what the Taliban stand for. We can surmise it is not advocates for women's rights and equality.
Back home, what many of us take for granted for, here in Western Civilization; people like Malala Yousufzai are risking their lives everyday for this privilege of getting an education.
Here in the United States, we have what are known as truancy laws. Truancy laws require parents to send their children to school or face jail time or fines, when their children refuse to attend or they themselves, refuse to enroll them in those programs.
Ironically, on the other side of our Western World, we have inspiring children like Malala, who has risked her life for the opportunity to get an education and have God given rights for her and other girls.
Up until this attack Malala resided in the Swat Valley in Pakistan, where the Taliban has at times banned girls from attending school.
In early 2009, at the age of 12, Yousafzai wrote a blog under a pseudonym for the BBC detailing her life under Taliban rule, their attempts to take control of the valley, and her views on promoting education for girls. The end result was Malala's article being a huge success and gained prominence throughout the world.
The following a summer, a New York Times documentary was written about her life, which gave even more rise to her prominence in her fight for women's education rights.
Unfortunately, the Taliban has strict ban on education for women, which ultimately leads them to target these women along with the schools that go against their use of Sharia law and strict radical moral codes.
As her notoriety grew, Malala had became a huge target for them as she had become an international symbol and a beacon of hope for other girls. She was being sought by the militia and on October 10, they finally found her on her way home from school.
That day, Malala was being transported home in a van along with two other female classmates along the Swat Valley. The Taliban militia stopped the vehicle and when they approached the three passengers, they asked, which one of them was Malala. When Malala identified herself, they proceeded to spray inside the vehicle with bullets, striking all three of the girls.
Malala got the worst of it as a bullet found its way into her head. She had been in a coma ever since and today her doctors are saying she escaped certain death by a matter of centimetres (inches), with the bullet grazing the edge of her brain.
When the Taliban heard the news that Malala had survived the attacks, they vowed through a spokesman in the media that they were going to ultimately, finish the job and take her life. Fortunately, this led to outrage all over the world. The end result was protests held in many countries in support of Malala and the condemnation of the Taliban.
It seems that the Taliban over dealt their hand with this one and rightfully so. The shooting of this one bright, articulate teenager has captured the attention and the Taliban's cowardice in ways that thousands of other Taliban atrocities do not.
As Frida Ghitis, author of "The End of Revolution: A Changing World in the Age of Live Television," recently wrote, the Taliban are afraid of Yousufzai "because she is not afraid of them."
Weeks after being shot, point-blank in her head on her way home from school in Pakistan by Taliban forces, Malala Yousufzai was finally reunited with her family at a hospital in Birmingham, England.
Her father, Ziauddin Yousufzai, and other family members flew to Britain on Thursday to help their daughter's recovery.
"Last night when we met her, there were tears in our eyes and they were out of happiness, out of happiness," Ziauddin Yousufzai told reporters at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham the morning after reuniting with his 15-year-old daughter, Malala.
Yousufzai described his daughter's survival as a "miracle for us" and choked up as he recalled having started at one point to think about planning her funeral.
"She is not just my daughter, she is the daughter of everyone, she is the sister of everyone," Yousufzai said
"They wanted to kill her. But she fell temporarily. She will rise again. She will stand again," he said, his voice wavering and breaking with emotion as he spoke.
"It's a miracle for us ... She was in a very bad condition," he told reporters.
The good thing is that God answered everyone's prayers for Malala and her family. Hopefully, she will be an even bigger force to reckon with in her mission to promote women's rights. for now, Malala has a very long recovery ahead of her.
Thankfully, the Pakistan government, has pledged to pay for all of her hospital expenses in Pakistan and in the UK as well. In addition, the government has also promised to provide her with the protection that she needs when she returns back home from any future attacks.
The ultimate hope from all of this is that this is another chink in the already deteriorating armor of the merciless and evil Taliban and bring people together in their fight against this band of cowardly thugs.
We can always hope...
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