The more I read as an adult,
the angrier I become at high school curriculums. They can make us read every
single Shakespeare play, but they can't bother to educate us about things
happening around the world. The actual state of existence that a good portion
of the world lives in. Without running water (I know we all know this), without
access to education. Where women have no rights, where extremist groups use
religion against the general population.
I'll never forget the day I
learned that the old school Catholic church kept all of the text in Latin. It
was recited and read in Latin. Masses were given in Latin. So that commoners
couldn't question the church. They could essentially say anything was the will
of God, and to a common person that must be true because they couldn't read
their religious text themselves.
It's genius, but horrifying. In
the same way, Malala points out how in Pakistan the Quran is usually in Arabic
and not many people in villages such as hers can read or even understand
Arabic. Centuries in the future and the tactics are still the same. Not only
were the Taliban able to seize control from sheer violence. They started by
gaining supporters due to their claims of the meanings in the Quran. I found
this especially interesting, as I do not know a lot about Islam but have
noticed that since 9/11, Islam as a whole religion is blamed, not the Taliban
who took their interpretation of the Quran and manipulated the illiteracy
around them.
Malala is a force. This young
girl is so passionate about her country, about her religion, about her love of
learning. Thanks, I'm sure in a huge part to her father, she shirks the
Taliban's decrees because she has not only memorized the Quran as they ask
their religious scholars to do; but has begun memorizing the translation as
well. With every decree, she looks inward, to her faith. Is this something the
Quran says women should not do? Is this something Allah expects of me? And when
she comes up with the innate feeling that no they are misinterpreting
purposefully. She continues with her life, not wearing a burka, only covering
her head. Going to school and advocating for other girls to have access to
school as well.
I'm not sure what I was
expecting of this book, either when I added it to my reading list or when I
discovered it in my little free library. But, I was not expecting this
beautiful memoir of a young girl's entire life. While she starts the story with
the moment she was shot and ends with herself and her family safe in Birmingham
as she continues to recover; the middle leads you through the twists and turns
of a poor yet fortunate Pashtun girl. One who comes from a loving and tolerant
family. One who can attend school and learn. One whose father encourages her to
be everything she can be and more.
This memoir is so powerful. My
statement about the high school curriculum stands because while I am older than
Malala, and this book would not have made it to my high school. I think it is a
vital piece of work, something that everyone should read. To realize that it's
not merely a thing of the past, girls not being allowed school. It's not merely
a matter of families being unable to afford school fees. It's a matter of life
and potential death for so many girls who attempt to attend school. Something
that I know in the US many girls (myself as a teenager included) would rather
sleep in than attend).
At first, I was upset with
myself that this book has been sitting on my shelf for so long, having gone
through my recent mental spirals I hadn't picked it back up since that day at
the park, not wanting to read about any more pain. But, now I see there was a
reason. I needed to read this book now. As so many girls in Afghanistan are
once again losing their access to school, to any type of safety and freedom, they
are once again having their religion manipulated and wielded against
them.
Comments
Post a Comment