At just 14 years old, a Talib fighter boarded a bus, pointed a pistol at Malala Yousafzai’s head and pulled the trigger. But she survived, made a full recovery in England, and has become and transformative figure in human rights.
She appeared on The Daily Show this week and when asked about being threatened by the Taliban, Yousafzai painted a powerful picture for peace:
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.’
