Malala Yousafzai – Evidence of Grace

My transcript from Jon Stewart’s interview with Malala Yousafzai on October 8:

JS: “Where did your love for education come from?”
MY: “We are human beings, and this is part of our human nature, that we don’t learn the importance of anything until it’s snatched from our hands. And when in Pakistan, when we were stopped from going to school, at that time I realized that education is very important. And education is the power for women. And that’s why the terrorists are afraid of education. They do not want women to get education because then women would become more powerful.” . . . .

JS: “You spoke out publicly. What gave you the courage?”
MY: “You know, my father was a great encouragement for me, because he spoke out for women’s rights, he spoke out for girls’ education. And at that time I said that, why should I wait for someone else? Why should I be looking to the government, the army, that they would help us? Why don’t I raise my voice? Why don’t we speak up for our rights? The girls of Swat, they spoke up for their rights. . . . I raised my voice on every platform that I could. And I said I need to tell the world what is happening in Swat. And I need to tell the world that Swaat is suffering from terrorism, and we need to fight against terrorism.”

JS: “When did you realize the Taliban had made you a target?”
MY: “I just could not believe it. . . . I was not worried about myself that much; I was worried about my father. Because we thought that the Taliban are not that much cruel that they would kill a child, because I was 14 at that time. But then later on I started thinking about that, and I used to think that a 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 myself that, 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 that much with cruelty and that much harshly. You must fight others but through peace and through dialogue and through education. Then I said, I’ll tell him how important education is, and that I even want education for your children as well. And I’ll tell him, That’s what I want to tell you, now do what you want.”

The video of the extended interview should soon be posted at TheDailyShow.com

And here’s Malala addressing the United Nations: