Malala Yousafzai: Moral Leadership

Leadership comes in many forms: some are born with it, some adapt to their situation to become one, or some gain the abilities needed to be a leader. Many exhibit moral courage through their strength, experience, and generosity. People look to them as a guiding light, a person who can speak out without the fear of any consequences. Moral courage cannot be confined in a simple dictionary definition—it lives within anyone who seeks a better society. One brave, young woman nearly died for being so outspoken and having prominence in her cause. Her name is Malala Yousafzai, a women’s education activist who survived being shot by the Taliban for her activism; she exemplifies moral courage. To start off her story, Pakistan was the home of a young

Malala’s own words reflect this: “[t]hey thought that the bullets would silence us...terrorists thought that they would change our aims and stop our ambitions but nothing changed in my life except this: Weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, power and courage was born” (“Malala Yousafzai's Speech”). Now, she could become an inspiration to those around her, and incite hope within people around her. Even though her life was almost lost, and was surely in danger after this experience, she still spoke about her cause with assurance. On her website, Malala Fund, it gives facts about how educated girls are less likely to marry young, and how “[e]ducation is vital for security around the world because extremism grows alongside inequality” (“Girls' Education”). Inequality is an issue that many people face, in the case of Malala, it is against women, and in terms of the Holocaust, it is anyone who is different. That is why “Malala is doing more than building awareness: She’s creating a network of action and impact...by opening schools, providing scholarships, and setting up education groups…” (Valby 106). She has a network, much like the network of people who worked together to save everyone they could during the Holocaust. For a moment, they stopped thinking of themselves and their own safety to save others. People like them devoted their lives to their cause, and refused to give up regardless of the monumental