The "Crimes" of Malala

I don't think in 600+ posts we've mentioned current events or politics and with good reason - there are other more dependable sources of news and information.  Anything I've got to say is generally my opinion and everyone is entitled to form their own about most any topic.  As much as I'd like everyone to think as I do, it is the differences between us that make life interesting.

But I've been dismayed and sickened by the news from Wednesday regarding 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai, a young girl living in the Swat Valley of Pakistan.  Seems I've read about her in recent years, but she was front-page news in the New York Times as she was specifically hunted down Tuesday as she rode the school bus home by Taliban and shot in the head and neck, along with 2 other classmates.  She continues in a coma and some signs of improvement were seen today, her odds of survival placed at 70%.

Her crimes consist of her continued interest in going to school and becoming a doctor, which girls are forbidden to do according to Taliban doctrine.  Despite the acid attacks, public beatings and bombing of girls schools, Malala has become the face of girls in the Islamic world interested in furthering themselves.  She appeared in the documentary film "Class Dismissed" chronicling the closing of the private school run by her father Ziauddin as they were forced to flee Swat Valley when the Taliban took control.  My favorite parts of the documentary is when Malala is shown with her father - he is so proud of her standing up for what is undoubtedly right.  The young girl, 11 when the film was made, shows confidence and intense purpose among the beheadings, beatings and killing around her.  The half-hour film can be accessed through the link in the article above, or in a blog post written by the film's maker Adam Ellick.

Read the articles and comments, watch the documentary and be outraged at what zealotry is capable of performing.  Try as I might to understand how her crusade to go to school can be defined as "an obscenity" (Taliban quote as they accepted responsibility), I am utterly speechless...