Day 300 Weapons



October 5, 2015

(If we live with an open and grateful attitude, every day will bring a gift. This is one of 365 gifts during the year I turned 70.)




When I taught seventh-graders, some of my female students hated school and couldn’t wait until they could either quit or eventually graduate from high school, marry and have children. They saw education as a chore. Some came back to school to visit their former teachers and show off their babies. The mothers still looked like children themselves. I wish they had seen the movie I saw last night. 

As a member of the Maryland Film Festival, from time to time I have a chance to receive two movie preview tickets. Some of these movies are winners (Slumdog Millionaire), some are losers (Stuck) and most are in-between. Tonight’s preview at Harbor East Landmark Theatre was a winner. 

He Named Me Malala, a documentary by Davis Guggenheim, is the compelling story of Malala Yousafzai, a young Pakistani girl from the beautiful remote Swat region, who champions girls’ rights to education. Her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai named her after a national Pakistani folk hero, a female who rallied Pashtun fighters against British troops in 1880 and led her people to victory in battle saying, “It is better to live one day as a lion than 100 days as a slave.” October of 2012 on the way to school on a bus, the real Malala was shot in the head by the Taliban who wanted to squelch her activism. Not expected to survive, after surgery and therapy in England, she thrives and continues to speak out for the right to education. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, the youngest person to ever receive this prize. 

In the film, Malala was asked what kind of life she would have now if she had had a more ordinary life. She replied that she would have two children now.
Let us pick up our books and our pens, they are the most powerful weapons." ~ Malala Yousafzai

Continue here to read my review of this film: http://bjschupp.blogspot.com/2015/10/he-called-me-malala.html

My gift today is an inspiring young girl.
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Learn more: https://www.malala.org


He Named Me Malala 
Documentary
Runtime: 87 minutes
Rating: PG-13
Availability: Select theaters October 2
Director: Davis Guggenheim
Music composed by: Thomas Newman
Distributor: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Producers: Davis Guggenheim, Laurie MacDonald, Walter Parkes



> Day 301: Mental Starch

You can find links to my other posts on this project here:


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