7 billion people in the world that I could’ve chosen to honor. Granted, I most definitely don't know the whole population of Earth, but I know enough. Yet, somehow, I chose to honor someone who doesn’t even know me, and lives on the other side of the world: Malala Yousafzai. I built my whirligig to commemorate Malala, the girl who was shot by the Taliban, because she fought for equal education.
I think being Indian-American, education was very important to my family. Many people have this stereotype of all Asians being studious. While I didn’t believe in stereotypes, I guess this one in particular applied to me. My parents always pushed me to study harder. After a point, I started dreading it, I spent hours writing short stories and essays,
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All Malala wanted was to go to school, and her life was put on the line. I soon realized what I had started to think was part of my everyday life, someone had almost died for it. I was immediately drawn to her story. I imagined her parents and their praying at their daughter would come out alive. She got shot for education. That thought hit me repeatedly, like raindrops hitting the surface of a car. I started following her from then on. I watched her journey. Interviews with Ellen, her book, and then, she won the Nobel Peace Prize. She was an inspiration to me, making my views on women’s rights change. She spoke at conferences and she stood up for education and women's rights. Two things I knew of, but never had paid more than five minutes of attention to. One thing led to another for me. I started reading up about women’s rights in Pakistan and India, and why the Taliban didn’t want girls to have an education. I felt connected to her, in the way she spoke, wrote, and the balance between her religion and life. Now, I still follow her to this day, smile as I see all the pictures of the many people that she meets and how she impacts them. Malala has this way of touching people even who are thousands of miles away. I think I was hit the