Malala Yousafzai

Two years ago, when Malala Yousafzai was 15 years old, Taliban terrorists boarded a school bus that she was riding on and shot her in the head . . . for speaking up about girls' rights to education. She survived, continues to fight for children's rights, and is now the youngest person ever to win the Nobel Peace prize.

The following from Huffington Post is an excerpt of an interview she had with Jon Stewart and reveals how amazing and courageous she is.

Malala said that when she learned she was a target while living in Pakistan, she often thought about how she would react if she found herself face-to-face with a terrorist. At first, she thought she would fight back. But then she realized, she could not stoop to his level.

“If you hit a Talib, then there would be no difference between you and the Talib,” she said. “You must not treat others with cruelty…You must fight others through peace and through dialogue and through education.”

Once she decided she could not respond with violence, Yousafzai thought about what she would say to a terrorist. 

“I would tell him how important education is and that I would even want education for your children as well. That’s what I want to tell you,” she envisioned saying, “now do what you want.”