Hannah Isabela S.

Ocbina

Malala Yousafzai’s speech reflection paper: One child, one teacher, one pen and one book

Stand up and let your voice be heard

As I watch Malala Yousafzai’s UN speech, everything she said was so accurate and

meaningful. I suddenly questioned myself, why can’t all of us be like Malala? Why can’t we

stand and fight for what we believe in? Is it because we are afraid to experience the things that

happened to her? Scared that we are alone and no one will listen? Malala inspired us that if we

raise our voices together, we can make a big difference in this world.

Malala was a brave and courageous girl. She was not afraid of the consequences that will

happen to her after speaking up. She was a good role model to all, especially to the youth. Most

girls in Pakistan, a place where she lives in, doesn’t have equal rights compare to men in terms of

education. This leads to her fighting for her advocacy about girl’s education and how should

women be independent in fighting for their rights. As a result, she was shot by A Taliban man.

Fortunately, she survived and continued to fight for her advocacy.

If I were in Malala’s shoes, I probably wouldn’t do the same thing. It makes me feel

guilty that I often take for granted the education I receive free from my parents. I sometimes

wish classes to be suspended or cancelled, but hearing Malala’s experiences where people have

to fight for their education and receive such traumatizing threats, it made me value my education.

I admire her braveness standing not only for herself but for others who are fighting silently and

are afraid to speak up. Her kindness that she doesn’t even hate the Taliban man who shot her

because it was
against the teachings of Jesus Christ, Prophet Muhammad and Buddha while some might plan a

revenge if something similar happened to them. Her perseverance and patience in sharing her

message about education that instead of being weak, hopeless, and traumatized. It gave her more

strength and courage to fight.

From her speech and all her experiences, I realized a lot of things. I am grateful that I am

able to hear her wonderful speech as it has opened my mind and changed my perspective in life.

I would gladly share her story to my close friends and relatives for them to be also inspired by

her story. From now on, I’ll study hard, help those who are in need, will be brave to stand up for

what I believe in and let my voice be heard. Let us not forget Malala’s ending speech, “One

child, one teacher, one pen and one book can change the world.” We should all be reminded that

even one person can change the world by using his or her voice. Let us all follow Malala’s

footsteps and let us all help and contribute in making our world better.