Similarities & Differences
The opening line of the book gives me goosebumps:
Wow. I'm not entirely sure what she means by that, only that it suggests so much. Secrets. Mutiny. Dedication. Passion. Constant movement. Fear. Strategy. Perhaps it is none of these. But perhaps it is all of them.
What strikes me in the first few pages of this text are both the shocking differences of Malala's home but also the incredible similarities.
She is surprised by the running water and packaged food of the modern world, suggesting she didn't have that at home.
She uses oil lamps. Muddy lanes instead of tiny pavements.
A school without a sign declaring it an educational institution because of the animosity of the Taliban. Being afraid of getting shot on the way to and from school.
But, she spends time in school drawing diagrams of blood circulation. Students grumbling about tests. Buildboards about hair transplants. Justin Bieber music and Twilight movies. Not wanting to get up and having to be prodded by her parents to get out of bed. Huh. Teenagers are the same all over the world.
In a lot of ways, life is very similar.
However, there is a lot that we in our modernized, First World, privileged culture do not, and perhaps will never, understand.
"I come from a country that was created at midnight."
Wow. I'm not entirely sure what she means by that, only that it suggests so much. Secrets. Mutiny. Dedication. Passion. Constant movement. Fear. Strategy. Perhaps it is none of these. But perhaps it is all of them.
What strikes me in the first few pages of this text are both the shocking differences of Malala's home but also the incredible similarities.
She is surprised by the running water and packaged food of the modern world, suggesting she didn't have that at home.
She uses oil lamps. Muddy lanes instead of tiny pavements.
A school without a sign declaring it an educational institution because of the animosity of the Taliban. Being afraid of getting shot on the way to and from school.
But, she spends time in school drawing diagrams of blood circulation. Students grumbling about tests. Buildboards about hair transplants. Justin Bieber music and Twilight movies. Not wanting to get up and having to be prodded by her parents to get out of bed. Huh. Teenagers are the same all over the world.
In a lot of ways, life is very similar.
However, there is a lot that we in our modernized, First World, privileged culture do not, and perhaps will never, understand.
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