Inspiration, Imagination and Influence
Inspiring stories come in all shapes and sizes. What is truly magical is that we as humans are consistently evolving and continually inspiring each other each and every day. We must take time out of our bustling lives to listen to these stories. It is through each other’s eyes that we are inspired and motivated to persevere and flourish.
The recent article titled, ‘Bingeing On Bad News Can Fuel Daily Stress’, by Jon Hamilton and syndicated from npr.com, discusses a survey conducted recently by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health.
“The survey of more than 2,500 Americans found that about 1 in 4 said they had experienced a "great deal" of stress in the previous month. And these stressed-out people said one of the biggest contributors to their day-to-day stress was watching, reading or listening to the news.”
We are immersing ourselves in these real-time chilling news events on a constant basis, allowing the social media saturation to play over and over in our heads like an annoying commercial jingle.
Why don’t we counter act this viral phenomenon by taking control and seeking out the good news, the inspiring stories that give us hope? These stories can be found all around you. Each week we provide them to you here, at ChrisKay.com.
We usually feature slightly more unknown and random stories, so we can help draw awareness to those that need to be heard.
But sometimes a story is so powerful and so inspirational it needs to be told over and over again.
Malala Yousafzai, her name now known worldwide, is incredibly inspiring. Her story is one of courage, strength and optimism. Thinking about the world that she and other children like her have been forced to grow up in, you wonder how they've endured. Hearing her story and witnessing her global impact spreads motivation and the realization that a child fearlessly impacting our future can give us all a renewed sense of hope.
Last Friday, Malala Yousafzai, a 17-year-old Pakistani youth activist was awarded the 2014 Novel Peace Prize. An honor she shares with Kailash Satyarthi, an Indian child rights campaigner, who leads the non-profit ‘Save the Childhood Movement.’
The two were awarded the prize for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education, according to The Norwegian Nobel Committee.
Malala has long been vocal about her fight for the right to education for girls. She was only 11 years old when her father first took her to deliver a now famous speech, “How Dare the Taliban Take Away my Right to an Education.”
Using a pseudonym, Gul Makai, Malala wrote an anonymous diary, blogged on BBC Urdu during 2009. She wrote about her experiences and life under the Taliban rule in the Northern Swat Valley.
Catching the attention of the Taliban, she was outspoken in criticizing the ban and restrictions on education for girls. It would just be the start to her fight and campaign for girl’s rights and education.
In 2012, the Taliban tracked her down and shot her on the bus, on her way home from school. Surviving the gruesome attack, she recovered, only to take her campaign and concerns to a whole new level, reaching out globally.
Her campaign raises money to promote girls’ education and is maintained by a fund set up in her name, ‘The Malala Fund.’ She has won numerous awards and continues to speak out around the world.
“Despite her youth, Malala Yousafzai has already fought several years for the right of girls to education, and has shown by example that children and young people, too, can contribute to improving their own situations,” a quote from the Nobel Committee, continues, “This she has done under the most dangerous circumstances. Through her heroic struggle she has become a leading spokesperson for girls’ rights to education.”
In an article written for the Wall Street Journal, Malala is quoted on her recent award, “I’m proud that I’m the first Pakistani and the first young woman, or the first young person, who is getting this award,” she said. “This is not the end, this is not the end of my campaign, this is the beginning.”
Appealing for peace between India and Pakistan, she was also quoted as saying she was happy to share the award with another campaigner for children’s rights.
Pointing out a deeper meaning within the message of the award, Kailash Satyarthi was quoted as saying, “It has to be read between the lines-not by the governments alone, but by the public in general, by every Indian citizen and every Pakistani citizen.”
A seventeen-year-old girl and a sixty-year-old man, from two opposing countries were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Inspiration comes in all shapes and sizes. A news story like this one, doesn’t add to our daily stress and constant uncertainty. It reinforces our conviction in humanity. It motivates us and inspires us to do the best and be the best that we can and that is what changes the future and the 'bad news' into 'good news.'
