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Malala Yousafzai and the meekness and might of innocence
This article originally appeared on csmonitor.com.
If ever we’re tempted to compare childlike innocence with weakness, consider Malala Yousafzai. The teenage Pakistani insisted on the simple concept of a girl’s right to gain an education. The meekness with which she spoke was not timidity or fear, but the innocence of conviction and justice.
When opponents radically opposed to women’s rights tried to stop the message by attacking the messenger, their action accomplished just the opposite. Violence against an unarmed child focused worldwide attention on the very issue it was intended to suppress. It triggered a wave of support, prayer, and compassion. It swelled a rising tide of rebellion against oppression. Malala’s triumph is not the first time that innocence has the last word.
Sometimes I wonder what might have been going through the minds of those who were watching a shepherd boy centuries ago as he was confronted by a hostile warrior. Hearts must have been moved by the innocence of David as he stood before Goliath. But perhaps even more important was the courage with which he faced enmity. David was innocent, but not naive. He was well aware that Goliath was heavily armed with weapons of war and that he knew how to use them. He even acknowledged that Goliath was coming to the battle with a sword and a spear and a shield. But what came next made all the difference. David announced that he was coming to the battle, not with weapons of warfare but in the name of God. With the meekness and might of such innocence, the simple shepherd boy won the battle, not only for himself but for all his people.
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