Malala Yousafzai

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/11/opinion/malala-yousafzais-courage.html?_r=0

A fourteen year old Pakistani girl was singled out by Taliban and shot at point blank. Reason: she advocated education for girls and women. The bullet has been removed from her body. While prognosis is good, she is not out of the woods yet. She is reportedly doing well in London hospital. That is a great news. I am rooting for her complete recovery.

What I am afraid of is all the media as well as the public attention she is getting; without her being aware of it. She is a fourteen year old girl who launched her idealist view of educating girls and women. I, myself, am all for it. As we know, all teenagers are idealists. So is she; and she has not had a chance to formulate her life's real objective. She does not have realistic world-view yet, which is as it will be and should be.

My concerns are: when she recovers and recovers fully, she will have an onerous obligation  pushed on her willy-nilly by public and media. An obligation that she has to carry on and push for her cause when she wakes up.

What if she is afraid and does not want to pursue it? What if she wants to pursue a different cause? What if she just wants to live a normal family life? What if someone is really successful in killing her?

Unbeknownst to her, a great obligation and therefore a greatness is being thrust upon her and I for one object it.