I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World

by Malala Yousafzai

My proud, fearless Pashtun father was shaken in a way I’d never seen. And I knew why. It was one thing for him to be a target of the Taliban. He had always said, “Let them kill me. I will die for what I believe in.” But he had never imagined the Taliban would turn their wrath on a child. On me. I looked at my father’s wretched face, and I knew that he would honor my wishes no matter what I decided. But there was no decision to make. This was my calling. Some powerful force had come to dwell inside me, something bigger and stronger than me, and it had made me fearless. Now it was up to me to give my father a dose of the courage he had always given me. “Aba,” I said. “You were the one who said if we believe in something greater than our lives, then our voices will only multiply, even if we are dead. We can’t stop now.”