Early this week Malala Yousafzai was gunned down by Taliban soldiers simply because she stood up for her right to be educated. She was 14 years old.
Yesterday, Angelina Jolie recounted her family’s reaction to the story. Jolie’s children were confused and scared. Right now girls in Pakistan are standing together to show their support of Malala. They risk Malala’s fate. Jolie’s children asked why they would risk themselves in this way.
Jolie commented “We are all Malala. [We must all fight for the right of girls to be educated.]”
Are we?
Do we have Malala’s courage? I know I don’t. If I did I would fight harder than I do to make people in this country understand that we have an obligation to help.
As mothers we have a unique advantage in international relations. Motherhood is a bond that crosses all races, all religions.
I am not Malala but I could be Malala’s mama. I can relate to her. I cry for her at a depth that has no words. If I knew it would help, I would get in a plane and fly to her and hold her and let her cry. No mother should endure what Malala’s mother endures today.
I don’t have the whole answer to this problem but I’m crystal clear on something: education and economic freedom of women is necessary if this world is to find balance. As mothers, we must stand together and fight for our fellow mothers in other countries who should not lose their babies to terrorism.
Many people think I started Mom Gets A Life because moms need to care for themselves at a deeper level. That is true but that isn’t the end of my mission. My mission is to shift motherhood.
Right now any one of us could sit across the table from a mother in another country and put aside whatever differences we may have if it meant our children would grow and thrive. I know this at the very core of my being.
But the mothers in this country are too exhausted to fight someone else’s battle. Most of us can barely fight our own. And that is why I launched Mom Gets A Life. My hope is that if enough of us return to a sense of wholeness we might be able to summon enough energy to figure out how to stop this madness.
The solutions are simple. They may not be easy but they are simple. And I think we can figure this out – mom to mom.
But it all starts with caring for ourselves. No one can take on the challenges of another without first making herself whole.
Our children and the children of Pakistan and every other country deserve the solutions we have hidden just below the surface of our exhaustion, frustration and fear.
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