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Posts Tagged ‘Malala Yousufzai’

liebster-blog-award

Accept the award, post the picture of the Liebster Award on the top of your post and say who nominated you for the award and list their blog site. (Check)
2. List 11 random facts about yourself.
3. Nominate 11 other bloggers for the Liebster Award and list their blog sites.
4. Notify the bloggers of their award.
5. Ask the award winners 11 questions to answer when they accept their Liebster Award.
6. Answer the questions left for you by the blogger who gave you the award.

I like to Thank Atirah Jewel at Lil Red Writing Hood, atirahjewel.wordpress.com  for this award. I have followed her work since I started with my blog. I enjoy the diversity of her writing and the emotions she expresses.  She is creative and inspiring.  I feel very honored to receive this award.

11 facts
1. I no longer know, “what is fact about me”: My life has been an evolving project. I accept the process as it is.
2. I am a very spiritual being.
3. My life is very blessed
4. I love my small court yard garden and old historic house (165 years old)
5. The sunrise is my favorite time of day. It is inspiring and invigorating.
6. After many decades I have finally opened my heart and mind to the joy of living each day.
7. I chose each day to allow my spirit to lead and my ego to surrender to the greater good of the situation.
8. My mother turned 87 last week and I adore her as much if not more than I did as a child.
9. I have put into consciousness my desire to adopt my next dog sometime this coming fall.
10. It has been an honor to read the works and thoughts of so many wonderful writers and poets. I am continuously learning and growing through this incredible experience.
11. My heart is filled with gratitude for all who read my poems and visit my blog. This wonderful community has taken me around the world to meet and love people who I would never have met if it was not for blogging. Thank you for expanding my heart and world.

11 questions
1. Why do you write? I write to express and to learn about the depth of my soul.

2. Where is the one place you wish you could live? I am happy where I am. What is most important is being with those I love and who love me.

3. If you had the opportunity to go back in time to do whatever you wish, would you take it?   No

4. What’s your writing process like? Good question. I get up at 0400 and write after my morning mediation.

5. Among your work, do you have favorite poem? If so which one and why? Yes, my favorite poem is Under the Willow, it is a poem I wrote after mediation one morning and I posted it last year the day after Mother’s day to honor all Mothers who weep for a lost child.  I like to write about the transition at death.  I think because I have been at the death of many people (as a nurse) and treasure the spiritual transition and recognize my role in comforting the human emotions left behind. 

6. What made you start writing? I first started writing as a teenager it was my creative outlet.

7. What is your favorite topic to write about? Nature and anything spiritual.

8. Who is your favorite poet or author? As a teenager I loved Edgar Allen Poe and as a woman I fell in love with Kahlil Gibran a poet my mother shared her love of poetry with me. Over the last few years I have been intrigued by Rumi and explore old book stores to find vintage poets and new contemporary poets.  Sometimes I just search amazon to find someone new. 

9. What inspires you to write? The beauty of nature and meditation

10. Is there someone famous that you admire? If so, who?  Malala Yousafzai, she has inspired me to be strong and focused. She is an incredibly mature and Divine Spirit that is a continuous manifestation of God’s goodness.  On October 25th, 2012 I posted a poem that I wrote in her honor.  I pray everyday for her to create the wonderful change that God leads her to make.  Please check back in my archives to read the poem.

11. Which time period do you like the most?  Early morning

And finally, answer time: 05/12/2013 3:42pm

While receiving this award is an honor it is also a reminder I need to open myself up to other poets and writers on wordpress.  The work out there is impressive and I have been missing a lot.  Each week my goal is to follow one – two new poet/writer/photographer/blogger.   This will help me grow within the wordpress community.  In many ways I have been a closet blogger/poet as I post and run… I often hit the like button but rush off without commenting.  I read other’s post on my smart phone while stuck in traffic or waiting for the high school tennis match to end.  So the like button is a wonderful relief.

I would like to share this award with the following poets and writers.  Each has helped me think outside my box, they push me out of my comfort zone and challenges me to write and live my truth.   What a great gift to be given by other…most I will never met in my life.  So thank you and many blessings to all.

http://tornadoday.wordpress.com  Bobbie is a very inspiring poet.  I am most impressed by the easy of the flow of words as she creates a picture and tugs at my emotions.  I love the way her words are light in nature yet intensely deep in meaning.  I aspire to write and wrap such images in my own work.

http://jamesfielden.com – So many times I read or listen to James post I know it is the words I needed to hear.  The spiritual meaning, the guidance and the thoughts are as if he took them right from my thoughts and prayers.  James has been a constant beckon of light during my journey.

http://poetscornerblog.wordpress – This poetry corner is very diverse with many great poets.  Harry has done a wonderful job of creating a great site for poets to post their work.  Many I may never had a chance to read if they were not posted here.  I have many favorites on this site.

http://myprettypics.wordpress.com – Dawn has a great site that captures an area I love.  Her photos of Philadelphia PA, my home town, capture my attention every time.    I love revisiting the old dilapidated churches and the wonderful historic homes.

http://dcardiff.wordpress.com – Dennis is somewhat new to the blogging world  he has a much different blog than the ones I normally follow.  Dennis is building a platform for the homeless.  When I was in my 30s as a nurse practitioner I worked with children that were homeless, or in very difficult social situations, crack cocaine addicted, teen mom’s, sexually and physically abused.  Now in my 50’s many years past, I have allowed myself to not see what Dennis sees.  So I thank Dennis for reminding me of my blessings and that I can still send my love and support without directly being involved.

There are many other bloggers that inspire me who have already received this award so I will mention them here as inspiring and encouraging and have been very influential in my continuing with my blog.

http://soumyav.wordress.com

http://meirozavian.wordpress.com

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Malala

Malala, teen champion of girls’ rights, nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

By Kari Huus, Staff writer, NBC News
NHS via EPA

Malala Yousufzai of Pakistan leaving Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, Britain, on Jan. 4 after she was discharged. She will have to undergo specialist cranial surgery at a later date.

Malala Yousufzai, the Pakistani girl who rose to international fame after the Taliban nearly killed her for her efforts to promote girls’ education, has been formally nominated for the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize.

Her name was put forward by three members of the Norwegian parliament from the ruling Labor Party on their website Friday, which was the deadline for nominations.

Malala’s name was put forward because of “her courageous commitment to the right of girls to education. A commitment that seemed so threatening to the extremists that they chose to try and kill her,” said parliamentarian Freddy de Ruiter on the Labor party web site.

De Ruiter made the nomination with fellow members of parliament Gorm Kjernli and Magne Rommetveit.


Malala was attacked in October with two other girls while traveling home from school in Pakistan’s Swat valley.  The gunman boarded the van and asked for her by name before firing three shots at her — singling her out for writing a blog that criticized the Taliban for barring girls for getting an education.

A week later, Malala was flown to a hospital in the UK for treatment. She is now facing a final major surgery to place a titanium plate over the hole left in her skull. While in the hospital she has received thousands of messages from well-wishers around the world, and continued to speak out on behalf of her cause, becoming a global icon.
The Norwegian MPs said they believed that Malala was “a worthy winner for many reasons. She has become an important symbol in the fight against destructive forces that want to prevent democracy, equality and human rights.”

She was also reportedly nominated by members of parliament in France, Spain and Canada. NBC News has not confirmed that information.

To be sure, it is very early in the Nobel process, which culminates with a winner in October.

The Stockholm-based Nobel Foundation, which has been awarding Nobel awards for physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace since 1901, said 231 names were submitted for the Peace Prize last year, including 41 organizations.

Nominations can be made only by a select group of people worldwide, including national lawmakers, university presidents and previous Nobel winners.

The foundation does not disclose the names of nominees until 50 years later. However, those who name the candidates sometimes disclose them, as in Malala’s case.

Among other reported nominees for the 2013 prize are Belarusian human rights activist Ales Belyatski, who is in jail, and Russian Lyudmila Alexeyeva.

The list of prior Nobel Peace Prize recipients is populated with presidents and large organizations — including UNICEF, Doctors without Borders, and the European Union in 2012 — and storied individuals, such as the Dalai Lama, Mother Theresa and Nelson Mandela.

If Malala were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, she would be the youngest by far and one of just 15 female recipients.

The average age of the 100 individuals is 62, according to the Nobel foundation. The youngest Nobel Peace Prize laureate so far is Yemeni journalist Tawakkol Karman, who was 32 when he was awarded the honor in 2011.

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Leonard Pitts Jr.

The Miami Herald

Leonard Pitts Jr.      The Miami Herald
Updated: 2012-11-16T12:00:00Z

<br /><br />
Leonard Pitts Jr. is a columnist for the Miami Herald.
Al Diaz
Leonard Pitts Jr. is a columnist for the Miami Herald.

        “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.” – Isaiah 55:8

I am not here to tell you God’s will.

The temptation to do so is powerful, in light of the news out of a hospital in the United Kingdom: Malala has received a miracle.

You remember Malala Yousafzai, of course. She is the Pakistani girl from the conservative Swat Valley region of that country who came to international attention as a blogger and activist for the right of girls and women to be educated. This basic human freedom is a matter of great controversy among Islamic extremists, particularly the Taliban, which used to stage house-to-house raids in Malala’s town, searching for girls in possession of books.

Last month, Taliban goons with guns attacked a van carrying Malala and her classmates home from school. Two other girls were hit, through their wounds were not life threatening. Malala’s were. The bullets took her in the neck and the head.

A little over a month later, we learn from CNN that Malala is walking, reading, writing, smiling and is believed to have suffered no significant neurological damage in the attack.

Against all odds, all reason, all sensible expectation for a teenage girl shot in the head and neck, it looks like she is going to be fine.     But I’m not here to tell you God’s will.Granted, Malala’s miracle seems to deserve that – to cry out for it, in fact.But putative people of faith are often too glib, facile and mean in claiming to have divined the divine. Just as often, their interpretations say less about God than about them, the things they hate and fear, the narrowness of their vision, the niggardliness of their souls.

The Rev. John Hagee, for example, said it was the will of God to drown New Orleans in Hurricane Katrina as punishment for the city’s willingness to countenance a gay festival. He did not explain why the Good Lord swamped the rest of the city but left the sin-soaked French Quarter, site of the aforesaid festival, relatively unscathed.

Republican senatorial candidate Richard Mourdock, on the other hand, said it was God’s will if a woman is raped and then finds herself pregnant with the rapist’s child. He did not explain why God would choose to inflict such physical and emotional violence upon a presumably unoffending woman.

And then, there is the Taliban itself, which said it was God’s will, required by the Quran, for this teenage girl to die. If she survived, said a spokesman after the assault, they would try again to kill her.

Since then, a number of things have happened. Malala’s school has been renamed in her honor. The United Nations instituted a worldwide day, also in her honor, and has launched a campaign for girls’ education. It is called “I Am Malala.” Pakistanis, perhaps previously cowed by the terrorist bullying of religious fanatics, have risen in mass protest, finding courage in numbers. Malala has been asking for her school books so that she can study. On a message board of CNN.com, a reader suggests she ought to get the Nobel Peace Prize, and the idea does not seem at all far-fetched.

Oh, yes, and there is a million dollar bounty on the head of the Taliban spokesman.     Take it all as a stark reminder that too often, people who speak glibly of the will of God really describe no will higher than their own. They presume to interpret God like tarot cards or the stock market, forgetting that God is sovereign and does not need their help. He is a big God. He can speak for Himself.So I will yield not to temptation. Unlike the Taliban, I will not presume to tell you what God’s will was. But in light of Malala’s miracle, it seems pretty clear what God’s will was not.

http://www.kansascity.com/2012/11/16/3920037/commentary-malalas-miracle-and.html

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A girl so young, innocent and sweet,

With a voice that rebounds through the streets.

Her song for girls and women across her land,

Give dreams of freedom

To those that wish they can.

Through Spirits eyes she reads a book,

Through divine mind she learns to write,

Through the voice of God she valiantly chants,

For the rights of women within her land.

•*¨*•¸¸¸.•*¨*•☆

One young girl with THE POWER within,

Can topple the reign of hate.

The voice of the Lord’s messenger

Valiantly creates.

It is from divinity expressed

In perfect natural form,

That freedom is born!

Inspired love from around the world

Embraces Malala tight,

Raising her soul

Within the Lords luminous light.

•*¨*•¸¸¸.•*¨*•☆

A girl so young and innocent

With a voice that resonates around the world.

It is her voice of truth and love,

That has great power the evil dream of.

It is her voice we hear in our heart,

It is her voice that will never be quelled,

For the Lord has spoken the truth to all.

And within her heart

The Lord’s words do swell.

The Lord’s message will forever be sung

Lovingly around the world.

It is within the voice of this enchanted girl.

A girl so young, innocent and sweet

With a voice that rebounds through the streets.

Her song for girls and women across her land,

Give freedom to those that wish they can.

•*¨*•¸¸¸.•*¨*•☆

Her soul so innocent and pure

A gift from the Lord.

Her life a threat to evil

Is a strength they deplore.

There is no Lord,

Supporting their war.

It is a war within their mind,

It is a war that supports their hate.

To give them power over those that fear.

To eliminate the love and goodness

Of the people they disintegrate.

The Lords message will forever be sung

Lovingly around the world.

It is within the voice of this enchanted girl.

Around the world and through the heart of all

The power of love and healing given by THE ALL

Raises Malala from this tragic day,

So her voice will speak the words of God once more.

No evil can take away

What God has given as destiny.

•*¨*•¸¸¸.•*¨*•☆

A girl so young, innocent and sweet

With a voice that rebounds through the streets.

Her song for girls and women across her land

Give freedom to those that wish they can.

It’s time for all around the world

To stand and raise our arms.

With our eyes on God,

And heart open wide,

Let the Spirit move hate aside.

It is our thoughts and deeds

That raise the love

And brings evil crumbling to its knees…

It is our choice to free those we love

It is our choice to take back our land.

Hand in hand, heart in heart,

Call upon the Lord

To clear the way

For Love to manifest

Perfectly today.

•*¨*•¸¸¸.•*¨*•☆

A girl so young, innocent and sweet

With a voice that rebounds through the streets.

Her song for girls and women across her land

Give freedom to those that wish they can.

Through Spirits eyes she reads a book,

Through divine mind she learns to write,

Through the voice of God she valiantly chants,

For the rights of women within her land.

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