The Nobel Peace Prize and Recovering Our Faith in Humanity

_78132877_78132876There are mornings when the world seems to recover its sanity, its moral bearings, and a sense of proprtion and persepctive about what really matters.

The announcement that Malala Yousafzai and Khailish Satyarthi are jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize makes this such a morning.

Malala has been at the forefront of the rights of children, and particularly gorlds and young women to be educated and enabled and empowered towards freedom. Khailish founded the movement Save the Childhood and has campaigned against the exploitation of children through slavery and trafficking. These are two remarkable people, whose humanity and commitment to peace and justice are inspirational in a culture where that word requires to be reclaimed on behalf of those who do extraordinary things. These two ordinary people are being honoured for their extraordinary achievements. They, and those like them, are the unanswerable riposte to the brutality and inhumanity of those whose pursuit of power, – economic, religious or military, is merely capable of degrading and diminishing their own humanity.

"The committee said it was important that a Muslim and a Hindu, a Pakistani and an Indian, had joined in what it called a common struggle for education and against extremism."

The world seems a brighter place today.

Comments

6 responses to “The Nobel Peace Prize and Recovering Our Faith in Humanity”

  1. Julie Aylward avatar
    Julie Aylward

    but then I see UKIP is on the rise and I may have a UKIP MP by the end of November and I begin to fear.

  2. Julie Aylward avatar
    Julie Aylward

    but then I see UKIP is on the rise and I may have a UKIP MP by the end of November and I begin to fear.

  3. Julie Aylward avatar
    Julie Aylward

    but then I see UKIP is on the rise and I may have a UKIP MP by the end of November and I begin to fear.

  4. Jim Gordon avatar

    Hello Julie – I agree the rise of UKIP is a worry and indeed a moral embarrassment. Worth considering the following: Malala is herself living evidence of how UKIP can be contradicted by the evidence of cultural and moral enrichment and human transformation when there is courage to stand against prejudice in pursuit of power; further, I rejoice in the good which the Nobel Prize honours and publicises, and that positive gratitude is a source of energy to take on UKIP and its smug, selfish, bigoted vision of our world; And as a third response to the election of a UKIP MP on the very morning the Nobel Prize winners are announced, a personal determination to live, speak and pray to the contrary of UKIP policies, and I hope I have half the courage of Malala and Khailish. Thanks for your comment Julie, and the concern you;ve expressed.

  5. Jim Gordon avatar

    Hello Julie – I agree the rise of UKIP is a worry and indeed a moral embarrassment. Worth considering the following: Malala is herself living evidence of how UKIP can be contradicted by the evidence of cultural and moral enrichment and human transformation when there is courage to stand against prejudice in pursuit of power; further, I rejoice in the good which the Nobel Prize honours and publicises, and that positive gratitude is a source of energy to take on UKIP and its smug, selfish, bigoted vision of our world; And as a third response to the election of a UKIP MP on the very morning the Nobel Prize winners are announced, a personal determination to live, speak and pray to the contrary of UKIP policies, and I hope I have half the courage of Malala and Khailish. Thanks for your comment Julie, and the concern you;ve expressed.

  6. Jim Gordon avatar

    Hello Julie – I agree the rise of UKIP is a worry and indeed a moral embarrassment. Worth considering the following: Malala is herself living evidence of how UKIP can be contradicted by the evidence of cultural and moral enrichment and human transformation when there is courage to stand against prejudice in pursuit of power; further, I rejoice in the good which the Nobel Prize honours and publicises, and that positive gratitude is a source of energy to take on UKIP and its smug, selfish, bigoted vision of our world; And as a third response to the election of a UKIP MP on the very morning the Nobel Prize winners are announced, a personal determination to live, speak and pray to the contrary of UKIP policies, and I hope I have half the courage of Malala and Khailish. Thanks for your comment Julie, and the concern you;ve expressed.

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