Next week is Malala Day. Every year on the day of Malala’s birthday the world celebrates Malala day. It started when, having  been shot by the Taliban  and brought back to the world of the living through the efforts  of many doctors, she was asked to deliver a speech at the United Nations assembly on the day of her birthday. That was the first  Malala day. Now as my class is preparing for this year’s one, I decided to watch that speech at the UN, hoping to get a better idea of who she is, her cause and the things she’s fighting for. Fortunately, as I expected the speech is available online. What I didn’t expect was to be in awe of this girl. First of all, I hadn’t thought about the audience she had – it must have been intimidating to be a 16‑year‑old and speak to the most powerful and most influential people in this world. To know the whole world is listening. What do you say in a situation like that? In a  world where so many put themselves above others , she respectfully acknowledged the elders and expressed gratitude to those who helped her recover and prayed for her wellbeing. She chose to be humble, calling herself “one girl among many” and stressing that Malala day was not her day, but a day to think of those whose voices aren’t heard. Yet by no means was this a shy or terrorized girl. Both her voice and her message were loud and clear – as a result of the attempt at her life “weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, power and courage was born”. It only strengthened her resolve to fight for the rights of those who are suffering  inequality, now that she has the eyes of the world on her and the ears of the movers and shakers. In a  world where vengeance is often an excuse to attack, she spoke of forgiveness and brought up such authority figures as Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela or Mother Theresa, spreading the message of compassion and non‑violence. She appealed to the world leaders to reevaluate their priorities, so that peace, tolerance, equality and education would be everyone’s goal. I can’t help but compare that to Greta Thunberg’s speech at  the UN assembly I watched the other day. Both had the same goal – to influence the attitudes of those in power to have them take into account global issues and realize their significance for the future of our planet and human race. Yet where Malala was respectful and honored to be there, Greta was downright rude and arrogant, throwing around insults and accusations. It makes you wonder who was more successful in getting through to their audience. Greta’s speech was widely commented and it was often claimed that the global ecological crisis is so pressing that it’s necessary to be so forceful. Desperate times call for desperate measures, kind of thing. The way I see it though, if you’re going to hurl insults at people they’re hardly going to feel compelled to do what you’re asking or even agree with you. I must say Malala was much more convincing, especially since, with her vision, she’s following in the footsteps of the most charismatic leaders of the twentieth century who proved that you can, in fact, bring about change in a peaceful way. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for her. She’ll definitely accomplish great things.