From this post I want to celebrate the Nobel Peace Prize 2014 It has been awarded to two people who defend the rights of children, and adolescents from Nonviolence.

For me it was a joy to know that they will receive Kailash Satyarthi, an Indian man defender of the rights of children, especially those working, y Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani teenager who has fought for the right to education of children and especially girls. From blog Spiral Consulting Children we have made a specific entry where we give more details of the aspects that interest us there: work by children from participation. I invite you to read the entrance, where we give them a lot of data and video you can see both.

Since this blog however I want to discuss how to address both Nonviolence. And how they do it from compassion, but also with great force. They speak not from weakness or from cowardice. And said Gandhi “Between violence and cowardice, I prefer violence”, and then showed he had an even more powerful way that both, Nonviolence. I see this in Kailash and Malala.

Kailash Satyarthi, whom I had the honor of meeting a few years ago at a conference on child rights, It has a close relationship, with interest for what we do other professionals. He considers himself heir to the line of Gandhi Nonviolence, and it has been coordinating multiple events both at home and globally, thanks to his skills of listening and inclusion of all parties involved. And that has not been dusted force to rescue children from exploitative workers, relying on the police forces of India and risking their physical integrity (He has repeatedly suffered injuries and loss of co-rescue).

Malala Yousafzai He became famous for starting a blog to defend the right to education, especially education of girls like her, in an area occupied by Pakistan Taliban. As a result of that the Taliban tried to kill, but fortunately he has survived and is still being formed, but in the UK. Malala continues to lecture, as she says, “education for all children, including of course the sons and daughters of the Taliban”. And he says in the video how at the time, when he was threatened with death, I thought about how to respond, and how he decided he did not want to take the line of attack because then it would become the same one who assaulted him.

So it has filled me with satisfaction the recognition of two people and two ways of being different (the man, woman she; The adult, her teen; the Indian, She Pakistani; The Hindu, she Muslim), which however they are based on a compassionate and strong look to both human realities, and lead to concrete commitments and results, Step by Step. In fact they have already expressed interest in working together, but they were not previously known.

I leave this post in celebration, and also as inspiration. Really from human beings we can find a path to a more authentic connection, and to take effective steps to solve very real and concrete problems.

I invite you to investigate a little more about Kailash and Malala, and that you enjoy with the mind that can bring us.

Xavier

Note: it is interesting that there is a line of work Focusing from the community in Afghanistan and Pakistan, in areas that have been hardest hit by the Taliban, to restore the social fabric and the connection through local Sufi traditions, with the extra dimension provided by the Focusing. I do not think Malala knows this job, but there is another inspiration more.