Courge | Teen Ink

Courge

March 13, 2014
By Jonah Niklaus BRONZE, Williamsport, Pennsylvania
Jonah Niklaus BRONZE, Williamsport, Pennsylvania
3 articles 0 photos 0 comments

"The Courage to go to school.” This is truly an amazing article. It explains the hardships and struggles of two young teenage girls who stand up for what they believe in. Their names are Elizabeth Eckford and Shamsia Husseini. In many ways these two astonishing girls are alike. They share the same envisions and dreams. They are both altruistic and persistent heros. They have a dream, and that dream is to one day be free of prejudice and hatred. They believe one day that they could have the right to go to school and receive an education.

In september, 1957, Elizabeth Eckford battled segregation. Segregation means to be separated by race, beliefs, ideas, religion etc. She was separated by race as a young women. Her vision was that whites and blacks could integrate and be combined with white people. She fought to be one of the first black students allowed an education. She was one of the little rock nine. Many times throughout her early life, she proved herself altruistic. She risked her life everyday by just walking out her front door. She fought for a greater cause and wasn't afraid to fight for what she believed in. She faced many horrific conflicts in her everyday life. Things like threats, fights, cruelty, bullying, getting beat up, and even death threats by parents and other kids at her school for just standing up for what was right.

What made Elizabeth persistent is her amazing power to battle our nation's problem and continue the fight for freedom. She did things that many people today would never even think of doing. She never quit the fight. Even after what the rest of America said, she still was on the road to freedom. After all she had been through, she came back for more. After all the threats, insults, bullying, physical/mental pain, she came back for more. She knew America needed to change, and she knew it started with her. She could never stop the fight for freedom.
Shamsia Husseini has a very similar, but more devastating story. Kandahar Afghanistan 2008, 17 year old Shamsia was walking to school when two men drove up beside her and violently sprayed her face with acid. As you may predict, in Afghanistan , women are not treated equally as compared to men. The men who attacked her where part of the Taliban. Though she was violently hurt, she fought for her rights and freedom for education.

What makes Shamsia altruistic is the brave decisions she makes. Day after day, she came back to school to risk her life for the rights of other women. She was never afraid of what might happen, she was afraid of what wouldn't happen if she didn't stand up for her rights. What made Shamsia persistent is that she never stopped and changed her thoughts about the rights of women education. Since her terrible incident, she has gained and created many followers all around the world. She has created hope for freedom in her country, and has been an inspiration for many others to follow.

In both of these girl’s lives, altruism and persistence have had a huge affect. They describe them completely, These characteristics have changed their lives and helped them achieved their goals. Though at moments, they may have wanted to give up the fight, they never did. They came back for more. They risked their own lives for a greater cause. They not only fought for their freedom, but the freedom of everyone. These two women are similar in so many ways, and their main achievement was that they changed the world forever.


The author's comments:
These two historic people Shamsia and Elizabeth changed our world forever. They gave freedom rights hope.

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