Millennials are already winning the Nobel prize
The world has seen 95 winners of the Nobel Prize for Peace. It does not matter who finally wins it, but it instantly divides the world into two camps. Those who support the winner always say that for a change the prize has been given to the most deserving. Then there is another half of the world that disagrees with the choice and says that the Nobel committee has chosen to politicize the issue by not rewarding a more deserving candidate. This year is no different.Kailash Satyarthi from India and Malala Yousafzai from Pakistan have won the Nobel for Peace jointly. The irony of the moment is not lost. At a time when the two nations are locked in border skirmishes, the peace prize is shared by the two countries.
Kailash Satyarthi at 61 is an activist who campaigns for child rights and wants to put an end to human trafficking. Malala is 17 and is the 16th woman to have won this prize. The average age of the laureates has been 62. And now Malala has gone and ruined the average. She certainly is the youngest one to have won this.This is really what Millennials are all about. They are impatient. They will not wait even when it comes to winning a Nobel Prize. I am trying to imagine the scene. This is how it must have happened.
She was in a Chemistry class when it happened. The class was interrupted. The teacher was in the middle of the lesson when there was a polite knock on the door. The teacher wonders what is so urgent that it warrants a break in the class. The principal is all smiles and mentions something to the Chemistry teacher. They ask Malala to step out for a moment. What did they really say?
“Excuse me for interrupting the lesson Malala. We were just informed that you won the Nobel Prize.”
Malala looks thrilled, “Does it mean that I don’t have to do homework today?”
Teacher, “You have already missed many classes when you went to address the UN General Assembly during your 16th birthday. You have to do homework. Rules are rules – even if you are a Nobel Prize winner.”
I wonder if her classmates took selfies with her and posted it on Facebook and added, “This is my best friend evurrrr. She even won the Nobel Prize.”
Kailash Satyarthi on the other hand is understated and unknown until now. He has rescued more than eighty-three thousand children from slavery in its modern form. His NGO is called Bachpan Bachao Andolan (Movement to Save Childhood). It is not about saving a child or even many children. It is about ringfencing childhood and letting it remain unshackled. He said, “India has hundreds of problems and millions of solutions.” His foundation Rugmark labels carpets that have not been made by using child labor.The Nobel Prize is not so much about the past. It is about the future. It means that the issue that you believe in, now also matters to the world.With this announcement the committee tells us that it is never too early or late to dream of making a dent in the universe. Satyarthi and Malala have proved it.
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Read about my Night at the Nobel Museum <click here>
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