To What Do We Aspire?

Malala Yousafzai is a young teenager from Pakistan.  She is sixteen.  Last October she was shot in the head by the Pakistani Taliban, for her stand promoting education for girls in Pakistan.

That's a pretty brave stance for someone so young and from a female teenager in a male-dominated culture. Clearly the Taliban felt threatened by her writing and speaking out in support of education for all children and youth in Pakistan. 

There is an American family named Kardashian whose family members, mostly all female, show up on television and online and portray themselves as "important".  For what reasons, I have yet to comprehend.  I have yet to comprehend most reality shows, and I have only watched one "Keeping Up with..." episode.  (Strike that: less than one episode.)  

Sometime last year there was news (BREAKING NEWS!!) that the mother of the Kardashian daughters wanted to take her two youngest daughters out of school (high school, I am guessing?  I should keep more abreast of the Kardashian news) in order to allow them to further their modelling careers.  Ok, ok, this is only drivel hearsay from whatever rags I happened to be reading last year.

So, we have a young Pakistani teenager, Malala, getting shot in the head for her strong voice in support of girls' and women's education.

And, we have a caricature on television about what we Americans deem important to our well-being.

So I pose this question to every parent:

Where do you want to steer your kids for their future?

And to every teenager, male and female:

To what do you aspire, and hope to be? 

I'm thinking, optimistically, that it is a no-brainer.

Any thoughts on this?