Should girls in developing countries like Pakistan have equal opportunities in education? -Huy S. Park

I believe that everyone in this world deserves to have equal opportunities in education, and gender shouldn’t be the reason to stop either boys or girls from having education and the rights to speak for themselves.

Malala Yousafzai, is a 14-year-old Pakistani girl who shares the same belief as I do. Unfortunately for Malala, living in a country majorly threatening by the Taliban, a Muslim militia group also considered as a terrorist organization that reluctantly approve the idea of girls receiving equal education. Malala and other fellow girls like her haven’t had a chance to receive proper education as they’re supposed to, and their lives are also threatened by the Taliban, who threaten to kill them if they ever want to go to school.

Recently, Malala’s movement on Pakistani girls get an education has alerted the Taliban and which they decided to shoot Malala in hoping to set an example and put an end to her campaign with whatever rights she stands for. However, Malala’s survived the incident and her condition yet remains unconscious. One of her relatives, Fazal announced that after recovery, Malala would continue to attend school regardless. Moreover, Malala’s recent email to the Times saying, “I want an access to the world of knowledge” (Nicholas D. Kristof, Her ‘Crime’ Was Loving Schools, October 10, 2012).  

Clearly, this is possibly one of the reasons why the Taliban fear the supremacy of girls’ education. Malala has shown her unstoppable will and courage on fighting what she, I and other supporters who share the same belief of equal education opportunities. “The greatest risk for violent extremists in Pakistan isn’t American drones. It’s educated girls.” Therefore, I hope you readers share the same belief as I do, and together to support Malala’s act so Malala and other Pakistani girls will receive the equal education that they’ve hoped for.

Websites you can go on to support Malala's case:

* www.dil.org

* www.tcfusa.org

Finding Forrester - Park

If I had name a movie from all the movies I've ever watched since my childhood that could delivery such valuable excitement, thrills and morals in life it'd definitely have to be "Finding Forrester", written by Mike Rich and directed by Gus Van Sant.

 It came to my surprise that "Finding Forrester" did not win an Oscar or any prizes at all. Perhaps, because it didn't have any substantial VFX (VFX also means Visual Effects, an essential tool that nearly every Hollywood's movie has) but I thought such advanced movie technologies weren't needed for such emotions-rich movie like "Finding Forrester". This movie is all about hustling through life's struggles, becoming stronger in order to follow, and succeed your dream. Of course, those elements and scenarios only happen together in movies because I don't think any human being would be able to handle such changes, or lucky enough to even come across such changes that happened to Jamal. Although, I have witnessed  people, mostly my friends, who overcame their weaknesses and continued to follow their dreams, regardless of the hard circumstances they were facing.

One of my favorite scenes from the movie "Finding Forrester" is the scene where Forrester appeared in Jamal's new school and read Jamal's story in front of the students, teachers and the Professor Crawford specifically. Since Jamal's writing talents were recognized through his writing test results, Professor Crawford had always doubted those were really Jamal's. Failed to write a story in Professor Crawford’s office, it led Professor Crawford to decide to expel Jamal from the school since he did not have any talents in writing which everyone thought he did. The scene was like a hit-in-the-face to Professor Crawford for his mockery and jealousy.

I believe there is more than one theme that can be found in "Finding Forrester". But out all of the themes that can be found in the movie, I believe 'Following your dream or passion in life' is the most revealing and solid theme in the movie, coming from Jamal's overcoming his struggles to be able to continue pursuing his dream as a writer. Jamal was rather, a special person because not only Jamal was at top in his basketball team, he was also an extraordinary writer. His passions for those two talents were so strong and magnificent that nobody could ever stray him away from them, not even his Mom or Professor Crawford. I believe nobody could have ever stopped Jamal from becoming a writer or a basketball player or both, but there was this moment at the end of the movie that kind of pushed Jamal in to the writing career and that was the death of his teacher, his talent-developer, his best friend, William Forrester.

I love this movie, and I’d want to recommend “Finding Forrester” to everyone I know. I think it’s one of the most beautiful, and meaningful movie at its genre, and the only movie that has ever successfully made me snuff. I’m sure not just me, but whoever has ever watched this movie will never forget the beautiful, evocative and unforgettable friendship of Jamal and William.

Creativity - Park

Frank Walker believes creativity prevails in everything you do; he chose his mom’s works as examples of how a challenge can be solved with different solutions. Creativity is simply one of the most essential keys to achieve your goals. He also believes being creative allows you to see things in different ways as it creates different visions and approaches, meaning there is always another solution to your problem if you are creative. I absolutely agree with Frank Walker because I've been a guitarist for several years and given the title as a musician, creativity is probably one of the most vital key strategies that differentiate my music to other musicians. Honestly speaking, all scales and chords are revealed and they have been used by millions of artists since the era of music ever started. But with creativity set in mind, a simple C chord can be played in so many different ways and  each way creates different feelings and fusions into it.

"I believe that happy children are those given the freedom to be expressive, to discover, to create their own “refrigerator door” masterpieces." This is one of my favorite quotes from his speech because it reflects my early childhood as well as my career as a musician. Nothing can compare to the freedom you have to do things the way you want to. Since I ever started playing guitar, I had been to many music schools and I thought they all made the same mistake of teaching music to children. Students had to learn and follow the teacher in their techniques, compositions and most importantly styles. Music is all about expressing yourself in the most creative ways and if you were to follow someone's styles of playing, the music you write will eventually be a part of somebody’s creativity not yours. Not just music but education in general, it tends to make us become less creative and lessens our visions of seeing things as we only seek for an approach to finding solutions rather than multiple approaches. 

Being creative does not only allow you to seek numerous solutions to your challenges spontaneously, it also impacts the dynamics of your approach to difficulties and improves quality of your decision-making.