Alyce Litz: A Short Story

my name if farah ahmedi. and i have something to say. first, i am grateful for Alyce Litz, my mother, and so many others. i am also grateful to have this time. Although i do not have very much, i am going to share this time. I want to, because this is something, that has given me and so many others the urge. an urge to stand. and walk. and create. and protest. in truth, this time will stay. It will remain with us. unless we do something now. What would say to a young girl, of 4 or 5; who is in her school uniform. braids in hair. with a wholehearted desire. a desire for knowledge. but you have to say no. because she is what she is.

when i was young, i went to school, for a short time. I used to think, that the world was flat. and box-like.

i thought, there is nothing more. no potential. no room for adventure. that if i stepped out of the box, of my islamic faith, of my afghanistan-native customs; that i would suffocate. that there would be nothingness. And i would fall.

I would like going, but one day, i stepped on a parasite.

the definition of parasite, is something that hurts. for ever. this parasite, was a landmine. I had good medical attention. But once i returned home, I finally left. I wanted to leave. there were rockets, raining down in every place i looked. those rockets stole my family. we couldn't stay. so we fled. the last time i had a true education, was when i entered high school. between 2nd grade and 9th the education i had in my birth place, that wasn't any kind of education. i wanted more. and there was nothing there for me to want

more.

we have an idea of what we want to do. at least, we think of our organizations, and the disturbing tv promulgations. and we see what it is like, for those who can't. those who can not get what they crave. because they can't. so we think that we could help. or that others would give them their earnings, to help. yes, that is help. but not the right kind of help. not the help we needed

When the taliban entered my country, they forced many things upon us. they told us, that we had to cover ourselves. all of the skin we inherited. they told us we couldn't go outside. they told us, that if we had courage, to step out, even in the night, where the darkness harmonized to our despair, that we would be beaten. whipped, or boxed with a wooden paddle soaked in water. but, by now you must have forgotten who they told. they told us.

they told us. now, I am standing here in front of you. and you see me. I am a girl. So why do girls get pushed down so much? Why don't we ask the taliban. Or isis. I am sure that they could answer. why won't they let us learn? live? and be whom we shall become? and i nadhr, or vow, to Allah, that this power they have over me, over you, over us, is prodigious to ours if we work together. to work to let all of our children go to school. because while less than half of us can read, the boys in impecunious countries are drug off to war before their 5th birthday. so the same truth i aforementioned, about time; it is now. our time? is right now. because if we just stand by when our feature goes to ruin, we could be nurturing our Future. giving it the knowledge it needs to live. to continue to be our future. So why would you just sit back and let your future die? I am sure, i can swear, that there in not one person thinking about futureture. it can be, what you want for dinner. or what shoes you will have to clean tomorrow. mine. yours. our, future, lies in the hands, of today's kids.
So, if we get there, to the future, and we have one that cannot read, or write, or one who doesn't even know how to speak a true language, where would we be? you may not know, but i know that when we find ourselves there; we will not be happy. so we must act now.
there are many causes to this quandary.

some are impossible to fix. things like war.like poverty. or people's minds. but if we let people act on their mindset, like on sexism, or terrorism, then we will fall once more. this is an issue, not a task, it will haunt us for as long as we remain here. this will affect the children in africa, japan, and especially in your towns, your cities your countries. in your home. in my home. here. it will hurt us all by taking away job opportunities. like a social worker, or a teacher. if we allow half of us to fall, and become limited, then where will we be? eventually, all of us, girl and boy, will be uneducated. If you know one, who needs help, or can't read, or doesn't have pencils to write with, help. because if we all just help a little, we can make a big difference. if you know someone, who can’t get access to a school, you can definitely try your hardest to teach them. i am asking that if you know someone, who can not go to school, that you try to teach

them.
thank you