Mirrorpix / Splash NewsTalk about an inspiring photo op.
At last week's Pride of Britain Awards in London, David Beckham presented the Teenager of Courage Award to Malala Yousafzai, the 16-year-old Pakistani girl who was shot in the head by the Taliban last year after campaigning for women's education in the region against Taliban rule.
In an inspiring photo from the event, Yousafzai poses with the soccer stud, who hands her the award honoring her for her bravery and heroism. And boy, does she sure deserve it.
In October 2012, Yousafzai, a widely known education activist in her region of Pakistan, was shot in the head and neck in an assassination attempt by Taliban gunmen while returning home from school.
Following the attempt and Yousafzai's recovery, she's become a worldwide icon for her courage and activism. She won Pakistan's first National Youth Peace Prize and was also nominated for the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize (the youngest person ever to be nominated for the honor).
Last night, Yousafzai stopped by Jon Stewart's talk show and spoke of her experiences and her passion for women's' rights. "We are human beings and this is part of our human nature, that we don't learn the importance of anything until it's snatched from our hands," she said. "And when, in Pakistan, when we were stopped from going to school, at that time, I realized that education is very important and education is the power for women. And that's why the terrorists are afraid of education, they do not want women to get education because then women would become more powerful."
One of the most moving moments of the interview was when Yousafzai shared her thoughts about what she'd do if she ever encountered Taliban gunman when she discovered they had put a hit out on her last year at the age of 14.
"I started thinking about that the Talib would come and he would just kill me," she said. "But then I thought, ‘If he comes, what would you do Malala? Then I would reply to myself, ‘Malala, just take a shoe and hit him."
"But then I said, ‘If you hit a Talib with a shoe, then there would be no difference between you and the Talib," she continued. "You must not treat others with cruelty and that harshly, you must fight others through peace and through dialogue and education. Then I said, ‘I'll tell him how important education is and that I even want education for your children, as well. And I would tell him, ‘That's what I want to tell you, now do what you want.'"