蜜芽传媒

Good Morning.

Alfred Nobel, perhaps best described as a philosophical philanthropist, believed that the common factor covering all of his prizes was the recognition of those 鈥渨ho during the preceding year shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind.鈥�

That鈥檚 quite a tall order, when you think of it, to identify such people.

Establishing the winners of the physics, chemistry, medicine and literature prizes, all of which have also been announced this week, involves the assimilation and assessment of huge amounts of unique research and academic excellence.

But the Peace Prize, awarded jointly yesterday to 17 year old Malala Yousafzai (the youngest ever recipient) along with Kailash Satyarthi has a slightly different feel to it.

Of course this is still about the life鈥檚 work so far of each recipient but the Peace Prize also represents human qualities and virtues which are life changing in themselves and are often hard to quantify.

Malala and Kailash received the award for 鈥渢heir struggle against the suppression of children and young people鈥� and like many recipients before them, it is an admirable, courageous commitment to sticking at it and not losing faith in what they are striving for which marks these winners out.

Yesterday I re-read the acceptance speeches of Nobel alumni Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa and Nelson Mandela and there is a strong common theme running through the texts along the lines of thank you for this award, but there鈥檚 a still way to go and the ultimate prize for peace and justice is still be won.

For sure, as Desmond Tutu another winner commented 鈥� the award certainly gives winners a stronger platform on which to further their campaigns and work even harder towards their ultimate goal.

But it is above all, and there is no better example of this than Malala, a kind of quintessential courage - that willingness and ability laced with bravery and faith in a desire for the triumph of good over evil 鈥� which the Nobel Peace Prize really represents.

Reading again I am Malala yesterday, the account of her young life so far, it is her deep faith in God, her desire for knowledge and wisdom and her fearlessness in the face of those who wanted to extinguish the light of education which stands out most: 鈥淲e were scared,鈥� she writes, but in the true tradition of many former Peace Prize winners, she added 鈥渙ur fear was not as strong as our courage.鈥�

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