Fit Lit Christian Brown

FIT LIT

Body, Mind and Quill

ABOUT THE COLUMNIST

Quadragenarian fitness model, lifestyle coach and bestselling author of the critically acclaimed Feast of Fates, Christian A. Brown received a Kirkus star in 2014 for the first novel in his genrechanging Four Feasts till Darkness series. He has appeared on Newstalk 1010, AM640, Daytime Rogers, and Get Bold Today with LeGrande Green. He actively writes and speaks about his mother’s journey with cancer and on gender issues in the media.

Malala.

BY CHRISTIAN ADRIAN BROWN

Spring has sprung, and with the turn in the season comes a chance for new opportunities and adventures. While worrying events continue to assail our societies, I cannot stress enough the need to maintain a positive attitude and aptitude for growth. I suppose I should make the distinction between "self-care"—which has become a relatively meaningless dog-whistle for would-be-gurus and narcissists, in my opinion—and fostering wellness, community and kinship. As a culture, we tend to focus too much on a.) ourselves b.) quick fixes and the self-care label easily lends itself concealing, not healing, each of those failings. And no, updating your status or Twitter feed with the latest trendy hashtag does not a philanthropist make. For better or worse, being a "good" person requires a feedback loop of questioning, critique and evaluation between the self and the environment. It involves empathy and active involvement in the lives and welfare of others.

Indeed, we learn not only from our own experiences moreover from others who've walked similar or even wildly different paths. To that end, I wanted to share with you my experience with a story sitting on my to-be-read pile since before the pandemic tripled its size. A story that I'd finally got around to starting on a dismal, rainy day where no other entertainment appealed to my melancholic mood. I finished the book in a day once I fell into the pages. You might say that I'd been putting off the read because of its daunting subject matter: cultural divides, oppressive hierarchies, all culminating in a violent assault. I am, of course, talking about: I am Malala.

It's a breathtaking work, co-written by British journalist and author Christina Lamb, who methodically walks us through the various stages of Malala's life in more significant collections of vignettes—"parts," of which there are five in the book. I am Malala initially focuses on Malala's life pre-Taliban, with her father struggling to open and keep open schools that served the poor. As the Taliban encroached into Pakistani lands and culture, Malala had begun her ascent into the public consciousness, too. Malala's star rose alongside tumultuous political shifts such as the assassination of Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and Biblical floods and devastation wrought upon Pakistan, and the turning point in her story you already know. Although Malala stated she wants to be remembered not as "the girl shot by the Taliban", but as "the girl who fought for education." I'll leave you to discover the rest of her story on your own since what happens after tragedy is often more important than the event itself.

Furthermore, while we tend to fixate on our culture wars, I think it's vitally significant to acknowledge the chaos endured by other nations—the nasty business in Ukraine stands as another topical example of this kind of reminder. Malala wasn't attacked for her beliefs fifty or sixty years ago, but ten years ago. The ideas that empowered her attackers aren't an extinct and ancient ideology, but a radicalism alive and flourishing today. Although our institutions have faults, our politicians are as unctuous as eels, and social media seems more and more a mind-sickness than an optimized tool for communication; at least our societies mainly function. We're allowed a baseline of personal freedom and utility that other nations do not possess.

When I read stories like Malala's, I feel a maelstrom of emotions: gratitude, sorrow, awe, courage (which is infectious). I gain a better perspective on my problems and realize that solutions exist to nearly any crisis. Answers that often involve the hands, minds and hearts of many people. Indeed, you can salvage happiness from even the darkest situations, and almost nothing can stop the determination of a human spirit lit with hope—not even a bullet in Malala's case.

—C 