antilla-dean: Names have power, so let us speak of hers. Her name is Sharbat Gula, and she is Pash
antilla-dean: Names have power, so let us speak of hers. Her name is Sharbat Gula, and she is Pashtun, that most warlike of Afghan tribes. It is said of the Pashtun that they are only at peace when they are at war, and her eyes—then and now—burn with ferocity. She is 28, perhaps 29, or even 30. No one, not even she, knows for sure. Stories shift like sand in a place where no records exist. Time and hardship have erased her youth. Her skin looks like leather. The geometry of her jaw has softened. The eyes still glare; that has not softened. “She’s had a hard life,” said McCurry. “So many here share her story.” Consider the numbers. Twenty-three years of war, 1.5 million killed, 3.5 million refugees: This is the story of Afghanistan in the past quarter century. This is what being female looks like for the vast majority of females on the planet. The vast majority do not live in Western Europe or North America. The vast majority who are constantly subject to the ravages of American colonialism and patriarchy (which are feathers of the same bird). Her mouth turns down at the corners and the light is out of her eyes. She looks twenty years older than she is. She has borne four children from her body. She has not been allowed an education. Her name is Sharbat Gula. -- source link