She's taken the world by storm this past week for her if-looks-could-kill glare at President Trump during the UN Climate Change Conference.
The moment is certainly worthy of the attention but Greta Thunburg is worthy of so much more herself. For her speech she has been received harassment from right wing individuals and climate change deniers, from her appearance to anything in between.
In my opinion, their ire is driven by fear. Greta Thunberg sailed from the UK to New York in a 15 day arduous journey across the ocean to speak in front of the UN. It was a journey that could have easily been completed by plane but she chose to take the harder path in order to make her trip a zero emissions journey. And now just this week, she faced down the UN and had the bravery to shame them: "People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!"
Yet, they have still dared to belittle her for: her passion, for her autism, for her age, for her speech patterns, for her tears, for her appearance, for anything that they can possibly find. But that's not really why they're attacking her.
They are attacking her for her strength and moral integrity. Just in the past few months she has displayed more tenacity and follow throw than her bullies have in a single cell of their body.
And what they don't tell you is that those words are not spoken with righteous anger, but in a soft spoken, anguished voice. Is she angry? Yes. But there is more sadness in those words than rage, and she has been met with vile behavior instead of compassion.
She is powerful and inspirational and I am astounded by her.
But she's right. This isn't fair. She is a sixteen year old girl who sailed across the world and missed out on school and teenage antics because grown adults with power and money refuse to make any moves. Instead, they sit in luxury while belittling a young woman who wants to save her planet and is doing everything within her power to save it.
How dare you.
