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What were they thinking or were they? Who is it that wanted to make a martyr of such a brainy and beautiful woman? Did they not realize the extent to which this highly religious and politically tormented woman would be worshipped and martyrize more in death than ever in life? The person who made the decision to eliminate her must have been extremely blinded by rage and feelings of such low self-worthy that no thought was given to the monumental consequences. Whatever was promised to the person who was selected to make the “hit” is now scotched by the blood of a mother, wife, leader, and sacred child of God. Listen… Who’s cheering? Who is claiming responsibility for the assassination of the former prime minister of Pakistan? Who is it that was really threatened by a woman leading the world’s second-most-populous Muslim nation?

These are the same kinds of questions that were asked about the assassination of U. S. leaders - Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and John F. Kennedy. Remembering these leaders slain at the hands of others provide a pivotal reminder that questions matter: It’s not who killed these charismatic, popular, attractive, and effective leaders BUT WHAT prompted the assassinations. And the answer is the same for each… all of them had the power to move people to new ideas.

In addition to her 1989 autobiography called DAUGHTER OF DESTINY, the assassinated former prime minister was aware she had a “calling.”

Benazir Bhutto wrote in her BLOG on September 1, 2007 that she had to return to Pakistan and explained why:

“I long ago realized that my personal life was to be subjugated to my political responsibilities. When my democratically elected father, Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was arrested in 1977 and subsequently murdered, the mantle of leadership of the Pakistan Peoples Party, our nation’s largest, nationwide grassroots political structure, was suddenly thrust upon me. It was not the life I planned, but it is the life I have. My husband and children accept and understand that my political responsibilities to the people of Pakistan come first, as painful as that personally is to all of us. I would like to be planning my son’s move to his first year at college later this month, but instead I am planning my return to Pakistan and my party’s parliamentary election campaign.

I didn’t choose this life. It chose me.”

In the 1960’s when I was the District of Columbia winner for the VOICE OF DEMOCRACY contest sponsored by broadcasters, I thought I too would be willing to die for democracy. I later resonated to Benazir Bhutto’s faith in democracy as a better way of life: rule by the people. But as an 18-year old in the 1960s, I didn’t have a clue when I said I would “live and die for democracy! But now I know what it really means and I am humbled and greatly saddened at the cost of the lesson.

But, you may ask, what does her death have to do with me? Even if you don’t know where Pakistan is located what has happened is important because we are all connected. The fight for democracy in Pakistan and the Middle East will show up in our gasoline prices, how much of the federal govenment goes to fighting wars or getting social services for families, veterans, the poor, etc. This country really needs to reform its education system so that our students understand more about other countries. A student shouldn’t have to wait to get to college to understand such sociological terms as cognitive dissonance, identity politics, gender based inequities, or the political economy.

IDEAS matter! Benazir Bhutto put her life on the line because of her love for the people of Pakistan. She used her training at Harvard and Oxford University to match ideas with ideas. She led a complex and controversial life but I can assure you the average student is not aware of it. I’m still learning and news is my business.

Like the Martin Luther King, Jr. national holiday, it is not unreasonable to predict that we will never forgetBenazir Bhutto. Her life really did matter! It still matters.

But unfortunately the way our educational system is set up on college campuses, it is highly likely that courses were taught just as if nothing had happened in the world. When I taught Social Demography at the University of Maryland College Park, I always used daily events to make our discussions about BIRTHS, DEATHS, and MIGRATION more relevant. It wasn’t my job as a college professor to take sides; I merely used the opportunity to exposed students to the larger world around them.

Benazir Bhutto, the first and only woman to head up a post-colonial Muslim state, wrote another autobiography in 1989 called DAUGHTER OF THE EAST… it’s worth reading before it is reissued in April of next year. Perhaps in that way we might come to understand why someone in the 21st century with a teenager and two college age children and a husband, would be driven by an idea that ultimately cost her her life.

Benazir Bhutto did something with her life. How many of us can say that about ourselves?

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