Bigger Living: One Woman’s Work in Afghanistan

When you meet or hear about someone who does something amazing, does it inspire you to be a better person? It does me. Whether it be spiritual or physical, I am inspired. When I watch a great Olympic athlete, half way through I want to get up and do that, skate, ski, whatever. But instead, I sit (which is probably a good thing, I really suck at skating). There are many more important situations that can stir that feeling of inspiration, the Olympics is just one of many that pop to mind.

Here is another one.

Rosemary Stasek, is a woman who has lived a life of successful details, from dot-comer to Mayor of Redwood City, California. She is now living her life with a big picture view, helping the women of war-torn Afghanistan.

You might have a visual image of Afghan women, not so many years ago, during the rule of the Taliban. An extremely conservative religious government that ruled with a particularly aggressive oppression towards the women of their country. All women in public were completely covered in the blue burkas, lest they be beaten. Women weren’t educated, women stayed at home. It was a scene hard for us to understand. Who could be allowed to treat women this way?

Rosemary was living in California, having a comfortable, successful life. She was raised in Pennsylvania, went to catholic school, on to Cornell University, then to graduate school at Stanford. She worked at the Bank of America, went on to a dot-com, and then inspired to run for political office. She was elected to the City Council of Redwood City, CA, and eventually become the Mayor. It was during her stint as a politician that she first set foot in Afghanistan. She has always been a motivated soul, and she has always been inspired by the human condition. She thought her trip to Kabul, Afghanistan as part of a delegation to tour the country after the fall of the Taliban, would be interesting. She didn’t know it would change her life.