Equality

I've been thinking all night about something that happened at our city council meeting last night.

But first, here's some background. We have a number of city employees who have been deployed over the years and one of them, Layne Pace--Fire Battalion Chief, is a Black Hawk pilot and has served in Afghanistan. While he was there the first time, he and his comrades were especially touched by the sad situation of the orphans. They began searching for ways to help and eventually created The Afghan Orphan Project. They hope one day to get enough money to construct an orphanage but have to be satisfied in the meantime with helping individual children. Jon Schmidt even did a benefit concert last February at Utah Valley University.

Recently, they brought a young Afghan woman here for help fixing a malfunctioning prosthesis. She lost the limb when she was young during an attack by the Taliban who didn't like her father's political views (that disagreed with them). He and her brother were killed in the bombing that took her leg. Through donations, they were able to fly her here, and a local company is paying to replace the defunct prosthesis. Her mother died of brain cancer less than two years ago, leaving her responsible for herself and four younger sisters.

Back to the meeting last night. The City of Orem is a sponsor of Tao Project, so Layne brought Razia to meet the Council. The councilmembers asked a number of questions, but the one that impressed me the most was what she liked the most about America. Her answer--the equality between men and women.

One of my greatest fears about the withdrawal of our troops from Afghanistan is that the Taliban will gain control again. I remember the reports of the incredibly high suicide rate among women when the Taliban was in charge before. I fear for the women there.

It's very much a cultural thing, and the changes that need to take place could take generations. This is truly evidenced by the experiences another city employee had there. He's one of our prosecutors and is a Lt. Colonel in the Army Reserve. When he was deployed there he was part of a legal team to help train them in modern court proceedings. There are cultural differences that will have to change before anything resembling the justice system in the West can be truly implemented.

Cultural changes take time.

For me, equality takes on a broader meaning. Equality among the sexes. Equality before the law.

I'm grateful to live where I do with the freedoms and opportunities I have.