Title: Gaia Explorer

Gender: Female

One of my heros is Esther Peterson.

She was a consumer and women's advocate in the 1950s and 1960s. She was Assistant Secretary of Labor, Director of the United States Women's Bureau for President John F. Kennedy, and Special Assistant for Consumer Affairs under Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Jimmy Carter. She was a pioneer because she was among the first women to hold high-ranking governmental positions. Also, she was influential in increasing the number of governmental positions available to women in the United States. I read her memoirs this spring and here are a few of my favorite quotes:

“You don’t do things because of the rewards or because someone may remember you after you are gone. The satisfaction is in the doing. Whether or not someone remembers does not really matter.” (192)

“… I didn’t intentionally set out to follow a set career path; I just did what came naturally. Now, looking back, I can appreciate the interconnectedness of my activities, the way the themes of my life seem to join one experience with the next.” (184)

“… you’ve got to be involved. You have to participate in life, not an observer…you have to learn to flow with the tide. I am thinking of Huck Finn as he drifts down the river saying, ‘Well, let’s glide down and see what’s around the bend.’ I’ll never forget that quote. It almost epitomizes what I feel about life.” (191)

Peterson, Esther. Restless: The Memoirs of Labor and Consumer Activist Esther Peterson. Washington, D.C.: Caring Publishing, 1995.

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