"Life in the Peace Corps will not be easy. There will be no salary and allowances will be at a level sufficient only to maintain health and meet basic needs. Men and women will be expected to work and live alongside the nationals of the country in which they are stationed—doing the same work, eating the same food, talking the same language.
But if the life will not be easy, it will be rich and satisfying. For every young American who participates in the Peace Corps—who works in a foreign land—will know that he or she is sharing in the great common task of bringing to man that decent way of life which is the foundation of freedom and a condition of peace." - John F. Kennedy, President, United States of America
So the call was heard and some 200,000 like minded citizens have served as Peace Corps volunteers since President Kennedy made this statement in 1961, myself included.
During the past 16 months I've learned to navigate my life through the challenges of Peace Corps - acronym speak and bureaucratic structure included - hoping to turn challenges into opportunities for self-learning and personal growth, and others into professional successes and friendship building with nationals from within my work and living communities. I have enjoyed some success.
To this point, three things stand out as a must have for success as a Peace Corps volunteer: resilience, duct tape and an extension cord.
I think being a Peace Corps Volunteer at 60 offers a unique vantage point from which to take a look at a life lived. A chance to slow down and reflect on the decades spent keeping busy embracing the rearing of children, or the shout out of causes that found their way into my consciousness. There was always an urgency to find a hurt and heal it, to find a need and meet it; a bottomless well of need existed and still does, so the finding part was easy. Looking back on six decades, it seems that much of that life has been spent skimming the surface of others, scary to think it may have all been grounded in a need to hold on to a myopic self.
Enough reflection. Peace Corps "have to do's" this week leave no time for further meandering. But note to self of things to think about when the veil of fear lifts:
What does it mean to actualize potential?
I think being a Peace Corps Volunteer at 60 offers a unique vantage point from which to take a look at a life lived. A chance to slow down and reflect on the decades spent keeping busy embracing the rearing of children, or the shout out of causes that found their way into my consciousness. There was always an urgency to find a hurt and heal it, to find a need and meet it; a bottomless well of need existed and still does, so the finding part was easy. Looking back on six decades, it seems that much of that life has been spent skimming the surface of others, scary to think it may have all been grounded in a need to hold on to a myopic self.
Enough reflection. Peace Corps "have to do's" this week leave no time for further meandering. But note to self of things to think about when the veil of fear lifts:
What does it mean to actualize potential?
Perhaps those braincells are lying around in the debris of the mind expanding experiences of the late 60's.
Heaven or hell. I don't think so. Just bones and dust, the end of lives well lived with joy abounding; or broken lives and long forgotten dreams.
Ye of little faith? Great faith, still seeking deeper understanding from somewhere; the call of the universe notwithstanding.
I keep hearing a voice in my dreams with urgent messages that I've forgotten by the time I wake up; not the urgency of the voice, but the content of the message. Restless nights for some time now; heavy mornings that need to be shaken awake with extra shots of caffeine, like the lingering effects of nitrous used to sedate anxiety provoked by the bully dentist. Is it my muse calling or am I to be the new muse?
I think the chicken crossed the road having found courage and hoping to find purpose.
Rich and satisfying? I still have ten months to cast my ballot.
And so it goes today.
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