Why the Peace Corps?

When people ask me why I decided to join the Peace Corps, it's not always an easy answer. The real answer is I have a lot of reasons. They seem to change depending on the day and which direction I decide my life should take (as if I have any idea, or control). Some deep, some shallow, here are my reasons for joining:

• I want to do something great with my life.

I've often asked myself: what makes great men (and women) 'great'? From Alexander the Great to Winston Churchill, Jesus to Mother Teresa, Gandhi to Rosa Parks, da Vinci to Alfred Nobel, Mozart to Ella Fitzgerald, Queen Elizabeth to Martin Luther King Jr., Cleopatra to Abraham Lincoln, Plato to Emerson, Newton to Einstein, Socrates to Shakespeare, Michelangelo to Monet, Nelson Mandela to JFK, and countless more... What is it that they possess that I do not? What can I do to be like them - to change the world?

• I want to see the world.

I'm not sure if we all have that little voice inside of us, that adventurous spirit telling us to let loose and take off, set sail and see the world. Well, I do. We all have a need for comfort and security, especially as we grow wiser, but while there's still foolishness in my blood I feel the urge to shirk off the responsibility and comfort of this American life and travel to some other world. Some other life. And now's just the time. Young, restless, unemployed, homeless and single. I was feeling so adventurous, I decided to leave the Preferences section on my Peace Corps application blank!

• I want to be like Bear Grylls.

OK, I said some of them weren't that serious. This one's not that serious, but that doesn't mean it isn't true. I have a small confession to make: I love survivor shows. Not the reality ones where people get voted off islands. I'm talking about the hardcore machete-swinging, bug-eating, fire-building, bamboo-rafting, rabbit-slaying, real manly surviving! I know Peace Corps isn't the same when it started, which means it's been effective. I'll be living in some form of civilization. This I recognize. But still, can't I have a little bit of my own Man vs. Wild? I'm reminded of another manly reference: Fight Club. When Brad Pitt asks Edward Norton, "How much can you know about yourself if you've never been in a fight? I don't wanna die without any scars. So come one; hit me before I lose my nerve." While I'm not condoning physical violence, I too don't want to die without any scars - stories - from a real encounter with life. So let's go before I lose my nerve!

Special thanks to Tim for helping me get started with this one by hooking me up with one of these great tools. It will soon see action. 

• I want to work in international economic development.

Microfinance, specifically. It's a term with a lot of definitions. Basically, it can be described as banking for the poor. There's a book by a similar name, Banker to the Poor written by Dr. Muhammad Yunus, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner that discusses his cognitive dissonance regarding the economics he teaches at University while the poor live just beyond the schoolyard. Yunus devises a theory that these people simply need access to affordable credit as an opportunity for economic freedom, a theory which he then proves with his creation of the Grameen Bank. The field has since exploded into hundreds of microfinance institutions (MFIs) across the developing world. I read this book several months before graduating with my finance degree and found myself utterly fascinated with the idea and had a desire to impact the world's poor and disenfranchised through this channel. The best part is it takes advantage of my finance background, passion for social injustice,  and my urge to travel (since the greatest need is outside the US). And most positions within MFIs require 2+ years of development experience, preferably bilingual with an MBA. Perfecto!

• I want to help people.

The typical response. It sounds so cliché when I say it, I almost prefer mentioning all of my other reasons. However, this is one of those deeper reasons that stays with me despite what day of the week it is or what I think I want to do with my life. Even though I got a degree in finance, I don't believe that money is equivalent to happiness. I feel that many people become worried about making money, "providing" for a family, paying back school loans, or whatever that they pursue economic prosperity, yet lose the life they've longed for. My personal theory goes on to say this is the cause of mid-life crises, where people suddenly realize that making money or pursuing a career at 80+ hours a week doesn't seem to fulfill them. Now I don't think that these two ideas are necessarily mutually exclusive. In fact, I hope to combine them in my future (but not the 80+ hours part).

• I want to find out who I really am.

This is similar to the Fight Club reference, but it's more about the soul-searching spiritual experience I anticipate having with all of the free time and none of the distractions. Moses spoke with a burning bush on a lonely mountain. David connected with God surrounded only by sheep. And Jesus often withdrew to a secluded place to pray and hear from God. Most of us live noisy and distracting lives here in the States, always on the go, music in our ear, energy drinks and fast-food to eat while we do it. I hope to find this time of quiet and truth-seeking in the mountains of Honduras. Maybe you have a place you go regularly, I typically prefer my closet, in which case I would encourage you to spend some time there soon. If you don't yet have a quiet place of solitude, I encourage you to seek it out and spend some time in your own soul search.

"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

Adam