help me, help you. due to my strange fascination with john f kennedy, i'd always admired anything that he started or was associated with -- for totally irrational reasons and as hindsight has proven, often misplaced loyalty. among the things i admired was the peace corps; established by jfk in 1961 to counter the 'ugly american' and 'yankee imperialism' sentiment in third world countries. basically, the peace corps was started so that america can say "hey look, we're not that bad, we do good things too!" this might be distilling the essence of peace corps down to a very negative statement, but somehow i can't shake that feeling.

now, i haven't had a ton of friends go to the peace corps, but i've had maybe two or three. and everybody i know has at least one friend who dedicates two years of their life abroad -- just like we all have that one [insert stereotype] friend, we all have a peace corps friend. so my "experience" with peace corps is very limited and gleaned only from their reactions or from what i've read and surmised. so as a disclaimer, all that i have to say about the peace corps could be totally off base, in which case, oh well.

from what i can figure, the peace corps is not so much about helping the people in other countries as it is about helping yourself (and the united states). there's a certain undeniable "i'm a good person" cachet to working in the peace corps. for certain types of individuals, going into the peace corps is pretty much a requirement before they can move onto successful careers in moralizing and doing good deeds.

and what i can surmise, most peace corps volunteers don't really end up doing a whole lot. for example. some peace corps volunteers are sent in to help with creating an irrigation system or some such task. what does your typical peace corps volunteer know about irrigation? not a whole lot i'd imagine. but off they go on a few weeks training and a "green thumb 101" handbook. now, i don't know how often farming is actually a peace corps activity, but the idea of sending in college-aged volunteers as so called experts -- often without the necessary skills -- is a bit ludicrous to me.

and let's cut to the chase here. going to the peace corps is essentially a big adventure and "finding myself" mission. peace corps volunteers take on the challenge of living in a different country, they deal with bugs, drugs, whatevers and they emerge out the other side as a better, more worldly, person. well, maybe not better, but more worldly for sure.

they take pretty pictures, they describe rustic settings, they revel in the breakthroughs they've had in learning to converse with the local baker, that kind of thing. but really, what are they doing? it seems to me that most peace corps volunteers leave our shores seeking something, with only an inkling of an idea that they're helping someone(s). which is fine i guess, as long as they realize what it is they're actually doing. humanitarians? i'd lean on the side of "no." then again, someone's gotta do it, misguided as they are. and if not me, then why not you?

"the peace corps has always had a problem assuring volunteers and itself that the job assignments overseas were real and meaningful. too often peace corps assignments have been marginal and sometimes nearly nonexistent — with ill-equipped young people having to fashion a job on the spot under the watchful eyes of local people."
-peace corps hurt by unwise policies-