It's Official!

I have officially accepted my invitation to serve as a Volunteer in the Peace Corps!

Wow. I pictured this moment many times over the last several months and, I suppose you could say, over my lifetime, but I never thought it would look and feel like this. This is it!

So what is the Peace Corps, anyway? From what I can tell, the Peace Corps is a governmental organization that seeks to effect worldwide change--hopefully change for the better. Better meaning: more tolerant, more accepting, more diverse, more effective, and more reaching human communications. And what is peace? Can I actually be so idealistic to think that I can contribute to peace in a significant way? Maybe I can change the world, just by reaching out my hand.

I feel like I need a helping hand, too: to discover my place in the world, to find out what I'm capable of, and to figure out what the world is all about these days. I savor the idea of having "global citizenship"; that is, I feel proud of feeling a kinship to all humans, no matter where they live, what language they speak, and what their culture. It's all beautiful out there.

The psychology and sociology of "others" has always fascinated me. Growing up, my parents somehow gave me the self-confidence and the skills to learn to empathize with others, pretty much no matter what (I wish I could know exactly how they did that, but whatever, it worked; how many of you out there think I'm afraid to say what I'm thinking?). But I also feel like it's turned into something I cultivate and nurture in myself: I put myself in positions in which I'm forced to examine my role and the effects my behaviors are having on others, and what others' roles, as well as their behaviors, the effects, and the desired outcomes, may be.

In serving as a Volunteer in the Peace Corps, I am not only bringing to bear a long-held dream (if it has been long in the making, I'm all the stronger and more wise for it--although I still have a long way to go!!!), but also making a very specific, dedicated commitment and following through with it. This is important to me for reasons I am not altogether certain of; yet being unable to articulate them diminishes them none. I feel very strongly that it is right for me to serve the Peace Corps. I feel very sure that this will be a good thing for me. I am certain that my life, as well as Dan's and that of my family and friends here and abroad, will be better for my serving a cause like peace.

I believe in the Peace Corps. I believe in the people that make the Peace Corps work, and I'm proud to be going to join their number soon!