3 posts tagged “peace corps”

I don't really know how to start these things off anymore - I guess that's part of my writing style. Call it a pitfall, call it a quirk - that's just me. Usually I'll make it a point to get some sort of writing done on here, then I get caught up with conversations on banal matters on AIM, which eventually renders me completely blocked on my writing ability.

Sometimes I feel as if there are a million different perceptions of "me" out there, and I don't know who's to blame for it. One person can see me as the peace-loving hippie, while another person could see me as the serious-minded sales clerk at a retail store, and the funny thing is that both versions would be correct. Whether I change myself depending on the crowd I'm in and who I "want to present myself as," or I am actually being who I truly am is the real question. I tend to use what I deem "social chameleonism" at times, and I don't know if that's a bad thing. The collective "we" use it all the time - on job interviews, when trying to impress our significant other's parents, etc. etc. I'm certainly not the only person who does it. The problem is now - how do I get to find out who I truly am. I guess that's what people call "growing up," and lately I've realized that I need to get my shit together to finally do my part in growing up.

I'm trying my best to give back to the world that I'm part of, and I'm planning on going into the Peace Corps. They do great work at helping parts of what some people call "the Third World." I don't know what the "Second World" is, but it sounds a bit too Tolkien-esque for my tastes. Regardless, as I see it, we're all in the "First World" together and we should do out part to make it right for everyone. Enough of all these stereotypes and using the collective "them" to denote a particular group of people. There's only I and we in my mind, and it doesn't matter what gender, race, sexual orientation, nationality or any other societal label people give you - in my eyes, we're all human and God help any Neanderthal we come into contact with. It's part of the reason why I respect all cultures: because I like to think of myself as multi-cultural. Blood doesn't matter at all. Just because I'm Irish and French Canadian by blood doesn't mean I can't consider myself Italian (like my mother and the rest of my family do since she was adopted) or anything else. Maybe in a past life (if there are such a thing) I was a person of many cultures. Or a cultural revolutionary. Or a wino on the streets of Paris. Regardless, I am who I am (or the person I project myself as for the time being).

I've been reading Abbie Hoffman's autobiography, "Soon to be a Major Motion Picture," and he makes some great points. He was a cultural icon and revolutionary who saw what was wrong and tried to fix it. Not that I'd model my own tactics to his, but I still admire his firm resolve in what he believed in. However, I'll agree with my father on this one and say that he should have stayed underground. Once he came back into mainstream society, he couldn't exist anymore. The society he helped to create and give creedence to no longer needed him. Activists from the '60s no longer needed their icons to lead them places - they took their countercultural ideals to the mainstream. After that, they killed their heroes by forgetting them and not caring about them anymore. And that's why Abbie Hoffman was doomed before he committed suicide. I still admire his ideals though, I just think it's tragic that he (pardon the phrase) was used like Kleenex - to quote Mrs. White from the movie "Clue," "Soft, strong, and disposable."

So here is where I leave you all, whoever reads this as a testament to whatever legacy I do lead. For better or worse I'll be writing again soon. But here's a word to the wise from the Diggers yet again - Be your own hero. Don't let other's trample on your vision.

And most importantly,

Be true to yourself always.

Even though I never am.

Wow, I have not written in quite a while on this thing. Whoever actually reads this has probably been sitting in a dark room somewhere waiting for me to come back to this. Luckily for them, and even for the the people who don't read this, I'm back from a slight retirement.

I haven't really been up to much, kind of just looking for a job. I did have an interview and an offer, but I cannot sell things on the street anymore. I've tried it, and it's just not my style. Currently, I'm leaning toward Peace Corps, writer, or just anything until I figure out what direction I have in life.

Let's see what my interests are:

peace, books, history, the Beatles, politics, languages, music, the '60s, large cats, American Eagle, ending the War in Iraq...

Oh, and I'm currently rooting for Barack Obama. My only worry is that no one is paying attention to the Republicans, and then the Rove machine will start up again. Also, though I want to see an African American or a woman as President, I don't know how the rest of America feels just yet. I mean, it's only been a couple of months since the Jena 5 incident. However, as I talk to some other people, I guess it would give the U.S. some credibility points in the rest of the world, since we kind of lost all those with Iraq.

Regardless of the political atmosphere of the U.S. currently though (which I honestly haven't been paying attention to b/c of the job search), I feel that it is all of our responsibility to help the less fortunate. I think my blog exudes that to the fullest extent, and if it doesn't, well then I haven't been doing my job.

So my friend had a dream the other day that I had died, which surprised me and made me think twice about driving anywhere for the consecutive days afterward. I know this sounds crazy, but I have felt in the past that I could die at any moment, hence the fear once my friend called me. However, he said according to dream studies (a pseudoscience, I know) that his dream means that I will live a long life. Who knows what will happen to me, but I've given a lot of thought about death lately. I've realized I am going to live life to the fullest from this day forward, that I am definitely donating my organs when I die, and that I want a substantial portion of whatever I have to be donated to the needy. I know I should take care of my own first, but the needy don't have anyone else, so why shouldn't I help them out.

Wow. Complete ramble of utterances here. I think I'm gonna get started on that novel I've been meaning to write.

Oh yeah, and peace and love are great. Ciao!   

So this is it; I'm done with college for the rest of my life...or until I realize I may need a Master's to get anywhere in this world.

I was finished with college on Thursday, but I decided to hang out at school until Friday, since I was in no rush to leave, and I had the time of my life hanging out with friends that I thought I'd never see again. Reason tells me though that I will see them again, and that this isn't the end of anything but rather the beginning of my ultimate freedom to do what I choose with my life. College may've been about doing what was safe or just half-assing papers because I had a deadline, but now I run on my own schedule and can pick the right path for me.

Lately I've been thinking about the Peace Corps and what it has to offer. It's pretty much all I'm about - helping people in third world countries where the need is dyer, and through peaceful methods instead of using "good 'ol" American muscle to get what we want. People is this country all too often take for granted what they have and the luxuries they have (clean drinking water being one of them), so I think I've decided that I want to help out others since I have the opportunity and the means to do so. We're all humans, so why not help each other get out of the ruts of life.

I'm not going to start working till after my birthday, since I feel I do need a break from everything and just need peace and solace in my life. This semester was so rushed, so now I'm having an awesome time just lounging around, catching up on my reading (currently reading Kurt Vonnegut's Player Piano, which is so far very good), and listening to music. Oh, and I've been unpacking my college life from boxes, which is much less depressing than I thought.

On Thursday, the day before I left college, I drove to Gettysburg and just sat at Little Round Top, which overlooks the so-called "Valley of Death," where hundreds if not thousands of Confederates and Union troops were killed side by side for a variety of reasons. The weather was pretty chilly, slightly windy, there wasn't any sun, but I could still see a bit through the fog. It was perhaps the greatest feeling in my life just being there, alone, standing on a rock listening to nature. No one was walking around as they usually do at Gettysburg, and the only sound I heard was the occassional wind blowing through the trees, air, and flocks of Canadian Geese flapping their wings overhead. I know this sounds so weird, but I thought to myself, "So this is what it must've been like before human intervention." Granted I could see lights in the distance, but I felt so at peace just standing on that rock, overlooking a gloomy valley, and just hearing nature, without the blaring cars or sounds that people make on a daily basis. It kind of made me think of the premise behind I Am Legend, except it was a good thing (I've heard the movie was bad), and I was extremely pleased with myself to have ever experienced that type of elation and peace of mind that I felt on that hillside. I've never had such a feeling ever in my life.

For now, I go unpack more of my life from boxes, but I hope that I will constantly update this as I am home now and don't have that many things standing in my way from this blog.

This picture is of Val D'Orcia in Southern Tuscany, and it was home to Iris Origo, an incredibly strong woman who gave aid to American and Italian troops against the Nazis in WWII. Though it's not the scene I displayed of Gettysburg, it is similar - signs of non-human intervention in the world.

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