Christopher R. Cooper | Questionable Uses of Time

Today I am going to tackle the inevitable question of: Why Join The Peace Corps? I have been asked many times about the reasoning behind my choice to uproot my comfortable life and take on such a challenge.  Lots of people/organizations have tried to tackle this question, from 43 Things, the LA Times, numerous other volunteers, to printed books (recommended).

I looked at the opportunity as something I would not be able to do in the future, a chance that could easily pass. Life happens, things occur that you're not prepared for that prevent you from doing something like this.  All sorts of things can happen to you that would prevent doing something like joining the Peace Corps, here’s some examples:

• Marriage: People fall in love, they get married. They get tied down. Not many mates in the world are willing to leave everything behind and plant seeds off in the unknown.
• Pregnancy: Yep. Planned or not, this will certainly prevent you from making any drastic changes.
• Career: You push yourself into the corporate world, find your niche and are happy to climb that ladder. Who would want to give up financial stability and a solid future?
• Debt: Maybe you forgot to clear up that career plan and instead find yourself buried in debt. The Peace Corps actually has a requirement for financial stability - although you can have your student loans deferred.
• Dependents: Family has a knack at getting old and needing a hand through it. Our aunts and uncles, mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers all tend to keep aging. Folks often end up with an unexpected dependent; someone who needs and deserves your care.
• You can learn about more specific qualifications via Peace Corps' qualifications information.

As you may know, my Peace Corps experience only lasted from May to June 2008.  Family health problems are certainly unpredictable and my family needed my help, so I felt a need and desire to return home and do all I could to be of service.  My early termination from the Peace Corps was necessary, it’s one of those things that you just cannot predict or prepare for.

Of course, these are just the reasons why you may not be able to join the Peace Corps.  Even if you can get past these ‘requirements’, you still ought to have a real reason behind wanting to join the Peace Corps aside from ‘because I can’.

The easiest way I can sum up the mess of motives I had is: I wanted to experience life in a new way and serve this world in a constructive a meaningful form. Personally, I have very little interest in the material possessions of life; I seek a more solid, irrevocable representation of me - something other than cars and houses and ‘stuff’. Peace Corps volunteer periods are 27 months long, in a culture you're completely unfamiliar with, overshadowed by a heavy language barrier. Most folks consider such a change as pretty extreme, and I would say they are correct. This is a change that I, however, needed to make - and an experience I will undoubtedly keep for my lifetime. For you, it may be something a bit less extreme; a sabbatical from work, a trip to the islands, or even just reorienting the priorities in your life. It is something I believe we all have to figure out with time.