Like most volunteers I had been full of idealism and patriotism in the Peace Corps. Avoiding a Vietnam-bound Army was welcome but even 40 years later there is no doubt in my mind I would have joined—war or no war. Idealism and patriotism, a sense of duty and Christian chartiy,helping the needy were part of growing up as I did in a small, agriculture-based town in the 40s where no one was perceived as wealthy, the poor were legion, and everyone respected. That is still my vision of what America is all about, though the country failed frequently to live up to it. The Peace Corps was a godsend and the perfect expression of that ideal and I still pinch myself to think I was a part of it.
Motives are funny: we fill our heads with them to make our actions acceptable to ourselves and others. The real reasons bubble up darkly inside us. To some origins are a monotonous monotone; to others, inseparable sustenance. The first require adventure and novelity; the latter, familiarity and accretion. Englishmen became Americans; Homo Erectus left Africa and mankind populated the Earth. Thus I joined the Peace Corps--then I explained why.
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