I am not sure if I would agree that the Peace Corps underlying goal was directed toward affluent young Americans. None of the people I know who joined the PC were, or are now, affluent. Those that I knew were liberal-minded, lower middle class ideologues. They came back a bit less idealistic; reflecting many of the sentiments offered by Mary in the article.

I would agree though that understanding the suffering found in other parts of the world and developing a true appreciation for all of the comforts we have here in the US can be aided with international travel.

I am also cognizant of the fact that similar visceral lessons are available to us right here in America. You may however have to look a little harder as familiarity is sometimes the best camouflage.

As a Peace Corps volunteer in Sri Lanka 1991-1993, I had no such ambivalence. I didn’t think I was there to save the world, I was only there to be there. I was all over the place sucking in all the experiences that I could.

I taught english at an English Teachers College in Kandy and got to know students from all over the country. Sri Lanka had just emerged from one kind of civil war (a primarily political one) and was in the midst of another (a primarily ethnic one). Through my students I learned what it was like to see live through horrors and displacement that we hope to never see in our country.

All that was there as a backdrop, but the lesson that you learn from being there (and most RPCVs report something like this) is that as people we share far more than what divides us. We talked, we laughed, we have friends and families, we love… at some level we’re all the same. It is our job to look for and embrace that sameness.

I worked hard when I was there and one of my students remarked, “I can see why America is a rich country because I see how you and Mr Kyle work”. That was nice to hear, but that isn’t why. We are the same but we’re not the same.

We’re different in the cultures we come from and we’re really different in resources that are generally available. Many Sri Lankans assumed I was rich, but I really wasn’t. I owed a bunch in student loans and the $2,000 payout at the end was already spent. Now, 19 years later I know more what they meant. I live in a country where the base level is richer and more people have the opportunity for a middle class existence with things that were just starting to be middle class in Sri Lanka. When I go back to visit, I’m rich, and richer for the experience.

I learned from your Peace Corps visit, too, actually. I’m laughing as I write this, because this will probably sound silly, but the following two things impressed me and have stayed with me for 25 years, even as you and I lost touch for a while.

Before you left for the Peace Corps, I came to visit you at your home in Indianapolis as you were packing. You told me that the Peace Corps had told you that rolling your clothes in your suitcase would take up less space than folding them. I have packed my own suitcase that way ever since!

When you came back and were living in Bloomington, Indiana, again, I came to visit you and you told me that you now rinsed and re-used every ziploc bag until it fell apart. I started doing that, too, so as not to be wasteful but also so as not to take anything for granted. Unfortunately, I no longer rinse and re-use every ziploc bag…but I do use fewer plastic bags to begin with. That’s something, I guess. And it is a direct result of you being in the Peace Corps.

I am so glad we are back in touch! Keep fighting the good fight, Mo!