What exactly do Peace Corps volunteers sacrifice?

The first things that come to mind are physical, like pit toilets, bad water, and disease.

But after two weeks of Matt’s Zambia that is a thirty-year bookend to my Papua New Guinea, I’d say the greatest sacrifice is mental.

This sacrifice is 2 years of constant scrutiny, swatting down misperceptions and even outright prejudice.

This sacrifice is relinquishing the cozy comforts of conformity to become the “Most Interesting Man in the World,” but without any of the perks.

This sacrifice is to never fly under the radar, because you are now the Spruce Goose .

So while the American Lifestyle evolves to acheive sweatless, painless, isolationist homogeneity, why do thousands of Americans per year still sign up for two years of the guaranteed opposite? I believe that is is because we grow through hardship and pain. And we like to grow.

Posted from the aquasphere