To Future PCVs:

When I see well-intentioned posts that say something to the effect of “I’m so sick of my life and school, I just want to drop out and join the Peace Corps so I can save the world,” it unsettles me for a few reasons.

1. Peace Corps should not be a means by which one “escapes” his/her life. I like to call this “the myth of location”—the idea that if you move somewhere else, you will escape yourself and your life will immediately be better. You don’t. You bring yourself (and your shit) with you wherever you go. Yes, places and experiences change a person, but you must be ready to do the workinternally. Your environment can’t do that for you.

2. Peace Corps is a diplomatic organization with three simple goals:

1. Helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.
2. Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.
3. Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans

It calls for volunteers who are skilled, who understand the expectations of what they are doing through Peace Corps, and perhaps most importantly, who understand who and what they are in relation to the world.

With that said, for someone between the ages of 17 and 21 who says she wants to join the Peace Corps, here are some things you can do before applying: Take the time to develop yourself. Get an education, volunteer in your community, teach, get a job you hate, read the newspaper, understand the world, learn a second or third language, read books—lots of books, learn how to communicate both verbally and in writing, learn to take criticism, befriend people who don’t speak English, study abroad in college, take hard classes, eat unfamiliar food, think deeply about who you are and what you want, fail—fail really, really hard, learn from that failure.

3. Who says the “world” (whatever that means) needs you to “save” it? This comes out of a White American Savior complex that, I think, is misguided. The so-called “world” (U.S. included) benefits far more through, again, diplomatic relationships that generate a mutual understanding of our shared human experience.