make a statement in 250-500 words
Peace Corps service presents major physical, emotional, and intellectual challenges. You have provided information on how you qualify for Peace Corps service elsewhere in the application. In the space below, please provide a statement (between 250-500 words) that includes:
1) Your reasons for wanting to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer; and
2) How these reasons are related to your past experiences and life goals.
I want to join the Peace Corps because I want to help change the world’s perception of America. When I first traveled abroad in 1997, I spent a week at the International Students’ House in London. One night a half-dozen people were sitting in the main lobby chatting when we were interrupted by a loud American. The group was engaged in a discussion of the Beatles, and this American-a young man from Chicago-weighed in rather forcefully with his coarse negative opinion of the Beatles, to which a British girl snapped back “This is why the whole world hates Americans. Because you’re rude and obnoxious.”
That statement has stayed with me for ten years. Excepting small trips to Canada and Mexico, I have not been out of the country since 9/11. But given the current situation of the world, I understand that the world fears the United States. The lone superpower has become like a drunken gate-crasher who insults everybody, throws his weight around and won’t leave the party. The rest of the world can’t stop him, they can only wait him out and pray he leaves before he does too much irreparable damage.
By joining the Peace Corps, I can work to undo the damage my country has inflicted on the world. By arriving in a country with a smile rather than a gun, building relationships instead of walls, and actually communicating in the native language rather than forcing everybody to speak English, I can work to change the perception of Americans. I love my country. By practicing tolerance rather than fear, helping instead of hurting and letting the people of the country I’m assigned to make their own choices instead of forcing choices upon them-the reward will be great when someone tells me that “You’re not like I thought all Americans were.”
1) Your reasons for wanting to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer; and
2) How these reasons are related to your past experiences and life goals.
I want to join the Peace Corps because I want to help change the world’s perception of America. When I first traveled abroad in 1997, I spent a week at the International Students’ House in London. One night a half-dozen people were sitting in the main lobby chatting when we were interrupted by a loud American. The group was engaged in a discussion of the Beatles, and this American-a young man from Chicago-weighed in rather forcefully with his coarse negative opinion of the Beatles, to which a British girl snapped back “This is why the whole world hates Americans. Because you’re rude and obnoxious.”
That statement has stayed with me for ten years. Excepting small trips to Canada and Mexico, I have not been out of the country since 9/11. But given the current situation of the world, I understand that the world fears the United States. The lone superpower has become like a drunken gate-crasher who insults everybody, throws his weight around and won’t leave the party. The rest of the world can’t stop him, they can only wait him out and pray he leaves before he does too much irreparable damage.
By joining the Peace Corps, I can work to undo the damage my country has inflicted on the world. By arriving in a country with a smile rather than a gun, building relationships instead of walls, and actually communicating in the native language rather than forcing everybody to speak English, I can work to change the perception of Americans. I love my country. By practicing tolerance rather than fear, helping instead of hurting and letting the people of the country I’m assigned to make their own choices instead of forcing choices upon them-the reward will be great when someone tells me that “You’re not like I thought all Americans were.”