A Reminder

Before coming to Mali, before deciding to join the Peace Corps, I was in line to pursue a career in the corporate world. I had graduated with a degree in international business, taken a job with a reseller of computer software and hardware and had determined that my sense of civic duty would manifest itself through individual acts of kindness, thoughtful consumerism, and, every 4 years, volunteerism in political campaigns. These are all admirable ways to demonstrate personal investment in your community.

But on Tuesday, July 27th, 2004, just before Barack Obama stepped on the stage to deliver the 2004 Democratic National Convention Keynote Speech that would make him famous, a far less known figure in national politics echoed John F. Kennedy’s original call to service. Teresa Heinz Kerry said, “To me, one of the best faces America has ever projected is the face of a Peace Corps volunteer. That face symbolizes this country: young, curious, brimming with idealism and hope -- and a real, honest compassion.” Her words were a call to a generation to embrace, not repress, such virtues. To put these to use in pursuit of public service. It was this speech that inspired me to become a Peace Corps volunteer. And my time as a volunteer has had a profound impact on the direction of my life.

My pursuit of a graduate degree in Public Administration is, in part, a result of watching Obama mature as a politician. This change in the direction of my career from corporate world to public service is not a product of doey-eyed optimism, it is rather the product of inspiration. It is real. And almost every day I listen to Barack Obama I am truly inspired.

The other day, Sen. Obama stood in for Ted Kennedy as the commencement speaker at Wesleyan University. In his speech he offered a reminder of JFKs original call to serve our country. His speech was a reminder of why I am choosing public service.

Here is what he said...

Each of you will have the chance to make your own discovery in the years to come. And I say “chance” because you won’t have to take it. There’s no community service requirement in the real world; no one forcing you to care. You can take your diploma, walk off this stage, and chase only after the big house and the nice suits and all the other things that our money culture says you should by. You can choose to narrow your concerns and live your life in a way that tries to keep your story separate from America’s.

But I hope you don’t. Not because you have an obligation to those who are less fortunate, though you do have that obligation. Not because you have a debt to all those who helped you get here, though you do have that debt.

It’s because you have an obligation to yourself. Because our individual salvation depends on collective salvation. Because thinking only about yourself, fulfilling your immediate wants and needs, betrays a poverty of ambition. Because it’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential and discover the role you’ll play in writing the next great chapter in America’s story.[...]

You know, Ted Kennedy often tells a story about the fifth anniversary celebration of the Peace Corps. He was there, and he asked one of the young Americans why he had chosen to volunteer. And the man replied, “Because it was the first time someone asked me to do something for my country.”

I don’t know how many of you have been asked that question, but after today, you have no excuses. I am asking you.

(Thievery reference - quote found on Ezra Klein's The American Prospect)