josahall 1 / 1 Oct 12, 2010 #1An American CitizenI feel being an American citizen is a privilege and results in a sense of accountability for future citizens. I come from a family whom actions personify this philosophy. They are soldiers, deacons, civil servants and community leaders. In high school I took the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery and soon a recruiter called me. I told him that I did not feel I could kill anyone for my country if asked to; he told me to look into the Peace Corps and hung up. After researching this foreign government agency that the recruiter suggested and reading Kwame Anthony Appiah's Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers, I realize that as a human, I had the responsibility to advance all people. The Peace Corps is an excellent way for me to both serve my country and the world.I have desired joining the Peace Corps since my sixteenth birthday; in retrospect, wanting to be a worthy volunteer shaped many of my past experiences. From volunteering with first offenders in Durham, North Carolina to HIV awareness in Great Barrington, Massachusetts to starting a community garden in Atlanta, Georgia, I have found a way to give back to issues that I felt were not properly addressed in each community. As a soon to be graduate of Clark Atlanta University (CAU), I feel I finally have the experience and knowledge to be a volunteer. CAU's mottoes have become a part of my life:"Culture for Service" and "Find a way or Make one." The latter is one I have learned the hard way. In efforts to apply some of my environmental mindset on my new campus, I ran into barricades. However those mottoes will never live up to the Peace Corps' simple question: "Life is calling. How far will you go?" I am willing to propel myself into a new culture and learn from the world. I am ready to define myself as an ethical person whose world has less strangers. I am ready to see how far I will go and have a new motto become a part of my life. I would be honored to join the Peace Corps.
EF_Kevin 8 / 13,321 129 Oct 15, 2010 #2I feel Being an American citizen is a privilege and results in a sense of accountability for future citizens.very good sentence!! I want to get rid of those 2 first words, though.I come from a family whom where actions personify exemplify this philosophy....he told me to look into the Peace Corps and hung up. --- wow, this is interesting!!I am willing to propel myself into a new culture and learn from the world. --- another great sentence.You write very well! Make this longer, and tell a little more about your own interests and aspirations.