A friend of mine is volunteering with the Peace Corps in Togo. In case you aren't familiar with the Peace Corps, it traces its roots and mission back to 1960, when then Senator John F. Kennedy challenged students at the University of Michigan to serve their country in the cause of peace by living and working in developing countries. From that inspiration grew an agency of the federal government devoted to world peace and friendship.
Since that time, more than 190,000 Peace Corps Volunteers have been invited by 139 host countries to work on issues ranging from AIDS education to information technology and environmental preservation. Volunteers spend a little of two years in the host country. My friend is a little over half way through her mission and though it is often very difficult and challenging, she is really enjoying her experience.
This is a great story that she recently shared with me:
A man came into a town and asked an old woman what the people of the village were like. She asked him what he thought of the village he had just left. He replied, “They were mean, lazy, and disrespectful.”
She replied, “You will find the villagers here to be about the same.”
A second man came and asked the same old woman the same question, but instead insisted that the people of his previous village were hospitable, kind, and hard working.
The old woman replied, “You will find the villagers here to be about the same.”
An onlooker rushed over to the woman and demanded to know how she could say the total opposite thing to the two men yet still be telling the truth.
The wise old woman replied, “Because the truth is, you bring your world. If you find people nice, they will be. If you find people mean, they will act accordingly.”
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