I've been told multiple times that what I am
doing in Peace Corps is honorable, impactful and world changing. Three
adjectives that promote Noble Prize winners, political agendas and missionaries
into action. They are postive adjectives. We all want to be important. To have
our work be recognized as having an impact. To know that we made a difference.
As I meander on the dirt path towards school, I realize that I am not changing
the world, my impact is invisible and honor is much more complex than moving
half-way around the world.
I know when someone tells me, 'Jess, you are
changing the world!' he or she doesn't really believe that my impact in
Ethiopia is as far reaching as every surface habitated by oxygen. The 'world'
incorporates all landmasses and the vastness of cultures of people on it. Very
few things that happen in one place around the globe truly affect the rest. An
example would be Mount Saint Helen's errupting which, some scientists believe,
is impacting climate change around the globe. I'm not a volcanic erruption so
I'm not really changing the world at all.
If instead of looking at the vast world, I
look at the worlds I live and interact with that is plenty of places where the
potential for impact comes in.
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