- Bill Pullman, ID4
And thus goes one of my favorite Independence Day speeches of all time. Just makes you want to get up and represent the red, white and blue proudly. Today has been a strange independence day for me simply because it doesn't feel like a national holiday – but of course that goes with the territory of being in a foreign country during an American holiday. I did get a few "Happy Independence Day" from folks, but the majority of folks didn't know it was a special day for me. Oh well… I'll start off this post with what I did today and follow it up with a more introspective post.
After getting done with school, I headed into town to run some errands and hang out at the Peace Corps office until it was time to go to my home group. Now, home group is Peace Chapel's version of a bible study – there are two categories of home group: Samoan and English (guess which one I'm in). Tonight was special because all the home groups – Samoan and English – came together at the church for a little bible quiz competition. This was the second time this year that all the home groups have been together and the first one since the creation of the new home group led by Sara, Janita and Tim (which split off from my home group). On Sunday, Pastor Samoa gave each of the homegroups scriptures to study (Colossians 3 & 4 / Ephesians 4) for tonight's quiz. I was originally suppose to compete but was pulled out and Zonder, Ofa, Gardenia and Glenn ended up competing instead. Now what I like about my homegroup is the creative nature that exists within it – we all wore the same color (black) – even the kids participated and the kids made flags to wave during the competition (our team name was 'Team Levi' – we did not wear any jeans). For the preliminary matchup, the English homegroups competed against each other followed by the Samoan homegroups competing against each other. For the finals, Samoan and English homegroups competed against each other and in the end – an English homegroup won. But the most important thing is that it was really a fun time of just fellowship and hanging out with the members from the other homegroups whom we usually only see on Sunday. Pastor wants to make this an annual event – so next year I'll have to send my spirit here in order to support my homegroup!
When I applied for the Peace Corps, one of my main reasons for wanting to join was the fact that I am patriotic. I love my country very much and I wanted to do something for my country – but not get killed. I am an only child after all, so can't be doing something that'll endanger me before I have kids. So I thought that Peace Corps would allow me an opportunity to reach out to people in the global community and show them not only the diversity of America (because, let's be honest – there aren't a lot of African Americans doing this) but also help combat some of the negative press we Americans get in the national media. So after being in Samoa for 2 years, I think I have definitely had to combat some of the wrong perceptions of America that people have – such as everyone in America is rich (especially if we can afford to come to a place like Samoa – which costs a lot of money; saving is a foreign concept to some here), everyone in America is white, America is a war monger (that's foreign policy, not the general choice of all Americans) and so on and so forth. Sometimes it feels like it's a 9-5 job combating some of the misconceptions the world has about us American – but then I realize that even though I am on a small island in the south pacific I am making a difference in how this portion of the world looks at Americans. And that's why a few weeks back, I began to think – what is it that I would want on my tombstone when I die? I could have 'He was a patriot!' but I'm not being nearly as patriotic as the men and women who are serving in our armed forces. 'He lived a good life' – nice, but it doesn't really give you something to aspire to. And that's when it hit me…'He made a difference' (which was the statement on my diversity chart). That encapsulates so much in those 4 little words – it not only speaks of what I have done here in the present but gives me something to strive for in the future. I look around at the students, kids and adults whose lives I have touched and (hopefully) made a little better – I've brought a unique experience into their lives that will echo with them forever (just as they will echo in my life forever). I look at the 4 computer labs and all the computers inside and I realize that I really have made a difference here at Chanel College by improving the Computer Studies program as best I could and taking it to a higher level then it was when I first got here. I look at the Peace Corps Volunteer community and I (hopefully) have made a difference in bringing some technical know how to their world and finding ways to make it easier for computers to be brought into Samoa (or at least documenting the process as best I could). All these things come together in that one simple statement – 'He made a difference'. So that is my American Dream – not the big house, a lot of money, the 2.5 kids with a white picket fence – my American Dream is to be able to live a life worthy of having that statement on my tombstone. And I'm just blessed to be born in a country that gives me the opportunity to not only apply that statement on a domestic level but on an international level as well. So 231 years ago, our founding fathers got together and made a difference…how could I not live up to the standard they set? Happy ID4!
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