Dear COS-ing Self,
I hope you have enjoyed the past two years and taken
advantage of as many opportunities as possible. I hope you have created big adventures you’ll talk about for
years and small memories that you will think of fondly in the quieter moments
of life. I’ve started to think a
lot about the person I want to be two years from now and have decided to record
some thoughts. If it changes,
that’s okay; it’s life. Still, I
think it is important to remember how I feel in this moment.
First of all, I hope you’re a softer person. I am always concerned with justice and
fairness, but sometimes I forget to look at the person next to me, smile, and
strike up a conversation.
Everybody needs kindness, and while it would be nice to influence that
on a policy scale, it’s just as important to provide it to the people you see
everyday. (Well, actually, it’s
probably more important.)
I hope you picked up some sort of a local skill – whether it
be dancing, or weaving, or something in between. I am both a learner and a teacher here and learning a new
skill would be a constant reminder of that.
Speaking of learning, I hope you have used these past two
years to become truly bilingual.
There’s something so beautiful about speaking to a person in their own
language. It seems like the
greatest way to say that your ideas and needs are so worthwhile to me, that I
learned your language to better understand them.
I hope I’m still blogging. I really believe that my decision to join the Peace Corps
was not one that I made solo and that is motivation enough to keep
sharing. My parents were cool
enough to smile and say “I think it’s great that you want to spend two year in
a country plagued by natural disasters, drug cartels, and political
unrest.” My friends were great
enough to assure me that they’d put up with my whining about latrines and would
still be around when I returned.
The amount of support I have received amazes me and one of the ways I
can thank all of these wonderful people is to share my experiences with them.
I hope you’ve read a lot of books in your free time.
I hope you’ve made friends that are going to be your friends
for a long time, whether they are other Peace Corps Volunteers or Guatemalans.
Lastly, I hope you’ve thought about what you want to do
next. And I hope that it’s
something that you really want to do, not something that someone told you you’d
be good at or something that you think is the right thing. I hope that two years of roughing it in
Guatemala has given you the courage to examine your talents and figure out how
best to contribute to the world in a way that makes you very, very happy.
Love,
The Kelley of April 10, 2013
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