Empire State of Mind

Haley and I left class today with mixed emotions. We felt really guilty about the discussion that our class had about international aid and volunteer experiences in countries around the world (for our class it was mostly Africa and Latin America) since we didn’t have any. We thought that we looked dumb and probably selfish, that we hadn’t given back in the same way the EVERY other person in our class had. This turned into frustration in not being able to include ourselves in the conversation. And ur exclusion then turned to a feeling that the topic was exhausted even before the class ended as we retreated to our own conversations unable to contribute to the class topic.

There were, however, moments of relief for the bloggers of Globally Challenged, when we discussed the two readings for the day. Ben Fountain’s The Lion’s Mouth and Rachel Corrie’s Let Me Stand Alone offer two accounts (one fictional and one real respectively) of aid which allowed our class to discuss aid from a critical perspective, which isn’t often done. The main character in The Lion’s Mouth, Jill is one who is motivated by dubious or selfish reasons to get involved with aid. She also takes actions with serious negative consequences while she thinkg she is doing good in Sierra Leone. Thus, the only person she seems to benefit is herself. It was interesting to see that Kana felt many of these emotions as well in her time in Africa. Aid is a frustrating process for all the member of our class. They made it clear that it isn’t easy to go to these places and adjust working there, but that it is harder to leave.

This is a nice transition into Corrie, who is frustrated about what she is able to do in Palestine to save homes and raise international awareness. Potentially motivated by less selfish reasons than Jill, she is successful in raising awareness and communicating the help that these people needs to her family back home. However, she dies in doing so begging the question: do her ends justify her means? Is this the best form of aid to be giving? (Ah, just like Nordstrom and food for work).

These two perspectives felt like they were drowned out by the experiences of the class and this is what caused us to lose our sense of understanding of aid and of participating in the conversation. Angry about this, we discussed aid during the car-ride home. In an attempt to justify the fact that we have never volunteered in this same capacity, or just to make light of the situation, we reached an important conclusion. We loved what we had done with our summers and if it didn’t include this same international volunteerism then too bad.

ICS is a major of individuals with different and diverse interests and backgrounds and while the connection with global aid is obvious it is not the only profession that we need to think about. Working in Bryant Park or at UBS were also enriching experiences that taught us about ourselves and the world we live in. They were also both volunteer positions since neither of us got paid. And most importantly, we were motivated by the right reasons to get involved. International volunteerism maybe make more sense to us one day, but for now we will except this exclusion and have fun in New York.