PEACE CORPS IN THE 21 ST CENTURY: A RHETORICAL ANALYSIS

98Chapter 4Beyond the New Frontier: The Volunteer PerspectiveIf we had the power to bring our neighbors home from war.They would have never missed a Christmas, no more ribbons on the door.When you trust your television, what you get is what you got.When they own the information, they can bend it all they want.We keep on waitin’, waitin’, on the world to change.It’s not that we don’t care, it’s that we know the fight ain’t fair. 167The Peace Corps’ three goals are: (1) to help the people of interested countriesand areas in meeting their needs for trained workers (2) to help promote a betterunderstanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served and (3) to help promote abetter understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans. The third goal of PeaceCorps was written in an effort to provide a more global perspective of volunteer service,encouraging volunteers to share their experiences with others in an effort to educate theAmerican population about other cultures. The third goal, in the past, was fulfilledthrough volunteer letters written while in service, post-service presentations to localcommunities, and books, newspaper, and magazine articles published by returned PeaceCorps volunteers. In recent years, volunteers have shared their lives with others via theinternet. The introduction of email was the first means of immediate and relativelyaffordable communication available to volunteers while in service. Telephone calls areexpensive and limited to one communicative interaction at a time. Letters mailed frommost Peace Corps posts take anywhere from two weeks to several months to be delivered.Through email volunteers share their experiences with many people simultaneously andinstantaneously, expanding the implementation of the third Peace Corps goal.