Many people know that a large number of people that work for my company were laid off in the past couple of years. It sucked. For a long time, I was expecting to be one of them. What many people don't know, is that when I was expecting to be laid-off, I was organizing my life to be able to be gone for a couple of years. I had started the process of applying for the Peace Corps several months before what I was anticipating to be my layoff date. As part of the application, I had to write a couple of essays (oh, joy!). One of the essays had to address why you wanted to join the Peace Corps, how these reasons relate to your past experiences and life goals and how you expect to satisfy the Peace Corps 10 Core Expectations (feel free to Google them).
My essay focused on a person who's had a huge impact on my life by demonstrating how a community can be built around you that supports you through all aspects of life. Both good and bad. I like to think that I've learned from that example and put it to good use around me. Since I don't live anywhere near my family, I've tried to build a good circle of friends that are basically my surrogate Houston family. I believe this person's example taught me how treating people with respect, caring, kindness...( I could go on but really the way we'd all like to be treated) builds that without you even realizing it.
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| That's totally what I look like when I'm writing letters and essays. |
Obviously, I didn't join the Peace Corps. I was offered an incredible job opportunity that was very difficult to turn down. Although, it was a very close decision...ask my manager, we talked about it A LOT!! But, today, I decided to mail that essay to the person I'm talking about. With a thank you note for the quiet, unassuming and positive example of building a supportive community around you. Hopefully, it will bring a smile to this person's face.
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