CIA and Peace Corps

This year, Peace Corps celebrated it's 50th anniversary. I was told that there were rousing speeches hailing JFK and a lot of Nile beer and dancing at the Peace Corps Uganda event-- I wasn't there.
When I think about what this experience does for us, however, I would recommend it to anyone because it is life changing, politics changing, and career changing.
That is why I don't think that it was just JFK's idea. What better plot from those 60's era CIA guys to quell potential uprisings and conservatize the most radical elements of society than this? Take the most hippy dippy liberal and liberal arts kids and stick them in the third world. You like socialism? Try a country where you cannot find fruit! You want equal pieces of the pie? Look at how tiny those pieces will be! You want more civil liberties? Try a place where you are not even allowed to walk! You want to help the poor-- watch your ideas fall apart!
Furthermore, apart from all this saving the world and enriching worldwide peace and friendship and making the world safe for democracy-- our democracy-- stuff, Peace Corps volunteers do a lot of monotonous things. Filing, typing (because no one here can touch type) putting together reports, and fixing computers are all routinely asked of us. This is apart from the endless speeches and mind- numbingly boring parties that we have to attend. Wait, I even forgot, cooking, endless cleaning, and washing clothes by hand (yes you can hire someone, but that is usually how you end up at the peace corps nurse with strange warts and rashes or intestinal parasites) We are, in effect, thought of as living ATM machines, mythological brownie elves, superstars, and computer geniuses, all in one. Makes you think twice about that awe inspiring liberal arts education which didn't even teach you to change a light bulb, let alone help one sick person!

Instead of attending the 50th celebration, therefore, I was visiting with a friend who is a British urologist and has worked for much of his career in the third world. I have realized (thanks to the CIA??) that I don't want to be part of a political aid game forever and I really want to be able to practically do something for someone and have skills that lead to a salary, even if that means becoming much more conservative with my life and changing my career.