Busy Busy

VISTAs are not allowed to work outside of their Americorps duties -- not even sell artwork or play a paid gig with a band. A college class MIGHT be allowed, but must be approved and related to the Americorps job duties.

These rules were repeated over and over as we prepared to become VISTAs and I was taken aback at first. They seemed overstrict and legalistic. Seriously?, I thought. As long as you do your job, why should they care what you do during your off time?

Now, however, I'm starting to undertstand.

Poverty isn't a 9-5 gig. Getting burnt out could be pretty easy and even easier if you were also juggling a second job. And, make no mistake, this is a job. Even though my paychecks say I'm basically a glorified volunteer, as you can see above, my days are PACKED. I think I've driven more miles in the past three weeks than I did in the last three years. (I used to bike everywhere.)

Any project is obviously benefited by having a person who can offer it undivided attention. I find myself thinking about Ohio Benefit Bank, hunger, poverty, potential OBB sites, and strategies for improving people's lives and connecting more people to resources ALL the time.

Before I left my last job, I had a friend who wondered why I couldn't just find a food pantry and volunteer on weekends now and then if I felt the urge to serve. He, like many others, was confused why I would quit a good job, take a huge paycut and move cross country just to serve others. Especially because it's only for a year.

I don't know.

Maybe it's extreme, but there are some things that can't be done halfway. This, for me, was one of them. I can't explain why exactly, but I needed to go all in or I wasn't going to be satisfied with myself. I needed to challenge myself, leave it all on the field. Sometimes that means I have to take the long way.

In these uncertain economic times, it was certainly tempting to stay with a good job in a city I'd grown to love, but I couldn't stomach taking the comfortable route of staying put and dabbling in service, patting myself on the back for making a difference while holding back my all.

And that's absolutely no disrespect for weekend volunteers and others throughout communities who do what they can and who are absolutely invaluable resources. But I felt like I was being called to do more, and I was in a position where I could. So I did.

And now I'm off for a weekend of camping. Wish me clear roads and dry skies...

BTW, I meant this to be a short, quick post, but it swelled into some kind of serious, existential missive. And I don't even feel like I'm really articulating myself, but I feel a little brain dead right now. TGIF.