This week I would like to do a short reflection on the PLA spring break trip to Washington D.C. When I first found out that we would be going to D.C. I wasn’t super pumped about it because I did not think that it would be very exciting. I couldn’t have been more wrong in my assumptions. The trip was filled with surprises and excitement and I left D.C. with so much new knowledge of things that I really knew nothing about prior to the trip. I also learned about many different career paths and I even felt at some points like I wanted to change my major because what we were learning was just awesome (NASA and the Air and Space Museum).
Something that really made me think and reflect however was our visit to the CIA. Although it was frustrating to hear the words “that’s classified” so many times, I really enjoyed our visit there. At the end of our panel discussion in the “bubble”, Charlie E Allen, a CIA legend as I understand, got up and spoke about serving our country and how important that is. He cited a quote that is embedded on one of the walls in the CIA Headquarters that gave me chills: “ We are the nation’s first line of defense, we accomplish what others cannot accomplish and we will go where others cannot go”.
I must say that before this trip I had a fairly narrow idea about what it meant to serve the nation. Before I generally thought about service to the nation in terms of military service, which is something that I have never considered for myself or even given much thought to. Military service is of course a big part of service to the Nation but what this visit to the CIA (and many of our other visits) made me realize is that there are many other ways to serve the United States.
Another thing that that the trip to the CIA made me think about is the importance of service to the nation and civic participation. I am an American citizen and I have a lot of privileges and opportunities because of this. These privileges and opportunities are not things that I have earned as a person but they are privileges and opportunities that my country provides for me. Many Americans, including myself, expect a whole lot from our government and yet a lot of us don’t work for the government and don’t desire to. A lot of Americans don’t take part in civic activities such as voting for president and then complain about the president’s actions.
Now I am not saying that the United States’ government is perfect by any means. However, it seems to me that a lot of people, myself included, reap many benefits from the services our government provides but don’t give back afterwards and thus don’t work to improve the things that end up being complained about.
One thing that I was sure of before the trip and still am sure of is that I want to do something that has a greater purpose (I promise I won’t get too corny here),that will make a positive difference in many people’s lives. I realized that working for an organization like the CIA, where security of the United States is the top priority, would probably be very rewarding. I would know that what I was doing was having a positive impact on a large group of people, namely helping to protect citizens of the United States, and in this way I would be giving back to a country that has given me so much.
I think before this trip to D.C. it was fair to say that I had somewhat written off working for the federal government. I thought it would just be too frustrating because although I enjoy reading about politics (most of the time) I am not one to eat, breath and sleep politics. However, now that I have realized that there are things you can do in Washington D.C. to serve the government and the nation but not necessarily have to be affiliated with a certain political party I think it might be something that I will be strongly considering over the next few years of my college career.