While many young Americans are comfortably sitting in college or grad school, a few have taken it upon themselves to do something that might actually make the world a better place. They are the volunteers who are working to aid in the reconstruction of Iraq. Some of these were highlighted in National Review Online:
“I can't sleep. I lie awake in my luxurious trailer and my mind is racing through possible scenarios. A few days ago there was a stretch where we were attacked several days in a row at 8am...like clockwork. Thankfully they have subsided since but for that stretch each morning my 'alarm clock' was a loud BOOM and a shaking trailer."
So begins an April 16 diary entry of 25-year-old Brendan Lund. Brendan and his cousin, Craig, are in Baghdad, working with the Iraqi Ministry of Finance in the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). They're just two of the scores of young Americans who have volunteered since March 2003 to live in a war zone, sleep in bare-minimum trailers, work 16-hour days (or more), and wake up to rocket attacks — all in the name of building democracy in Iraq.
"Personally I looked at it as the right thing to do," Brendan says. "How can people my age who have this choice not want to go out and do this?" ...
Working long hours under dangerous conditions, these young people (most of them in their 20s) find fulfillment in helping the people of Iraq to become self-sufficient, prosperous, and free. With so many youths apathetic, materialistic, and cynical, it's good to know that idealism is still alive. Don't wait for the media to tell you about this; go read Rachel Zabarkes Friedman's article here.
