...I will carry this commitment with me this year and beyond...

Yesterday was my one-year anniversary of the last day of being part of the National Civilian Community Corps. The 21 months that I spent there were some of the most challenging, stressful, life-changing and wonderful of my life. I can see that now, but at this time last year all I wanted was to move on to something else. I was anxious to know what I would be doing next and had no clue as to what would happen after that. Turns out, I ran back into the arms of AmeriCorps in the form of a VISTA and moved to the opposite side of the country. Anyway, I wouldn't mind going back now, knowing what I would do differently.

While I was think about this yesterday, I remembered the graduation of my last year in NCCC. Over 400 of us sat in a beautiful theater in downtown Sacramento going through the rigmarole of a graduation ceremony. At the end of the ceremony, we all stood and recited the AmeriCorps pledge. Now, as a team leader, I had to say this pledge after every team leader meeting and said it so much that it was permanently ingrained in my brain. It was just one of those things that you repeat mindlessly without giving thought to what you were saying. Kind of like the Pledge of Alliegance or listening to the Star-Spangled Banner. I had never understood why athletes would tear up when this song was played whenever they won a gold metal at the Olympics. But on that graduation day for Class 14 of the western region of AmeriCorps NCCC, I finally got it. As I repeated the words that I had said ad nauseum for the last two years, they hit home. This is what I had given my life to. Saying these words brought up all of the good times I had had. The wonderful people I had met and the friends that I had made that will forever be in my heart. I looked over at my dear friend Stuart and saw that he was feeling the way I was. Everyone in that theater had been changed over the past year and while they might not have felt the same way that I did right then, I think that they understood.

As I close this sentimental posting, I will leave you with the words that I finally "got" that day. They are a part of who I am now and for that, I am a better woman.

The AmeriCorps Pledge

I will get things done for America -
to make our people safer,
smarter, and healthier.

I will bring Americans together
to strengthen our communities.

Faced with apathy,
I will take action.

Faced with conflict,
I will seek common ground.

Faced with adversity,
I will persevere.

I will carry this commitment
with me this year and beyond.

I am an AmeriCorps member,
and I will get things done.