With the rise of unemployment and lack of job security, recent college graduates are turning to international volunteer work as an alternate to finding jobs right out of college. College graduates will gain both experience and a chance to travel to different parts of the world they would never see otherwise. Sometimes college students aren’t sure of the career path they want to take. By volunteering in a third world country such as Africa, college students experience a unique adventure while learning about themselves and how other cultures live. Benefits of Volunteer Work College graduates get first-hand volunteer experience and learn about the African culture. They also gain a real life perspective about the poverty and economic status of countries outside the United States. College graduates become immersed in African culture on a daily basis and learn a new language like Swahili. They live amongst Africans, embrace village cultures and learn about different political/government systems. College graduates also see how lucky they are to live in a world filled with amenities, and how they can make a huge impact on the lives of Africans who are suffering. Many college graduates opt to volunteer in a third world country because they want to make a difference and give back their time on a more global scale. College Students Choose Fulfilling Volunteer Programs Volunteering in Africa provides college students with many diverse volunteer opportunities. There are many ways college graduates can volunteer in Africa. They can opt to join the Peace Corps, a volunteer-driven organization that provides aid and service to poverty-stricken countries across the world. Peace Corps volunteers range from teachers to engineers to healthcare/medical professionals. College graduates can make a commitment to the Peace Corps for two years where they learn invaluable skills and tools. They can help build roads, teach school, or put their health or nursing degree to work by aiding in healthcare programs and medical services. College graduates can also join volunteer missions. These missions are sponsored by churches and offer volunteer relief while spreading their message of faith and hope to impoverished countries such as Africa. Read the rest of this entry »

“Retirement” is traditionally thought to be the time when you are no longer working — you’ve punched the clock for four decades or more already, and now it’s time to sit back and draw your pension checks or Social Security. The idea of working in retirement is contradiction in terms.

And yet more and more people are choosing to do just that. There are many reasons for this trend: most important, we are living longer. When average life spans didn’t extend beyond the early 70s, there was little incentive to work after retiring in your early 60s. One could only look forward to ten years of retirement, often in rapidly deteriorating health. Nowadays, retirees can look forward to thirty years or more of active retirement; that’s a long time to spend just sitting under a palm tree! Plus, most of those later years can be enjoyed in full physical and mental health, and many of us will want to put ourselves to good use.

The financial aspect of working in retirement is a second important incentive. Social Security payments, and most pensions, are fixed income. Over the course of ten years, inflation isn’t going to eat away at your buying power in any significant way; however, over thirty years, a fixed-income pension leaves you vulnerable to considerable inflation risk. And even if you’ve saved a large sum of money, a million dollars or more, you may have trouble making that last over a period of decades. Working becomes a financial necessity.

Working in retirement rarely means continuing on in your old job, though there may be ways to wind down over a period of time, transitioning to part-time work or consulting work with your former company. However, if you continue to derive interest from your field and can stay current with it, you may have great value as a consultant. Keep your rolodex, continue to network, and you might find that others will pay good money for your expertise, drawn from a lifetime of experience in your field. As a consultant, you can set your own hours, pick your own clients, and conceivably earn more than you ever did as a salaried employee. Read the rest of this entry »

Since the close of WWII, the conflict that ended the atrocities of the Third Reich and the tyranny of Hitler, a generation of Americans has grown up in the shadow of war and aggression. These men and women have now reached a stage in life when they often become more reflective and introspective of what life means and of their place in the world.

Components of the mentality of warfare have become ingrained as part of our culture. How many video games are currently marketed that embody the culture of war and destruction? How often have we heard someone say, “bomb them back to the stone age” *, or express a similar sentiment?

My generation grew up playing soldier and watching movies depicting famous battles in which many of our fathers had fought. When I was born, troops were answering the call to serve in the Korean Conflict. Not officially at war, this “Police Action” remains unresolved with a Demilitarized Zone separating North and South.

The newspapers I delivered in the 60s had headlines of H-Bomb tests and the building of a wall in Berlin to divide East from West. This all occurred during what had become known as the “Cold War.” The National Defense Education Act of 1958 was an outgrowth of our fear of Soviet domination. Our leadership feared that Soviets scientists had gained an advantage in the Space Race. All part of the “Cold War.” The title of this legislation is indicative of our thinking in regard to tense coexistence among nations. We’re on the DEFENSE; National defense, Civil Defense, the “Nickel Defense”, defensive driving, defensive line, you name it. Man seems capable of waging war against anything and everything.

During the 60s we had the build up of the Vietnam War. There was war in the Middle East, the Six Day War, and the Yom Kippur War in 1973. During this period we also held a combative posture toward social problems in our country. There was LBJ’s War on Poverty, the War on Drugs and now the War on Terrorism. Read the rest of this entry »