"I started out as 'white boy in the suburbs' kind of thing, leading a sheltered life," the College of Charleston graduate says, "and when that happened, the world exploded, not just the Twin Towers, but the whole world just seemed a lot bigger all of a sudden and a lot more involved and integrated than I had ever previously thought." "A lot of people have told us that after 9/11, they decided that they wanted to do something," says Barbara Daly, Peace Corps spokeswoman. "They weren't sure what it was, but they wanted to do something to contribute, to make a difference."
By the end of this month, Jason Heilemann will begin a two-year pursuit teaching health education in Madagascar through the Peace Corps that was entirely spurred on by the Sept. 11 attacks
Shaped by current events
It's been a heavy five years since 9/11, but are times really that bad?
Published: Tuesday, September 5, 2006 - 6:00 am
By Justin Chappell
STAFF WRITER
jchappell@UpstateLink.com
By the end of this month, Jason Heilemann, 22, of Clemson, will begin a two-year pursuit teaching health education in Madagascar through the Peace Corps that was entirely spurred on by the Sept. 11 attacks.
"I started out as 'white boy in the suburbs' kind of thing, leading a sheltered life," the College of Charleston graduate says, "and when that happened, the world exploded, not just the Twin Towers, but the whole world just seemed a lot bigger all of a sudden and a lot more involved and integrated than I had ever previously thought."
The biochemistry major has no question about where this desire came.
"In terms of events, I would say it was
Sept. 11 that got me on the path toward wanting to do something like that, because I started wondering about how these problems occurred and why there's hatred in the world, and looking into it, looking into my faith, I found that building bridges was better than burning them."
With the fifth anniversary of the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks this week, it's hard to escape the scenes that made this nation stand still. Pile that along with Hurricane Katrina, wars in Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan and elsewhere, the foiled terrorist plot in Britain last month and no shortage of tsunamis and earthquakes, and it sometimes feels like your generation is primed to inherit disaster.
It's been a heavy five years for sure, a half-decade that, depending how old you are, will likely stick in your mind as formative in one way or another.
Much of this is propelled by a generation's tendency to see the present as a pinnacle in history and an unprecedented amount of immediate information and knowledge that makes today - whenever that is - seem bad. While there's no question things are rough, experts point out that things have been a lot worse.
Shaped by events
Heilemann is one of about 74 Peace Corps volunteers from this state, 51 of whom are from the Upstate. While it's hard to know what prompted each of those decisions - or that of the 7,810 volunteers at last count in 2005 - the organization says its volunteers, who average 28 years old, have been coming in droves, pushing volunteerism to its highest level in 30 years.
"A lot of people have told us that after 9/11, they decided that they wanted to do something," says Barbara Daly, Peace Corps spokeswoman. "They weren't sure what it was, but they wanted to do something to contribute, to make a difference."
The American Red Cross, too, is expecting to have a volunteerism increase in 2006, says Mary Etta Boesl, its spokeswoman. She says that many of the local chapters the national headquarters speaks with are reporting increases of 20 members here and 20 members there that will, inevitably, add up.
Brian Scoles, Upstate American Red Cross chapter public relations director, says its 650 volunteers have been holding steady after a surge during the Hurricane Katrina disaster. Since then, he says, the local chapter has retained about 40 members more than before the hurricane.
While volunteerism isn't a foolproof gauge of whether a culture thinks times are bad and in need of individual action, there is a relationship between tragedy and people's desire to fix what's broken.
It seems reasonable then to say that a mass outpouring of volunteerism indicates a sense of danger at a culture's heart.
This generation's view
There are only so many key moments you can have at 25 or 35 - a number that will always be less than someone who's, say, 55 or 65.
"Every generation sees themselves as the most important generation and the one that truly defines what the world looks like, once looked like and will look like, so these events become important markers of generations for defining themselves," says Michael Borer, Furman University sociology professor. "There is this sort of natural condition to think that these are the worst times - 'Well, we're suffering through something that no one else has' - and I think it's very common to think that way."
Borer points out that the unprecedented level of information readily available today can exaggerate this generational perception. You can turn on the TV, read a news site or pick up a paper that's got bad news in it - from more parts of the world and in greater doses than ever.
"I'd say that we're more aware and less aware, and I think that might be the crux of today's culture," he says.
These things pan out differently for everyone.
"There hasn't been one event that's really changed my life at all," says Fadi Eliya, 25, of Greenville, "but maybe a lot of small ones."
Borer says the best gauge of whether a culture is sensing danger in a unified way hinges on its collective action. If we still know what's up with Paris Hilton's personal life, he says for example, we're not stricken with any sort of immediate worry.
It's not that bad
So how do the past five years stack up with previous points in history? Are things bad? Richard Saunders, Clemson University 20th-century history professor, gives an unquestionable "no."
"In classes," he says, "I rather remind students that, 'Look the world was faced with nuclear annihilation, and that's just a lot scarier than anything that happened on 9/11.' "
In the hierarchy of bad times in the past century, Saunders ranks them like this: No. 1 would be the Cold War era in the late '40s and early '50s; No. 2 would be the Cuban Missile Crisis in the '60s; and No. 3, quite a distant third, would be Sept. 11.
It was during those previous eras, he says, when mass fear and anxiety were at its peak.
Going back to the volunteerism numbers, a similar pattern can be seen. While Peace Corps and American Red Cross volunteers are increasing, they aren't nearly as high as they once were in previous decades.
Examples: The Red Cross expects to have more than 820,000 volunteers this year. It had 20 million at the end of World War I and 36 million at the end of World War II. The Peace Corps, at its peak in 1967, had 15,500 volunteers - more than double its present status.
Saunders says he senses no mass outpouring - nothing at the level previously experienced.
A gauge of whether stuff is really going wrong, he says, is when people stop going by the millions to football games. Then, there's a genuine fear that society is feeling a fear that affects daily life.
But don't let that diminish any formative current event in your world. Like Heilemann says: It's important to keep in perspective events and your ability to affect change.
"As the world grows more globalized, we don't know what's going to happen in terms of world travel or anything," he says, "but chances are there's going to be a lot more community interaction going on, and I want to start out on the right foot with that and I want to see if I can get anybody else interested."
Justin Chappell can be reached at 298-4267.
