Richard Arndt '56
The Ethic of Volunteering
Among the many lessons imparted by the Peace Corps, says Richard Arndt '59, is the wisdom of going with the flow when events don't work quite as planned.
A volunteer in Cali, Colombia, Arndt learned that lesson one day when he was making a presentation to faculty members at the University of Valle about a student-teaching program he had designed. In the middle of the talk, a beggar walked in off the street to sell some trinkets. What surprised Arndt was that no one tried to shoo the beggar away.
"Everything stopped," he recalls. "I was really uptight; I couldn't understand why they didn't tell this beggar they were busy. But he went on for about fifteen minutes before I could begin again."
Later, Arndt's Stanford-educated dean explained to him that Colombians simply don't share the Type-A, time-driven mentality that is so common in the United States. "I learned that showing respect for this beggar was just as important as delivering my student-teaching proposal," Arndt says. "I've always remembered that. Even today, I have to step back and remind myself not to get uptight about the little stuff."
Arndt's road to this lesson was more roundabout than that of many students who join the Peace Corps soon after college. When he graduated in 1959, Arndt enlisted in a different corps: the Marine Corps. Posting him to the Philippines and Okinawa, the Marines fueled his desire to travel.
After completing his service, Arndt earned a master's degree in education at the University of Denver. The decision to join the Peace Corps was a natural one for a person of his generation, he says. At the time he wasn't sure what he wanted to do with the rest of his life
but knew he "wasn't interested in going into business and making a lot of money."
His projects in Cali included building latrines in a low-income barrio. Later, because of his master's degree, he was assigned to the University of Valle.
When he returned to the United States, Arndt earned a Ph.D. in Latin American studies at the University of New Mexico and taught for several years at the University of Utah. But he wasn't done with the Peace Corps. In 1975, he joined the Denver office of ACTION, which at the time was an umbrella agency that managed the Peace Corps and VISTA, its domestic equivalent.
"As a staff member, I did a bit of everything. Much of my time was spent recruiting new volunteers. I would also talk to university classes about the Peace Corps and give interviews on radio and television."
He retired in 1990, remaining in Denver, where he lives today with his wife and stepson.
"The Peace Corps has changed a lot since I was a volunteer," Arndt observes. "When I went to Colombia, if you were a generalist and well-meaning, the door was wide open. Now it is much more difficult if you don't have some specialty, like soil science or nutrition."
Arndt also sees some difference in attitudes among prospective volunteers and those around them. "When I joined, there were a lot of idealistic people who thought the Peace Corps was a natural choice. But when I was recruiting, many young people who wanted to volunteer didn't have much support from family and friends. There's less interest in volunteering, and more concern about getting a good job out of college."
As for Arndt, the ethic of volunteering didn't end with retirement. Four days a week, he serves as care-giver for a ninety-seven-year-old man who lives nearby.
"It's one of the most satisfying experiences I've ever had," he says. "He's a real sweetheart of a guy."
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