233.A volunteer's crucial voteThe lessons I learned as a volunteer in Africa could fill volumes.Before I embarked upon my voluntary voyage, I felt a huge void in my life.When I look back upon it, there was a certain vulgarity to my existence.I had not done anything meaningful in my twenties at all,unless you count getting a second-rate college degree an accomplishment.As my twenties waned and my thirties approached, I began to consider life more seriously.I felt maybe as if the warranty on my life was about to expire.The vulgar life of wine, women, and food, which only left me with an expanded waist and a vulnerable ego,was giving way to a voracious appetite for meaning.Sometimes it was as if my mind was a volcano erupting with a desire to figure out why I was put on this earth.This desire would sometimes calm for days at a time,but before long, the volcanic explosions in my head would begin again.It was exciting yet also frightening, the way I imagine a chemist must feel when he is experimenting with potentially volatile chemicals.I had to do something before the voltage in my brain became too high and something crazy happened.Overnight, I voted to break up with my girlfriend, quit my job, and devote my life totally to others.
