Day 2 Reflection

Barry Lawrence

5-5-10

DC Trip, Day 2

Today we had Ross Cook, retired Foreign Service Officer, speak to us about his life in the Foreign Service. Not to my surprise, I had no idea what the FSO was or what a Foreign Service Officer really does. A Foreign Service Officer (and his or her staff) can be in charge of many things, including agriculture, building, commerce, and political agendas. However, it does seem that most, if not all, of the focus of the FSO is on the interests of the American people. I was under the impression that the FSO was more in the realm of foreign aid, on which Cook said nothing. He did however have some awesome stories and great advice regarding the application/interview/test process to qualify as an FSO, such as taking the test multiple times, speaking thoughtfully and clearly, and brushing up on some American policy history.

As far as my activities outside of the classroom, I feel I should mention our tours/activities from yesterday as well, seeing as I failed to mention them in yesterday’s reflection. Yesterday, I went with a small group to the Mall and visited most of the major monuments on the Mall, including the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, and the White House. Seeing all of these monuments to the greatest of the great in American history was very inspiring, knowing that my duty as an American is to live up to the standards of excellence that were set by our founding fathers. Today we toured Arlington National Cemetery, even paying a visit to Tyler’s grandfather. Seeing so many fallen American servicemen and women reminded me what the price of our freedom really is, and how important our national security is to our political addenda as Americans. I look forward to visiting more monuments and being further inspired to serve this great country in which we live.