In my travels with Senator Dodd I've heard him talk about his time in the Peace Corps a lot. Around kitchen tables and in back yards of New Hampshire and Iowa, Senator Dodd tells people why he joined the Peace Corps: because an American President asked.

John F. Kennedy reached out to a generation of Americans and a generation answered his call. They joined the Peace Corps. They joined VISTA, the Department of Justice, worked for civil rights, and served in the military. They were united in purpose of making America a better place and raising our standing in the world to reflect the dignity that our nation held.

Despite hearing Senator Dodd talk about the source of his impetus for entry into the Peace Corps many times, the story has always sounded foreign to me. As a twenty-five year old Gen Yer (or am I a “Millennial”?) I can say with certainty that the same culture that JFK set when he famously uttered the words “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country” does not currently exist in American political sentiment, at least not in the scale as forty-six years ago. The idea of Americans being asked by our President to serve our country — not just shop —  by standing up and contributing time and energy to making this country and our world a better place simply is absent from the political culture that I have grown up in.