(RE)-ORIENTATION Scot McElvany (Unit 220) Mladi Most Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina Somewhere in between the Abstract Future, the Immediate Future, the Presently Present, and the Just Past, I applied to Brethren Volunteer Service. I received forms, read forms, signed forms, made phone calls to the BVS office, received phone calls from the BVS office, decided to join the organization, finished out my college degree, told my friends I was leaving, packed lightly (as the BVS office emphatically dictates through its literature), said good-bye to a girlfriend who may very well be my soul-mate and best friend (a decision I may regret until the day my capacity to regret quits functioning), and flew into Orlando, Florida for three-weeks of orientation at Camp Ithiel in the city of Gotha. A decision made about the Abstract Future is like deciding on January 18, 1996 to eat pork chops on January 18, 1997. You can tell people about it, think about it, and talk about it, but the reality is, it is more of a thought than a decision when January 18, 1997 happens to be while you are in Saudi Arabia, where pork is tantamount to a capitol offense. The thought becomes a decision with actual consequences, possible scary consequences like the fall-out that may come from eating pork in Saudi Arabia, especially if you had decided on a public barbecue. No matter how well I thought I understood the consequences of my decision to join BVS I could not have prepared myself for the actual event. How could I!? BVS refuses to discuss project placement until you have flown the length of the United States, as in my case, or flown halfway across the world, as with many of the International volunteers, and begun the orientation process. Where else in the modern world would you be given a job first, then be asked to interview for that job? Is it the church's way of putting a cross shaped wrench into the already monkeyed works of Capitalism? Probably not, but it did seem just a bit backwards to me. The problem is, how can you visualize the next year or two of your life when all you have to visualize is one very large question mark stamped to the inner wall of your head? The Abstract Future has no transition into the Immediate Future, and instead passes 'Go' (with $45 instead of $200) straight into the Presently Present. Once into the Presently Present of orientation, I understood that I was actually leaving my family, friends, and yes, my girlfriend which I may regret until my capacity to regret stops functioning. I was thrown head-long into deep conversation about God, life, and shopping-for-less and I loved it. Whether BVS knows it or not, by by-passing the Immediate Future and taking you knee-deep into the Presently Present you are forced, with great support from staff and other volunteers, to take on the present as it exists all around you. At least it did for me. I became aware of myself, and my personal agenda. Also, I came to realize there is real work to be done and maybe my personal agenda is slightly less important than I once thought. I came into this world kicking and screaming, and I have made the decision to continue in this world with care and compassion. Orientation turned out to be a "re-orientation" of what the decision to live with care and compassion truly means.