A Thought For Today

What is a true fraternity member?


He's someone who lives up to the standards which his chapter asks of him, someone who goes above & beyond the call of his obligations & duties as a member of his chapter, someone who reveals his integrity & knows how to hold himself accountable for his actions. He's someone who doesn't go halfway or cut corners in order to make his chapter one of the best around, someone who can maintain his honesty, someone who despite unconquerable odds accomplishes much more than some folks would have envisioned him doing chapter-wise.

In short, he's walking the walk & talking the talk, nothing less than both: character-in-action.

Which brings me to the next issue at hand:

Does being a true fraternity member mean it's OK to abuse drugs & alcohol, all the while encouraging others to do the same?

Does being a true fraternity member make it OK to get so out of control you end up insulting guests, your own fraternity brothers, trashing the house left & right, even getting into petty fights (among other things which I didn't bring up)?

Does being a true fraternity member make it OK to be delinquent in your financial obligations to your respective chapters?

Does being a true fraternity member make it OK to treat women like playthings instead of the beautiful human beings I have always seen them as?

My answer to each of these questions is an unanimous NO!!

For those who had the gall to say "Why, yes, of course!" I won't say, "Shame on you." To be blunt, he's not even living remotely close to the standards which his fraternity is asking of him; not only that, he's a detriment to his chapter, tarnishing its good name by his untoward conduct. If that's not enough, he's putting his own fraternal organization to shame (not just by being a raging, out-of-line animal or by simply being dead weight; it's definitely a multicausal thing here). How many of us have asked the above questions & realized alarmingly enough that we're not up to par with our chapters' standards? As an undergrad, the more I thought about this issue, the higher I wanted to set the bar for myself as a representative of the Greek system. At the same time, even more so, I strove to be even more accountable for my actions, to go above & beyond the call of duty if need be...& this is the personal philosophy I have always carried since my first days of going Greek.

These are my thoughts for today & it'd be pointless to say any more than I have already. Yet my words need to be taken into consideration since I, even as an alumni, keep finding myself asking the same question day in, day out on what being a true fraternity member is all about.