The Grand Finale... or maybe not

Describe your perfect world. What role does (or should) sorority/fraternity life play in achieving your perfect world?

Let's hear John Lennon's view of a perfect world because I think he has some good insight:



Yes, it's the Glee version. =)

Anyway, my perfect world fits on somewhere in there. I want people to be content with who they are and not have to worry about how their lives might have turned out differently had they chosen to go one way or the other. In my perfect world, everyone has food, clothes, shelter, and an education. Learning is one of my favorite things to do and if only some people bothered to appreciate to learn new things, the world would be a little more peaceful and respectful. That's another thing. Respect. It can be applied to so many different areas but I feel it is an issue that needs to be dealt with. We need to not only respect each other but respect ourselves as well.

I'm big on developing/maintaining the relationships and friendships I have with others. It turns out I am what some call an Individualizer. I think that if people were in tune with those around them, and really cared about them, then they would value their relationships and work hard to keep them growing. Friendship is one of the most important things to me, although I have my faults as well. Over the years I have come to realize how much I value friendship, and if the rest of the world were to feel the same way as me, a lot of problems would be solved. We wouldn't start wars because when you care about someone, and really value who they are as an individual, you would not do anything to bring about harm.

Love. All you need is love. But I think the idea of love has been so commercialized that people have forgotten its meaning and purpose. Love should be unconditional, forgiving, understanding, and caring. We need to love each other, as one, huge, universal family. Again, you don't hurt the ones you love.

Ideally, in my perfect world there's no pain, no disease, no death. I'm not really sure if that's possible, since I'm sure the earth can support a maximum amount of people, but anything is possible in this blog! Tears that fall would be happy tears, not ones of sorrow. I would be able to read whatever I want for as long as I want and wherever I want. You remember in Beauty and the Beast, the part where he shows Belle the library? Well, I'm going to have a room in my house just like that. Huge big windows, books lined up floor to ceiling. Sheer bliss.

So let's recap: my perfect world has respect, valued friendship, love, and the absence of bad feelings/situations. I think this sums up everything pretty well, because I feel that so many more good things come out of these general ideas. My blog would never end if I listed all the details of my perfect world. I have high standards.


Now the question is: What role does (or should) sorority/fraternity life play in achieving your perfect world?

The purpose of sorority and fraternity life is to build strong people to be the leaders of tomorrow. Not only do we need leaders, but we also need people who are responsible, who uphold the values and ideas I see in my perfect world. The fraternity is the foundation upon which we mold ourselves to be respectful and responsible people. The fraternity is there to enforce the values that we would already have. It is there to build on our character we have already formed. There is always room for improvement.

To be honest, this has been one of the more difficult prompts to blog for. I think it's because I already had read some other blogs.. and I tried not to copy any of their ideas. And I guess it's because I'm not quite sure I know how I want my perfect world to be. I haven't lived enough to figure out what I absolutely love and what I don't. I'm only starting to figure out who I am on top of my values and what I hold dear to my heart. Perfection can be deceiving, for without hardships, how could we appreciate perfection, let alone recognize it?

Excuses

Excuses. They're like armpits: everyone has them and they stink. But honestly, I have a knack for making excuses to myself to feel better about not doing something I should be. Like the past couple of weeks and blogging. I kept telling myself that I need to do other work instead or that every time I would try to write something, nothing came out. Eventually, your excuses come back to bite you in the butt....

And they have for me, numerous amounts of time. Each time it happens, I say to myself "Laura, this is the last time. You have got to start holding yourself accountable for such things." Do I listen?

You're probably right, I don't. But since I have a slightly larger than normal conscience, I always feel terrible and beat myself up about it. As I write this, I've been thinking about something I learned a few years ago. I'll share it with you now:

"Excuses are tools for the incompetent, which create monuments of nothingness.
Excuses do not explain excuses.
Explanations do not explain excuses.
Those who emphasize in them are seldom good at anything else."

Now I have no idea where that came from, just that it has been passed down over the years. For awhile, reciting that in my head helped awhile. Until I learned to mute the little voice in the back of my head reminding me about it. It is just so much easier to make an excuse to rid ourselves of the responsibility we have to ourselves and to each other. We tell ourselves it's not our fault and wipe our hands of the situation. I think the same can be said about the fraternal community. For whatever reason, we find a way to blame the guilt on other people.

But... now we are all in the position to stop making excuses for ourselves. We can do something about the obstacles we face. I know it's easy and there are going to be times when we will want to, but we can't. And when things get tough, know that you have a classroom full of people who are willing to support you. No one wants to see friends struggle. I think our commitment to our values and our passion for what we stand for will serve as that crutch to lean on when we need to.

Dilemmas and Opportunities

Usually I have some idea on what to blog about for our topics each week, but this time I'm at a loss for words. I guess my troubles start with the idea of the Fraternal Movement. What is the Fraternal Movement? How does one define such a diverse community as ours? I believe the Fraternal Movement is the realization that our society is changing in such a way that the antiquated beliefs/practices of fraternities and sororities no longer benefit students and in fact hinder them. More and more research is being done on multiple aspects of fraternity life, bringing to light the positives and negatives of our community. By beginning to hold other accountable, leaders are stepping up to initiate the changes necessary to take our organizations to the next level.


With that little introduction out of the way, here's the dilemma:

How do we, as members of the fraternal community, address the issues plaguing our organizations? How do we go about initiating the change? Maggie and Tyler have said repeatedly that they think fraternal organizations are the most relevant organizations in today's society. The dilemma is proving that to current members who aren't really sure what being fraternity people means and to the outside community that fraternal organizations do much more than what is portrayed by the media. We need to show others that we live out our oath and Ritual every day. Actions speak louder than words... so if we walk the talk, I think we'll have a greater impact on others. As a community, we have become stagnant. What worked 100 years ago doesn't work anymore. It's similar to the little social experiment we did at the beginning of the quarter where not many understood their rituals or their values. That may not be how the majority of the members of this community feel but until everyone is on the same page, it will be difficult to become cohesive and unified.

And the opportunity we face?

It is quite simple: to take the building momentum toward change and run with it! We have the chance to really to roll up our sleeves and get to work restoring our community. Diversity is increasing all over and I think that if we embrace this change, we can really learn something. In my head, it's like we're at a crossroads. To the left the path that hasn't really been created and to the right we have our familiar status-quo. I say we plow through the cliched path less-traveled and establish the fraternal organizations that meet the needs of our ever-changing society. Fraternities and sororities are no longer about catering to an exclusive type/group of people. I was talking to Tyler this week and we talked about how we're at a crucial turning point in regards to MCGC and establishing a solid foundation to help our council grow. We all realize we need to do things differently, and I think that we will be able to initiate that change as long as we don't fall apart as a class come next quarter. Like our class assignment, we have the opportunity to reinvent the fraternity. It is up to us as to how far we take it.