In my opinion citizenship is fulfilling your civic duties while also taking care of your community. It's simple to understand, but not so simple to do. It takes dedication to your values and elements around you.
Fulfilling your civic duties are very important. If you want to be a part of something, you need to be involved. This means doing research on the issues around you, voting for your leaders, and having an active voice in the community.
However, fulfilling your duties is not enough. Fulfilling your duties just helps you to make the right decisions, acting upon them is much more important. Voting gets leaders into office, but you cannot stop there. You must take initiative to improve your community as well. This can be done through community service, raising money for a charity, or doing projects that will improve some aspect of life. It also means getting others around you involved as well. A group effort is much more powerful than the individual.
My fraternity does a lot of this. We are active in researching problems and voting on people who say they will fix them. We are active in philanthropies and very active in community service. However, there are still some member who are not. There are members that are just in it for the joy ride and none of the work. As I said the more people involved, the better the outcome. We must find a way to get these people on board if we want to make a powerful impact.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
The Panel...
Last week's panel of Greek was very interesting. The insight I connected with the most was Sherrel's statement that you are not only responsible for yourself, but also for your brothers and sisters as well.
I take this to hear for two reasons. One is because the actions of your brothers and sisters not only reflect on your chapter, but you as a person as well. If people see members of your chapter misbehaving in someway and creating stereotypes for your chapter, people are going to turn those stereotypes on you and see you in the same light. My fraternity really focuses on the statement of "be your brother's keeper." The second reason is because this is where change begins. It starts with people standing up to the members doing wrong and getting the rest of the chapter to stand up with them. One person cannot force a change, but the majority of a specific group can.
Another questions that got my attention was, what was your best Greek moment. I wish we could have answered that question. My best greek moment was shortly after I was initiated. I was taken to dinner by one of the older members of my chapter. He told me that he had quit coming around because he had lost all hope for my chapter, but he started coming back when he had heard about my pledge class. He said that he saw hope in us and knew we could fix things. That set very deep in my mind because i have come to realize that despite how hard it is, this "new generation" can commit and cause change. We can fix our problems.It just takes time.
I take this to hear for two reasons. One is because the actions of your brothers and sisters not only reflect on your chapter, but you as a person as well. If people see members of your chapter misbehaving in someway and creating stereotypes for your chapter, people are going to turn those stereotypes on you and see you in the same light. My fraternity really focuses on the statement of "be your brother's keeper." The second reason is because this is where change begins. It starts with people standing up to the members doing wrong and getting the rest of the chapter to stand up with them. One person cannot force a change, but the majority of a specific group can.
Another questions that got my attention was, what was your best Greek moment. I wish we could have answered that question. My best greek moment was shortly after I was initiated. I was taken to dinner by one of the older members of my chapter. He told me that he had quit coming around because he had lost all hope for my chapter, but he started coming back when he had heard about my pledge class. He said that he saw hope in us and knew we could fix things. That set very deep in my mind because i have come to realize that despite how hard it is, this "new generation" can commit and cause change. We can fix our problems.It just takes time.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Oath
Oath: a solemn usually formal calling upon God or a god to witness to the truth of what one says or to witness that one sincerely intends to do what one says.
Every single Greek member takes a solemn oath on the day of his or her ritual. This oath is to live by the ritual and to better his or her chapter. This powerful promise should sink deep into the hearts of every member, but sometimes it falls short or is forgotten. If we want our world to be viewed in a better light, everyone must remember this oath and the obligations that come with it. They must take responsibility for it and see that they and their chapter are upholding it.
Let's start with the people who don't even consider it an oath. Some people who join greek life, view it with the stereotypical attitude that all they do is party and do bad things. They want that. It is an insult to your ritual and your chapter to allow these people to swear into your fraternity. It makes everyone look bad. If we want these stereotypes to go away, we must not add to them.
Now for the people who have forgotten. It is easy to forget this oath as years go by in your college career. It is difficult sometimes to uphold these obligations and people can get tired. College can become overwhelming and some of the responsibility gets set back. However, we must never forget our promise and always hold to it, no matter what.
The OATH we take to our ritual is our promise. If we keep it, we can turn our world around for the better, and maybe people will stop seeing us in this negative light.
Every single Greek member takes a solemn oath on the day of his or her ritual. This oath is to live by the ritual and to better his or her chapter. This powerful promise should sink deep into the hearts of every member, but sometimes it falls short or is forgotten. If we want our world to be viewed in a better light, everyone must remember this oath and the obligations that come with it. They must take responsibility for it and see that they and their chapter are upholding it.
Let's start with the people who don't even consider it an oath. Some people who join greek life, view it with the stereotypical attitude that all they do is party and do bad things. They want that. It is an insult to your ritual and your chapter to allow these people to swear into your fraternity. It makes everyone look bad. If we want these stereotypes to go away, we must not add to them.
Now for the people who have forgotten. It is easy to forget this oath as years go by in your college career. It is difficult sometimes to uphold these obligations and people can get tired. College can become overwhelming and some of the responsibility gets set back. However, we must never forget our promise and always hold to it, no matter what.
The OATH we take to our ritual is our promise. If we keep it, we can turn our world around for the better, and maybe people will stop seeing us in this negative light.
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