Of course we need a theme song for the post!!
So what is my wonderfully perfect world...? That's actually a really hard question! Even if I could live in my perfect world, I think I would only want to make it a vacation spot. Perfection would only make my personal flaws crystal clear. But enough dancing around the subject
My perfect world (in which I would only be able to vacation) would of course have amazing food... this shows how fat I am because that's the only thought that came to my head :-( Well the people wouldn't have hate in their hearts. Of course there would be disagreements because a world without disagreement is just annoying, but there would be no hate. Hatred is just a festering wound that is there for no reason, and it never makes anything better, it only decays its host ending in a slow, painful and lonely death. I hate it when people say they hate someone even when they don't mean it. Most of the time people don't even know what it really means to hate someone. I always ask 'why?' whenever somebody says 'I hate so and so'. And then they come back with this petty reason, so I ask them if that's a good enough reason to hate somebody. Then of course the back pedaling starts with the 'well you know what I mean!' So no hatred, only reasonably justified dislike and disagreement.
Money would not exist in my perfect world. Money is... basically... the root of all evil. Have you ever thought about what would happen if the world collectively said money no longer has a value? OHHHH EMMM GEEEE!!!!! Money is just an inanimate object that some guys decided to give a value so that a growing community didn't have to keep track of the rules of reciprocity. I mean look at what it does when it is forced upon populations that have never had a use for money. What happened to the !Kung, or the Inuit tribes? Ugghhh, I get angry in class when I learn about what's really going on.. but that's for another conversation. Ask my about it if you're interested.
My perfect world would give opportunity to those that wanted it. If you want to learn about anything, you can. And you can learn from the best teachers around. People will be inspired to share their knowledge. Maybe it would mirror the philosophical times of Aristotle, Socrates and Plato.
You want to see pollution free nature? Boom, look left, right, up, down, everywhere. My perfect world wouldn't be destroyed by industrial greed.
Kids would be able to be kids, instead of chubby, marshmallowy extensions of electronic machines. They can actually go outside and play with other kids building social skills that you can use later on in life--the ones that teach you how to actually interact with people. When's the last time you saw kids just go outside and start up a game of tag, or 4 square, or red rover? And I'm not talking about when we relive our childhoods and play these games, but actual kids. Honestly, kids these days don't know how to play... They don't know how to just go up to a bunch of random kids and run around until the street lights come on.
Hm thinking about it, I think my perfect world would be collective points in the past. Simpler times when mass destruction was an act of nature, when entertainment was social, when asthma was rare (lol), when trees, plants, and flowers were lush, when animals existed, when you could drink from streams instead of only see their picture on a bottle filled with factory water, when people were just people instead of rich, poor, black, white, red, brown, Christian, Muslim, Atheist, good, bad, slores, prudes, GDIs, Greeks, interests, high class, low class, no class... the list goes on.
My sorority in a sense, doesn't fit into this world. However, it should be the driving force that brings these two worlds closer together. Why should my sorority judge everybody else? Why should my sorority let our planet turn into a garbage can? Why should my sorority allow people to be isolated? Why should my sorority allow kids to forget how to play tag? Why should my sorority not appreciate nature? Why should my sorority deny opportunity to learn? You want to know the truth?? My sorority doesn't. We work to better the relationships between women as well as the rest of the population. We constantly hold park and city clean ups. We go out and play with kids on some of our community services. We offer scholarships for those who are smart enough to apply.
In closing... let's see where our past has taken us
Friday, March 12, 2010
Dilemmas and Opportunities
Remember this song??
Lol well now that walk down memory lane wasn't entirely pointless entertainment. This song actually portrays the basic components of a true dilemma.
di·lem·ma
/dɪˈlɛmə/[dih-lem-uh]
–noun
1.
a situation requiring a choice between equally undesirable alternatives.
2.
any difficult or perplexing situation or problem.
So what are the undesirable alternatives or perplexing situations when it comes to fraternities and sororities? Well, for starters we want to increase interest in our organizations, but we also want to be respected and separated from harsh stereotypes. So that's really not a perplexing situation because people are just naturally interested in Greek life anyway right?? HA! Ok maybe some... but many people come to colleges and universities saying Greek who? And what are those funny looking symbols on your shirt. Where can I buy it?!! Sooo... what do the masses want? Um duh!
Educational programs catering to the needs and conflicts plaguing the community for betterment and enrichment of the college experience and beyond. Umm... Riiiiiight... We actually have these programs and people do show up... but it's the same people you see at every other program who are already interested in your organization and are already active on campus. Bless their hearts! So how do we reach the unknown portion of campus? What do we do to attract them and get their attention so maybe later on we can trick them into a program or two???
PARTIES
Oh yay parties are fun! We can just kick it, make some money, stroll, laugh, relax with a drink if you so choose. And then we'll bring those people out that we've NEVER seen and now they'll want to come out to more constructive events once they get our schedule of programs that's on the back of this party flier... and in a perfect world this is how that scenario would play out. The reality is, the only other time that we see the people who come out to our parties is at OTHER PEOPLE'S PARTIES. So... yin and yang... where there is a dilemma, there is an OPPORTUNITY! We have an opportunity to get a more positive name our there and make our community service events bigger and better though a little thing called door price variation. We normally only have parties at the ends of special weeks (shameless plug for THINK PINK WEEK May16-22, more to come later...) So during these weeks there are always a series of community service opportunities. For those people who come out to do some comm serve and constructive activities with Theta Chapter, they will get a certain amount of money off of their admission. Now critics, let's think about this, the whole point of having a party is to make money, so why give discounts?! Well... what's the point of a sorority or fraternity?? Let that marinate for a little bit while we move on...
Basically to just go suuuuuper broad on the topic... the major dilemma in fraternities and sororities occurs between our founding principles and values, and current views of success (ie. money, fame, glory, competition, etc.) Some people will come up to your face, whether they are in your organization (tsk tsk) or just a random person who "knows" everything about your organization, and say, "your goals and principles are too old fashioned and out dated"
*moment of silence for the death of common sense*
Thank you captain obvious! Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated was founded in 1908 and the ideas and principles were thought of in 1907, so wording and presentation is old fashioned, but are the principles actually out-dated?? Am I that old where high scholastic and ethic standards are out-dated? Have we run out of time to promote unity and friendship among college women?? Are we in an age where alleviating problems among girls and women is forbidden? Can we no longer work to maintain a progressive interest in college life? And is it really that old fashioned to be of service to all mankind? I mean really?? Oh we just can't make any money off of that so we need to: promote parties, create drama and separation among girls and women, maintain progressive interest in our bank accounts, be of service for all mixed drinks...
We can't monitor the success of our organizations using the same standards as everything else. As members of the Greek community we're constantly told that we need to hold ourselves to a higher standard, so how can we allow ourselves to fall just because 'people want us to have parties so they can have a place to get drunk'? Ok... time for opportunity. We first need to raise our standards to the standards of our original founders. Then, we need to uplift the community instead of bringing them down. Of course we will get support for parties and bar-b-ques and everything fun... because it's fun... people like fun things. But the minute something goes wrong, there is no one to support you because no one takes you seriously. You're just the organization that had a little too much fun... But if you constantly put in efforts of change and try to better your community and then expand beyond that of your community, you will get the attention of big fish. And when people see a group making constant efforts to change the world for the better, they support you. Now say something happens that is out of your control. When you have big wigs on your side who can vouch for you, your head isn't on the chopping block for the tiniest of things. I mean that sounds pretty good to me...
In conclusion, can we just push pause, gather ourselves, push play and stop making ourselves and our community (college students united) look bad?
Lol well now that walk down memory lane wasn't entirely pointless entertainment. This song actually portrays the basic components of a true dilemma.
di·lem·ma
/dɪˈlɛmə/[dih-lem-uh]
–noun
1.
a situation requiring a choice between equally undesirable alternatives.
2.
any difficult or perplexing situation or problem.
So what are the undesirable alternatives or perplexing situations when it comes to fraternities and sororities? Well, for starters we want to increase interest in our organizations, but we also want to be respected and separated from harsh stereotypes. So that's really not a perplexing situation because people are just naturally interested in Greek life anyway right?? HA! Ok maybe some... but many people come to colleges and universities saying Greek who? And what are those funny looking symbols on your shirt. Where can I buy it?!! Sooo... what do the masses want? Um duh!
Educational programs catering to the needs and conflicts plaguing the community for betterment and enrichment of the college experience and beyond. Umm... Riiiiiight... We actually have these programs and people do show up... but it's the same people you see at every other program who are already interested in your organization and are already active on campus. Bless their hearts! So how do we reach the unknown portion of campus? What do we do to attract them and get their attention so maybe later on we can trick them into a program or two???PARTIES
Oh yay parties are fun! We can just kick it, make some money, stroll, laugh, relax with a drink if you so choose. And then we'll bring those people out that we've NEVER seen and now they'll want to come out to more constructive events once they get our schedule of programs that's on the back of this party flier... and in a perfect world this is how that scenario would play out. The reality is, the only other time that we see the people who come out to our parties is at OTHER PEOPLE'S PARTIES. So... yin and yang... where there is a dilemma, there is an OPPORTUNITY! We have an opportunity to get a more positive name our there and make our community service events bigger and better though a little thing called door price variation. We normally only have parties at the ends of special weeks (shameless plug for THINK PINK WEEK May16-22, more to come later...) So during these weeks there are always a series of community service opportunities. For those people who come out to do some comm serve and constructive activities with Theta Chapter, they will get a certain amount of money off of their admission. Now critics, let's think about this, the whole point of having a party is to make money, so why give discounts?! Well... what's the point of a sorority or fraternity?? Let that marinate for a little bit while we move on...Basically to just go suuuuuper broad on the topic... the major dilemma in fraternities and sororities occurs between our founding principles and values, and current views of success (ie. money, fame, glory, competition, etc.) Some people will come up to your face, whether they are in your organization (tsk tsk) or just a random person who "knows" everything about your organization, and say, "your goals and principles are too old fashioned and out dated"
*moment of silence for the death of common sense*
Thank you captain obvious! Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated was founded in 1908 and the ideas and principles were thought of in 1907, so wording and presentation is old fashioned, but are the principles actually out-dated?? Am I that old where high scholastic and ethic standards are out-dated? Have we run out of time to promote unity and friendship among college women?? Are we in an age where alleviating problems among girls and women is forbidden? Can we no longer work to maintain a progressive interest in college life? And is it really that old fashioned to be of service to all mankind? I mean really?? Oh we just can't make any money off of that so we need to: promote parties, create drama and separation among girls and women, maintain progressive interest in our bank accounts, be of service for all mixed drinks...
We can't monitor the success of our organizations using the same standards as everything else. As members of the Greek community we're constantly told that we need to hold ourselves to a higher standard, so how can we allow ourselves to fall just because 'people want us to have parties so they can have a place to get drunk'? Ok... time for opportunity. We first need to raise our standards to the standards of our original founders. Then, we need to uplift the community instead of bringing them down. Of course we will get support for parties and bar-b-ques and everything fun... because it's fun... people like fun things. But the minute something goes wrong, there is no one to support you because no one takes you seriously. You're just the organization that had a little too much fun... But if you constantly put in efforts of change and try to better your community and then expand beyond that of your community, you will get the attention of big fish. And when people see a group making constant efforts to change the world for the better, they support you. Now say something happens that is out of your control. When you have big wigs on your side who can vouch for you, your head isn't on the chopping block for the tiniest of things. I mean that sounds pretty good to me...
In conclusion, can we just push pause, gather ourselves, push play and stop making ourselves and our community (college students united) look bad?
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