OUR SECRETS ARE OUR SECRETS! EACH AND EVERYONES!

While there may be similarities, they each have meanings that we hold dear!

What I said in an earlier post was very true and am damn proud of that fact!

If each and everyone of you is not True to One Thing, How true can you be to anyother things??

Let Your truths be self evident and beleiving!

Does that sound somewhat familiar?

Go ahead, give your secrets away, just what the hell will you give away next!?

I am true to my Fraternity and My Own Brothers!

What else can I say? :confused:

Okay, really guys... this has been discussed so much! Will it ever die?! :)

Anyway... No, rituals are not in the LOC, it is an urban legend!

And, on the contrary to what many say, quite often I have found that some of those GLO secrets that leak out are true... Many times I think members say they aren't true so that people won't believe them... It's sad they get out, but I guess sh*t happens, huh? When tens/hundreds of thousands of people know a secret, someone's bound to blab eventually.

Anyway, I like to think it's not the secrets that are important, it's the values. And if you live them... that's all that matters.

So what you say is true does that make it any better?:confused:

Is telling your Ritual Secrets making you any bigger?

I am sure that You are Right about some telling their secrets, but that does not make it right to me as a member of a Greek Organization! Does it You!?

Maybe we of the older generations feel stronger about what we did than you as a newer generation feel for the same thing!

Actually in the strictest sense... you probably won't get kicked out of your org for slipping on the values that it proposes are important. You *WILL* if they catch you revealing ritual secrets.

Same here. My father was in the army back in the '60s. He was an enlisted soldier working in a communications branch. Basically, he says he worked in coding/decoding. I know he's done other stuff, but he can't tell me. Because he needed Top Secret clearance, the Army sent out agents to his hometown to interview his neighbors, friends, and family. I presume they did that to ask about his interests, personality, beliefs etc. He did get top secret clearance and he had to make some sort of declaration of loyalty. It bothered my aunt to no end that he wouldn't tell her. "But I'm your sister!" she'd protest. All he can tell me was that he was stationed in Arizona. He's not in the army anymore, and he has never been notifed if his work has been made declassified. As is such, he won't tell. To this day, I can ask him "Hey, what was it you said were doing out in Arizona?" He'll just smile and say "I can't tell you that." :)

It's all a matter of respect and understanding. One of the things my boyfriend likes about me most is that he can trust me. As someone else pointed out, it's the same sense of committment to a GLO that also works in the favor of a spouse or partner.

.....Kelly :)

Some may wonder about scandalous goings-on, but there may be another reason.

Most everyone is familiar with religious rituals, which are based on the explicit directives and/or examples of a "higher power" of some sort. GLO rituals, on the other hand, originated in the minds of people (the GLO's founders). Many of these founders were inspired by their religious beliefs, but GLO rituals are secular.

So, part of the allure may be wanting to know what kind of ritual the human mind could make and the human heart could long for... something that is so profound, so moving, and instills such dedication, that the initiated are forever changed. Some uninitiated may wonder, "What actions and words are so timeless and profound that they can preserve the beliefs and legacy of the founders, while being able to reaffirm the dedication of members and welcome others in the sisterhood/brotherhood... all at the same time? What could spring from the mind of a person and yet be so powerful?"

UofIL AXO is correct. The text of a GLO's ritual is just one aspect - albeit a greatly important one - of the membership process. The leap of faith that initiates take is also of utmost importance. You do it alongside fellow initiates whom you have bonded with, guided by members whom you have grown to trust. Taking that leap of faith is part of the experience... and is only the beginning of what is, hopefully, a lifetime of dedication.

Do people place Top Secret security clearance in the same category as GLO secrets?

The very worst-case GLO breach scenario -- web page with millions of hits, cover of TIME magazine -- would, at worst, cause distress, outrage, and sadness, and necessitate the rewriting of ritual that is deeply sentimental and inspiring to many people.

The worst-case Top Secret Security breach scenario -- information finding its way to Saddam Hussein or al-Qaeda -- would, at worst, cause the violent death of millions of innocent people, the overthrow of nations, and possibly global nuclear war.

I just don't put running the first risk (however small) in the same category as running the second risk (however small). Saying "both are bad and unacceptable" doesn't express the very different degrees of badness I see here. The first breacher possibly deserves to be kicked out of the GLO and sued for damages. The second breacher possibly deserves to be shot by a firing squad. Someone with Top Secret clearance is wrong to tell the secrets even if captured and tortured. But if Nazis captured me and held me over a vat of melted lead, I'd tell them all about what I did in college with a clear conscience.

Maybe this is my lawyer training, but when I look at bad acts, I see the million shades of gray that the law asks about. Even in the case of murder, the law asks, did you intend to cause the harm you did? Would a reasonable person in your position have felt physically threatened? Were you abused as a child? Did you kill the guy when you were extremely upset and not thinking clearly? Are you genuinely sorry for what you did and can you be trusted to never do it again? Every type of sentence, from the death penalty to total exoneration and every level in between, can follow the same act, depending on the answers to all those and other questions.

If I'm alone in my various opinions, that's cool (it certainly wouldn't be the first time! Just ask anyone who was in my Federal Jurisdiction class :)). I'm just curious about where other people stand. Is revealing GLO secrets so evil that it deserves to be compared to revealing military secrets? Would you support the criminalization of sharing GLO secrets, as a state would be free to do?

Ivy

To IVY ( LAST POSTER ) and all fo the above posters!

NO it is not of National Security to divulge your Secrets!

But, my question to each and everyone of you, Have You given up your secrets?

Are you the one letting down your Brohters/Sisters>

I have over a 1/4 Million Brothers that I cannot not and will not do that to, would you!

If the vows you took are not meaningful, then why be a member!

Turn in your Badge and Certificate. Be someone who has not friends to go back to see at your Founders Day or Homecoming!

If I show that I feel Strong about this , you are damn right!

I have My Brothers, not only from my Chapter but the other over 200+ that I can lean on in need! Will You?

That is what it means!

I have disdain for those that do and would turn my back on them!

i think some people ask because they have this idea that initiation = hazing. when people talk about gang initiation, it is usually a series of crimes that a person has to committ in order to be a part of the gang. with some cults, initiation involves drinking blood of animals, etc. unfortunately, this is all the general public sees as initiation. in the world of glos (and i am making a general statement that i hope covers all of us), initiation is very different. it is more akin to a wedding ceremony with the symbols and meanings of the particular glo. if someone walks up to me and says, "i am going to be initiated into xyz sorority," i don't say, "oh no, what are they going to make you do?" instead, i say, "wow, that is great. you are going to have a wonderful experience." i don't need to know the specifics of that glos ritual to know that that person is going to have an amazing experience. i know this because that is what happened to me. for people who have never been in a glo, there only experience with "initiation" has probably been in a much different sense.

on a side note, my best friend asked me about ritual. not because he was trying to be nosy about what we did, but because he wanted to know why what happens in that few hour period makes you not want to tell. lol, he is a philosopher and he was trying to understand what made it so important to people. honestly, i couldn't come up with something. no one held a gun to my head and said, if you ever tell, you will be killed. honestly, i don't know why i don't want to tell, i just don't. the conversation ended with me saying, you should have joined a fraternity and then you would know, too!

I don't think anyone should be compelled to with-hold secrets from their spouce/parent/child they do not feel have to be with-held, nor should anyone have to swear to die for ritual secrets. We have an honour and a privilage to be in our fraternities and sororities. Each of us must make our own decisions on how to deal with the knowledge given to us.

The issue is that ritual secrets are considered sacred, and how we approach the sacred differs from culture to culture. Some people feel that the sanctity of the sacred can never be breached--as in, divorse before I give up ritual information. Some people feel that there are times when it is necessary--my mother trusts me, and I need her now, so I can trust her. Some people really don't care--I want to write a website about our rituals so that everyone can see how lame all of this is. The degrees vary. But there is still an approach to the issue that is of one coming to the sacred and mysterious on one's own terms and making a decision.

For example, I suffer from a chronic and eventually terminal illness. I've told my parents what various objects from my sorority mean to me personally, not in the context of ritual, and how they must be dealt with were anything to happen to me. My sense of appropriate action with my objects of secrecy is more important than the absolute secrecy on the issue. I cannot bear the thought of my mother misunderstanding some of my SAI things and giving them away, especially things that must be burried with a sister or returned to nationals. This is a matter of trust, and of consience. I've discussed it with my President and VP of Rit, and we've come to the conclusion that this is appropriate, and so I feel that while I am in a sense violating some of our secrets, it is out of a legitimate need to prevent further violations after my death.

Just my $2.50. Take it for what it's worth.

~Emma

so i just got a harassing email from the mother of the chi omega woman...

what a bunch of b.s.

sure, fraternities and sororities are bad when they haze, but most of us are not condoning that and realize that hazing is not the foundation of our glo's. the chapters that haze and do other bad things should be dealt with in accordance to the law and by our national orgs.

some people are just f*****g retarded.

Swede, if I were you, I'd save that email. Psycho B doesn't know when enough is enough!

Re: Re: How can people get away with revealing secrets?
 

I agree with you MysticCat...People who reveal the secrets of their sorority or fraternity obviously do not honor those secrets. i know I would never reveal any secrets of our sorority to the public especially not on the internet for such wide viewing possiblity. I can not believe there are some people who would do this, but I guess there are people who do not obey the oaths they take which concerns me greatly.

Hate to break it to you, but I know at least 1 Theta Chi who has revealed your secrets. One of my sisters was dating a Theta Chi and he told her some stuff, although I don't know exactly how much.


Along the lines of pinkyphimu's post, my mom was scared for me when I first joined because she really thought that it was akin to joining a cult, and asked me what happened at initiation. I told her that it was a ceremony similar to a wedding, and that satisfied her. No other non-affiliated person has ever asked me what happens at initiation.

Pinkyphimu, I would tell your best friend that I love my sisters. This is why I will not reveal to anyone that which we hold sacred between us.

While the words mean so much to me, the words themselves are nothing without the emotion to back them up. Similarly, the secrecy of the ritual and of fraternity business is a symbol of fidelity between members. By divulging ritual, a sister is breaking the bond of trust. I could never again tell her anything of great import.