Quote:
Originally Posted by LadyLonghorn
It's all about southern culture and tradition. Growing up, I was always aware of the organizations my relatives and the people around me were members of. All of the adults I knew were Greek, and it was still important to them no matter what their age. It's ingrained as a part of who you are here. I think the thing that people who weren't raised in the south don't get is how deeply ingrained being Greek is in this society. Sure, lots of alumni/ae throughout the country remain very involved with their organization throughout their lifetime. But here it is part of what defines who you are. A good example I can give is if you are meeting someone new, no matter what age either of you are, part of that initial introduction will include something like "Mary's an XYZ" before you even find out where someone is from or what school they attended. Although I am sure this happens other places, particularly if someone knows you are both Greek and assumes you'll have that in common, here it's just a typical and immediate part of social networking.
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It's a part of southern culture and tradition in
some, i.e., moneyed, circles. Everyone in the South is not raised this way.
I grew up as blue collar and country as you can imagine. I was the first person in my family to go to college. I went to a tiny high school and knew absolutely no one who was Greek during their college days. There may have been some, but it wasn't talked about. I attended a small state university and went Greek as a sophomore, not because I'd been "groomed" for it my whole life, but because student life as a whole sucked at my school, and I thought it'd be fun.
It's not just people from the North who can't imagine being Greek defining your whole life. We poor Southerners can't imagine it, either.