This may sound corny to some of yall, even crazy to others; but those of you that pledge d and remained active, actually envisioned what your founders really wanted for the organization, you should get my meaning.
Each of our organizations had founders, and each group had a central purpose for coming together and doing the things they did. Every thing they did had a meaning specific to them and the people they represent-from the letters and colors to their mission statement(statement of purpose). The people that joined these organizations had to more than agree with the stated purposes of these organizations, they had to BELIEVE in them; and they subsequently COMMITTED everything they could to the achievement of their goals.
The time of their inception was a desparate one for us as a people because of a lack of "demonstrated leadership". Our organizations help unite us as a people, and gave us enough pride to sustain ourselves and uplift our standard of living. Imagine how hard it was in the beginning(during The Great Depression) to get people to come to meetings, and to donate money-even to pay their dues! Imagine the sacrifices these people made so that life for us could be better-and we cry over "pledging". Hell, THAT'S PLEDGING!!!
What kind of committment do you think we have for our organization today? Is it anywhere near that of the founders and first initiates of our organizations? Why not? Because we don't see "demonstrated leadership" on a consistent basis. The challenges of black people have INCREASED, instead of decreased. Life in America has become easy, and technology has made us lazy and intolerant to hard work; and it is THIS new mindframe that has us in our current dilemna. All of us are too busy or lazy to sit down and create new ways to achieve the goals set by our founders. If real, measurable community service was the prerequisite/intake procedure for membership, do you think our organizations would grow?
The problem is, we lost the purposes for which we were founded, and the traditions that sustained us.
[This message has been edited by The Original Ape (edited June 09, 2001).]
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