Quote:
Originally posted by AggieSigmaNu361
and i'm sure that 24-7 you are a perfect example of your fraterinity's or whatever the hell PMA simfonia is, ideals?
Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.
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No, I wouldn't say that I am at all. But I do
try and I would hope that we all
try to live by and demonstrate our fraternity's or sorority's values, and that's the point I was trying to get at here. Obviously, I did a particularly lousy job of trying to get it across.
But before I get back to it, I did say in my post that it would come off as "preachy or superior." That acknowledgment alone should have told me not to post it. My sincere apologies to all, and particularly to Jules and cash78mere. You are right -- I know nothing about anyone's life -- including their commitment to the GLO's values and how they live them out -- and I shouldn't suggest otherwise based on isolated posts.
But this is the deal as I see it -- we Greeks spend a lot of time and energy trying to convince non-Greeks on our campuses (not to mention administrations) that we are about more than parties, having a good time and, yes, elitism. We point to service and philanthropies and to the values we stand for and try to live by. (And we point to our creeds, symphonies, etc., to say "this is what they stand for and what we try to live by.")
And then, a chapter goes and throws a party with a theme that anybody smart enough to get into college ought to know is likely to offend other students on campus. And when complaints are registered, some Greeks sometimes (no one specific on GC being singled out -- I'm talking in generalities) respond with comments along the lines of "some people are just too sensitive, we can't be responsible for what some other people may find offensive." All that does is reinforce stereotypes of us, that regardless of what we say about service, values and principles, we're just about having a good time and really don't care what anyone else thinks about it.
Fortunately, that does not seem to have happened at Duke. The chapter involved quickly said "we're sorry, we meant no offense" and acted like it
does matter to them that someone was offended, even if no offense was intended.
And that's all I'm trying to say. Each of our fraternities and sororities have meaningful values and ideals that can make real differences in our lives and in the lives of those we come into contact with. I just think we ought to be encouraging each other to live by those values, and in so doing depriving anti-Greeks of ammunition to use against us. Unfortunately, I did a really bad job of trying to get that idea across. Again, I apologize for that.
I'll be quiet for the remainder of this thread now, much to the relief of many, I'm sure.
edited for clarity, which still may not be completely there.