I have been thinking about this topic a lot since it was first posted... The verbalization of the question led me to pay even closer attention to my actions as a SisterFriend, and to my general approach to obtaining "information" on/about Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated...
Question(s)...
Do any of my fellow SFs out there actually take time to ENJOY what they've learned? To enjoy the search?
I find the whole research process to be a humbling and intriguing experience. What I mean is that I
WANT to find out by myself, I don't
want to ask about factual information. Anything you can find out by doing research should be found out on your own... It's fun... really. I enjoy sitting reading, wondering, and searching for more answers. There shouldn't be tooooo many questions us SFs should have for Members outside of "what's-your-personal-opinion?" questions & the occasional Advice-on-
situations type questions.
And even then, if we use our common sense first off, we may not have a question after all... I love getting tenured-first-hand opinions/advice from Members, but I sho' hate it if I am going to deny myself the privilege and sense of accomplishment I get from getting to know Alpha Kappa Alpha via my own research.
I want help (as anyone who read my first post will readily understand
)… But I guess I don’t want the type of help I see a lot of my fellow SFs looking for… Instant Messages filled with cryptic codes, secret handshakes, and a Web-Certified Money-Back-If-You-Are-Not-Satisfied Membership Guarantee to Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated.
Ladies, there are soooooo many interesting facts out there. Let's challenge ourselves. You would be surprised about how much information there
is on
http://www.aka1908.com. Read and re-read those items, articles, excerpts from books, websites, etc. you've added to you research journal... If you ask yourself a few questions you can find out things you never knew you didn't know, or didn't know you could find out. (Was that ambiguous enough for everyone?) I was chatting with one of my guhlz on the phone t’day and she was kind of surprised that anyone would be “all specific” about getting to know the history of the
surrounding chapters, in addition to the one at her school. Alpha Kappa Alpha Incorporated is
composed of hundreds of chapters folks… Each one has it’s own history, many chapters have an above-average significance in the Sorority’s early developmental history…. Think about it. Are you utilizing all of your information to it’s fullest capacity? We have access, as SFs, to information regarding many, many, many items that more tenured Members of The Sorority did not have access to when they were SisterFriends. We have the Internet… but many of us use it, a lot of the time, to gripe, beg, and berate… arrrgh!
Then I have those SisterFriends who say to me “ ‘Vella, girl, you are just too serious, you don’t need to know all that… If I can’t ask, or a Member can’t tell me then I don’t need to know.” Now I am not saying that you should get caught up in finding out some information that is Administered on a NEED-TO-KNOW basis… but since we have soooo much time to IM, post, e-mail, whine, complain, and say “You are not meeting MY needs as a SisterFriend!!! Stop being mean to me, ***whiiiiine***” Then we can go and read some of this info we seek so urgently, and really want to know. I mean dang, if you don’t enjoy what you’re reading, and getting to know Her, and absolutely thirsting for knowledge about Ms. Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated… then dangit… well, I don’t know what to say.
The History of Alpha Kappa Alpha is soooo complex, and those things that are readily tangible to us SisterFriends, at our current station, should be examined and re-examined with vigor... There is sooo much to know.
I want to know everything I can find… So that
if the time comes when I am able to serve Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated as Member, I will have a firm grasp on Her Essence… I know that I couldn’t, if the honor we granted me, feel comfortable as a Member if I hadn’t first exerted my every personal effort to understand and relish in the gravity of every realm Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated that I could lay my eyes/hands/ears to.
Can anyone tell that I am excited?
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"No matter how worthy, admirable or fiercely desired the goal may be, it takes commitment and action to make it a reality."