Quote:
Originally posted by cynical0123
But I mean, the general ideas are kind of generic...when I was told that "secrets" would be revealed to me, I guess I was expecting something a little more exciting. Dont know quite what...???
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I've always believed a couple things in regards to my ritual.
[*]First, one saying we have in Beta Theta Pi is "Once a Beta, Always a Beta, Everywhere a Beta" As a pledge, this was explained to me as that I've always believed in the principles and ideals of Beta Theta Pi, and I've lived my life accordingly, even while in HS and before - I just had never known it the wording of the fraternity. If I hadn't been living up to those ideal to some extent already, well I probably wouldn't have fit into the fraternity and not found my place there. If you believe the same thing about your chapter, then the "secrets" should not be life-altering in a sense that they are not completely new concepts.
[*]Second, if the chapter is doing its job, then your pledges/new members should know what your organization stands for - again not necessarily in the wording of the organization or in regards to what your actual letters mean, but the whole thing should not be bringing them new concepts. Members should be tryign to live up to those ideals and hopefully conspicuously succeeding in doing so.
Finally more than several members of a number of organizations I have talked to have commented on how just how much of their ideals are presented in readily available material, like promotional brochures, open constitutions, creeds, websites, and pledge education materials. On more than one occasion people have agreed with me that careful study of their organizations publications would reveal what their organization held most dear - what was the basis for their secrets. Given that, after hearing/reading this information multiple times during a pledge period, would probably cause one to feel like the secrets werent' very exciting.
All in all, the combination of these things, probably meant that the secrets weren't brand new, and I think that's a good thing. Obviously, a person is going to fit in best with a place that's already in line with their goals, a chapter that is living up to their ideals is going to be doing things that reflect those ideals, and the fraternity movement was greatly helped by opening up to the public and being honest with the goals of the organizations - without this transperancy who knows if our organizations would be as prevalent and strong.