What is Kappa?

[minerva98]

What Is Kappa?



If it’s really anything at all,

Kappa Kappa Gamma is not:

a fleur-de-lis,

national conventions,

monogrammed rings,

worn-out songs,

by-laws,

membership standards,

or a golden key.



And it is not:

an institution,

a creed,

a legacy,

an obligation,

or a way of life.



And if you’re going to insist that it is something,

Kappa is:



Moving in for the first time and slowly learning

that the beautiful people have fat legs and use mouthwash, and wear
last
year’s coats.



Sitting next to an alumna you don’t particularly like

and being nice to her because it means something to her.



Long, tired eternities of black coffee and exam snacks,

when you still can’t remember the Renaissance architects or the mossy
taproot system.



Borrowing a skirt from Dina, and a blouse from Kristyn,

and shoes from Jen and a scarf from Heather and coat from Jackie …

and passing it all off as your own.



Sitting on the back steps and listening with all your helplessness

because she’s lost and she’s lonely,

and it seems the whole world just fell into ugly pieces.



And it’s coming in very late one night and closing the door

to tell someone who’s seen you through the hardest years of your life

that you’re happy now and you’re getting married.



And Kappa is, I suppose, a kind of evolution.

You grow up inside these elegant walls.

And, perhaps you do learn more of this grizzly, ungraceful circus we
call
life

than if you had lived somewhere else.



You learn that a football player is sometimes just shoulder pads,

and that skinny arms sometimes hide a great man.



You learn that no matter where you came from, of who took you there,

you’ve still got to find that one small place that belongs to you, by
yourself.



You learn that there’s still a lot left to believe in and a whole lot
more
to hope for.



You learn that love has never been easy and that it’s a long time
coming.



And if you’re smart, or very lucky,

you learn that no matter how big or how messy the world becomes,

what is precious and what is permanent is always the same.



And in the very end,

Kappa can only be, a better way to stumble down the back steps and out
the
front door.