balanced man vs traditional

[traditional1]

Originally Posted by Scones

Yet, you can't compare apples to oranges. But they're both still some goddamn fruit.

Sure I can. And I will. If some BM from University of Well Balanced Men tells me he's a BM. That means he learned the grip in his first few weeks of school. That means he knew the ritual at EDGE while I was still a pledge. That means he didn't earn our secrets at all.

I can compare the BMP chapters at EDGE to my pledge class. My pledge class stuck together when they tried to split us up into groups. We left for lunch together when they had split up groups with other chapters for lunch. I remember that as the first time I knew the difference between Traditional Pledgeship and the ridiculous BMP.

Both might be some goddamn fruit, but I don't trust BM. Congrats on your community service, your GPA, your finally becoming an Epsilon and learning more of my grandfather's rituals. I wouldn't respond to a BM "SigEp fight" call, because the BMP doesn't allow people to bond, there is no trust before knowledge. If it was really WWII that started the current pledge system, then I'm almost thankful the Japanese bombed pearl harbor.

Originally Posted by Scones

SigEp took the less dangerous road and listened to the growing concerns of today's anti-greek society... If you want to fix BMP, fix our messed up America first.

Umm, I have no intention of fixing BMP. BMP is clearly a reaction to Traditional Fraternity practices. The feminism of this country that is growing, making it's way into this brotherhood is appaling. I'm willing to consider changing some traditions, but the BMP kills the heart of this fraternity. At the very least if anyone tells me my chapter will become a BMP, I will take my letters with me and leave. I will go to my grandfather's grave, put my letters next to it, and share a moment of deep pain from the BMP and, I guess, society. Fixing America is another thread all together.

Originally Posted by Scones

But take my words to heart, BROTHERHOOD is not dead at my BMP. It may have a few weak links, it may have men who don't deserve. But I'll be goddamned if I tell you they know what it means to truly be a SigEp.

My BMP brothers earn their understanding, and what they reap they shall sow. That is BMP.

Originally Posted by Scones

I still don't get the BMP. And I've yet to meet a BMP who knows what SigEp is. But:

I believe they might have some brotherhood at a BMP, but brotherhood is at least dying at BM chapters. I met pledges from BM's at EDGE (which, by the way, was idiotic itself), I meet BM's when I travel to other schools for football/basketball games. They all have one thing in common, their bond of brotherhood is about as strong as a newborns skull. They inherently have to care more about grades than men, they have to care more about community service than Brotherly Love, and they don't realize that Virtue and Dilligence to a Traditional SigEp Brother means Honor and Pride, not just community service and GPA. What does a "Brother" In Need night teach you other than how many push ups you can do before you get tired? Pledging teaches you how many push ups you can do before you get tired, how much longer you can go after you get tired. Pledging has requirements and cardinal principles taught in unforgettable lessons, BMP has quests(?) with guide books(?) and community service(?). This isn't the f$%^ing Boy Scouts... I finished the Boy Scouts years ago.

Real fraternities might seem like hoodlums to society and BM pledges, but at least I know my father and his father learned how to be a SigEp the same way I did. And honestly, that is all I care about, that is goddamn tradition. That is just the tip of the iceberg as far as what it means to be a SigEp. It would take 3 or 4 BD's including 1 PM about 9 or 10 weeks to teach you what it really means to be a SigEp. I don't pretend to be an expert Balanced Men, but I'll bet I can stand on one foot longer than they can. BM's don't know what this means, but I'd love to have them wake me up with the knock of Motivated Motivated Motivated, Sir. It could be a knock dying out, but my father knows it, and I learned it. We were in two different traditional chapters, separated by 30 years, with the same traditions. If anything the BMP kills my own family's tradition.

I must stop ranting as most of the people reading this are BM and wouldn't know what I'm talking about from this point on. Traditional SigEps are a dying breed and that's a sad thing because we don't need to be. Our national staff is clearly trying to force BMP, which as a brotherhood it is completely irresponsible to accept. If my grandfather saw what has happened to this fraternity he might've not requested to be buried with a president's pin.