What is it about DST...?

[I.A.S.K.]

I want to become a member because Delta represents my past, my present, and my future. It is all of the things that were instilled in me, all that I am, and all that I hope to be. The other important reason why Delta has my heart is The Five Point Thrust. When I first read The Five Point Thrust I felt like someone finally understood my purpose in life. The Five Point Thrust contains all of the essential aspects of my life. Those five things are the most important to me as a person, as a woman, and as a black woman. The points are indicative of all of the areas in which I desire to be successful. Though I could give many examples of this I will only give one to try to keep this less long.

I grew up mostly lower to middle-middle class. My mom gave me the world both literally and figuratively. She sacrificed so that I would be able to travel and she instilled in me a love of reading that has allowed me to travel anywhere I want. Because she gave me so much I want to return the favor. I want to be rich and successful so she will not face any financial difficulties. Also, many of the countries I have visited made me aware of the fact that money makes the world go round and it also makes life and death decisions. I went to Soweto and when I saw the poverty people suffered and how they didn’t even have adequate living conditions I decided that I would get rich and come back and build a huge apartment building so that at least they could have a safe place to live (I was 13 and I had big dreams and I still do). Imagine my surprise when I found out about the Delta Towers. This amazing group of women had taken a dream of mine and made it a reality (for a slightly different purpose, but still to help people). Finding out about the Delta Towers made me realize that with Delta around all of my dreams and more would always be possible. That was when I knew that my heart already belonged to Delta. It was just waiting on the rest of me to catch up.

My thoughts and dreams weren’t the only thing that mirrored Delta. I spent hours doing one type of community service or another. It’s weird because I don’t even consider community service that I do “community service”. It’s just what you’re supposed to do. I was involved with mentoring Freshmen during my senior year of high school, I gave blood, time, and money any time one of my peers asked me, I was still active with the organization that I co-founded and spent time speaking to different groups about issues that our community faced, and I registered hundreds of people to vote. Basically anything and everything…I was all for it because I always had been. I went with the NAACP to help deliver supplies the weekend after Katrina hit and I saw proof that I needed to work harder to make a difference for my community and do my part.

Now we all know Delta is amazing and that if it can be done a Delta has probably already done it twice. So I got to the point where I had to answer the question: “what can I bring to Delta?” Every person thinks they’re awesome and all of that, but what do you really bring to the table? I have leadership qualities and experience, I am of good character, my grades are good, but I know plenty of young women who can say the same thing. The more I thought about this question the more I worried. I consider myself reasonably competitive so I wouldn’t hesitate to go head to head with any one of my peers, but in trying to become a member of Delta I am not solely compared to my peers. I am compared to women who are greater than I may ever become. That makes me nervous. I mean if Dr. Height is already a member of your organization what more can I add? There no one quality that I have that Delta doesn’t already have in its membership so where do I fit in? It took a while for me to answer this and to be honest I’m still answering this. I think that the greatness of the organization is not determined by its member’s individual greatness (though that does contribute a great deal) it is determined by their love, passion, determination, and commitment to achieving the goals of the collective and if I want to be a member my individual greatness matters, but it is only a part of what I bring to the table. If my individual achievements are all that I bring to the table then I have truly brought nothing and do not deserve a seat at the table. I know that I am good (or let’s say on my way to great) but that is not what I can offer Delta. All that I have that I can truly offer Delta is simply me. I offer all my time, effort, energy, money, thoughts, hopes, dreams, fears, pain, love, loyalty, happiness, hope, and all that I will become in the future. If that is not enough for Delta, if I am not enough for Delta, then I concede any seat I might possibly have to the better woman because I’d rather see her help Delta move forward than see Delta become stagnant with me. I would hope that at some point in the future I would be enough for Delta and work hard to try to get to that point, but the pessimist in me realizes that even at my greatest I may never be good enough for Delta.

One person asked if you could never wear letters or tell anyone you were a member would you still want to be a member of Delta. That question is far too easy for me to answer. Yes I’d be the best unknown member ever and love every minute of it. The real question to me is What if you were never a member?

Would you still love and support Delta? Would you show up to all of the Delta functions open to the public to show support? Would you still contribute financially to show your love? Would you still say a prayer for Delta when you go to God if Delta did not accept you into their ranks? Would you approach members with an amazing idea even if you could never be their sister? Would you still do anything to advance Delta? If Delta called upon you as a sister-friend and never a soror would you still answer?

No matter how many ways I ask myself these questions and no matter how much I fear this as a possibility and how much I know it would hurt me; because I truly love Delta my answer is always the same and always will be: Yes.