Why Haze!!

[ASTalumna06]

It just makes me laugh that you say that because I haven’t experienced it, I don’t understand. I understand plenty of what I haven’t experienced. And if you’re telling me that people ONLY learn through experience, then you’re sadly mistaken. Because I can tell you that to get stabbed is bad, I can tell you that if you jump out of an airplane, you will fall very quickly to the ground, and I can tell you that if you taunt a barracuda, there’s a pretty good chance he’ll bite your sorry ass. But I’ve never done any of those things.

You talk to me as if I have never heard a story about what other chapters do for hazing. I have heard first hand what some people do. And for some, running around campus, being covered in eggs, doing 500 push-ups, doing laundry for your big, and being otherwise belittled by the people who are supposed to be your “brothers”, etc., etc., etc., isn’t something that they’re willing to do to be part of an organization. And personally, I commend them for it.

Because I KNOW I wouldn’t want that done to me. And that’s not me being naïve because I haven’t experienced it. That’s not me not being able to handle it. That’s me making a personal choice based on the fact that I know those things suck. And I don’t have to prove myself to anyone by having them embarrass me and do things that may scar me emotionally.

I don’t haze anyone because I don’t pretend to know anyone. I don’t pretend to think that everyone is mentally healthy. Because THAT would be naïve. And I don’t pretend that nothing happens to anyone, ever.

Example: The mother of one of my sisters died last semester. This girl is a little more emotional than others in general, so when this happened, it took her a long time to even be able to come around the chapter because everyone was having a good time. SHE HAD A HARD TIME ENJOYING HERSELF because she almost thought she shouldn’t be happy. A lot of people do that when they lose a loved one, and if that happened to one of your pledges and you weren’t having fun, but instead were harassing him, I guarantee there’s a pretty good chance you could permanently push him away.

The only advice I can give you is not to assume that everyone is as “perfect” as you are. Everyone has their own issues to deal with, and everyone has pasts that you know nothing about. So to assume that you are above those who don’t want to be humiliated is rather pathetic in my opinion.