Citizenship

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines citizenship as the quality of an individual's response to being a member of a community. 

 If I were to define it i would say that citizenship is the responsibility to be a productive and intelligent member of society.

To be a good citizen you need to fulfill you duties as a citizen. This means you need to take part in government by voting.  To do this efficiently you need to keep yourself up to date on the matters at hand.  If there are multiple people running for an office, then educuate yourself on their stances on certain important issues and find out what their platform is.  You need to always be well involved in what is going on around you.  This doesn't just translate in being active in things like government though. You also should be active in your community.

Note that I said "YOUR community."  You live there and do your daily routine there so you should care about the area that you live.  You should take responsibility for that and take care of your community.  This could be shown in a number of ways.  For example one of these ways could be by taking part in an event that raises money for some sort of organization in your community like a homeless shelter.  Kind of like hmmm..... a philanthropy if you will.  Another way you can take care of your community is by doing community service.  This could be anything from volunteering around your community helping others or picking up trash on the side of the road.

The most important thing is that we need to SET THE EXAMPLE so that other people get involved.  I'm sure all of this reminded you all of something..... oh yes that's right.  Greek Life.  All of our houses talk about how much of an impact we all have on our community through philanthropy and community service activities.  This is not enough.  Yes it's awesome to have all of the greeks get so excited about helping the community but the most important aspect of citizenship, to me at least, is spawning the desire to make a difference in others.  That's what being a citizen is all about. Making an impact on not just the community but getting others excited about making an impact as well

Greek Panel

Last week we had a Greek Panel visit us and have an informal Q & A about Greek Life and their experiences with Greek Life.  Then we were asked to blog about the things that stood out the most about what was said.  For me the first and foremost thing that stood out was when someone said "Just have fun. If you aren't having fun, you aren't doing it right." This stood out to me because it's so true.  I live with 30+ of my closest friends.  When the school work is done, there is always something to do and always someone that is will to do it.  Whether it be playing xbox, going to the gym, attending a social event on campus, or participating in a philanthropy, there is always fun to be had. My college experience has greatly improved since i went Greek which is saying something because I thought college was awesome before I went Greek.

The next thing that stood out to me was when someone said "We have to hold ourselves and our members accountable." This is a very important point to me.  We all have those people in our chapters that work their ass off for the fraternity/sorority, but we also have those members that don't carry their own weight.  Why is it that we can't seem to stand up and call those people out? If we expect the outlook of the Greek community to grow and prosper, if we expect our houses to become the best they can be then we need to make a change in how we respond when someone is acting in a way that is less than pleasing.

The finalpoint that stood out to me was that we need to be excited. One aspect of this was having people in leadership positions that are excited about the position they are in.  I think this is extremely important because if you have someone in a position that isn't excited about it then they aren't going to put all their effort into doing the job well. This then causes a downward spiral because the younger members see that and think that that is the norm and how it should be done.  On the flip side, if you have someone in the position that is passionate about it and wants to do it well then they put their whole heart into it and everything runs smoothly and you set a great example for the younger members of the organization. This then causes the organization to grow and prosper.

It's another wonderful week here at THE Ohio State University and you know what that means. Yup, you guess it. Another blog prompt to write about. So what are we talking about this week you ask? Yeah that's right we are going to discuss oath. What it means, what it represents, and why we make it. So enough of this stuff, let's get down to the nitty-gritty.

OATH

What Does It Mean?

You may be asking yourself, "So what exactly does oath mean?" Well i hit up my good friends from Mirriam-Webster (you know, the dictionary people) and asked them what oath meant. This is what they told me.

1. a solemn usually formal calling upon God or a god to witness to the truth of what one says or to witness that one sincerely intends to do what one says
2.  a solemn attestation of the truth or inviolability of one's words

So what does that mean? Well I take it to mean that it is something that you swear to a higher power that you are whole-heartedly putting yourself into whatever it may be. It's a promise that you will not back out on your word.

What Does It Represent?

You may say that what the oath represents and what it means are the same thing. I disagree. I feel that your oath represents everything that you stand for. For example, when it comes to Greek Life, you pledge an oath to your fraternity. When you join Greek Life, you aren't going to join a house that you don't get along with the people or that your beliefs completely contradict what they as an organization stand for. You join the house that you best fit in with and that your beliefs best match. Your oath reflects that and that is what it represent. You are saying that you care about the organization and what they stand for and you are going to do everything within your power to help in the growth and expansion of the organization.

Why Do We Make It?

So whats the answer? Why do we make such a huge decision and put such a very important pledge on our involvement in these organizations? It's because we care. We aren't a part of the organization, the organization is a part of us. When someone looks at our organization, they are looking at us. We are selling ourselves. That's why we make these oaths. It's because we believe, deep down in our hearts, that everything our organizations profess to stand for, is exactly what we ourselves as individuals stand for.

What is it that makes Greeks so incongruent? Well let's really think about that for a second.  What is the first thing most people think of when they hear the words Greek Life, fraternity, or sorority?  More often then not they think of alcohol and large quantities of it, huge parties, themed events with extravagant and in most cases provocative attire, and most of all, they instantly think that we do absolutely nothing beneficial except give other college students a venue to drink, a lot of times underage.  But can you really blame them? Granted it's not completely our fault, but can you blame them? A lot of people's only interaction with Greek Life is through movies like Animal House, American Pie: Naked Mile, and American Pie: Beta House. Now we all know that we are more than that but how do you change the public's opinion?


When you really think about it, we don't make life easier on ourselves.  We brag up and down about how we do this philanthropy and we help out the community in this way or that. It's true that most Greek organizations have a philanthropy or community service project that they put on and if they don't ( even if they do) they participate in other Greek's philanthropies.  That is awesome don't get me wrong but that small impact is not much to stand on when you compare it to the negatives that society holds against us.  Yes we do great things for our communities but we also promote underage drinking, binge drinking, cheating, and stealing.


My chapter is just as guilty as anyone elses.  I have seen old tests passed around, I have seen massive amounts of alcohol consumed, and I have even partaken in some of it myself. We talk about being professional and developing young men and women into upstanding citizens of society. You know what society says? YOU GUYS ARE DOING A DAMN GOOD JOB. Let's face it, there is no way to ever change everyone's opinion. I'm not so neive to believe that you can but we aren't doing everything we can to change society's opinions either.  If we continue the way we are we will never be looked at as upstanding organizations that are beneficial for our communities.


Let's recap. We put on TGs which we dress up for and walk around campus and people see us like that. We throw massive parties and invite anyone and everyone to come and drink and get drunk regardless of age. We keep test banks and pass them down through the years. We steal things, mostly from each other due to rivalries but regardless its still theft. 
 BUT
We hold philanthropies on a regular basis. We donate blood to the American Red Cross and food to food banks. We take part in community service all the time. That's all great but it's not enough. If we want people to believe in our organizations the way that we all believe in them, then we need to step up and correct our incongruencies. Until then, we are always going to be viewed the way we are.