Stop and help or walk?

So if you have not read Amanda's post about our encounter with the woman in need last night you really should! Similar to Amanda, I was facing the same struggle. I wanted to help her, but I did not have any money with me. So what I was thinking was well you wait right her and I will run to my house to get you some medication for your son. Then, my next thought is wait I dont want her to see where I live. Just like Amanda said why do we judge? Why do we assume that someone is dangerous or has alternative motives that what they say?

Partly, I think it is society and how individuals act these days. In general, it is hard to really trust someone and beleive everything that they say, but I also think part of the skeptism comes from how people act on a daily basis. Integrity is lacking in our society, and generally, people just do what they want. What benefits them. Now, I am not saying everyone is like that; there are many people selfless individuals in our world. Unfortunately, I think we have more selfish people. We live in a society of always wanting more and never really being satified. Now, you might be thinking what does this have to do with the woman on the streeet?

I think it has everything to do with her. When approached by her, we perceived her story as the same one that we hear walking down High Street. "I don't have any money; can you spare some." Like Amanda said, how can we know they are going to really spend this money on the child who is sick or is it just for alcohol or drugs? Maybe we never will now, but I still feel like we should help them.

So this situation really reminds me of a discussion that we had in my Bible study last week. We were struggling with the same conflict and wondering what should we do? What does God want us too do? It reminded me of the Bible verse from Luke 12:48 that states,

"From everyone who has been given much, much will be required, and from the one who has been entrusted with much, even more will be asked."

Another tangent (to the longest blog ever!: One of my friends said at Bible study that she carries around peanut butter crackers and when someone as her for money she gives them some crackers. Or someone else said that when they saw an individual sitting on the street asking for money by Starbucks she bought him a drink when she got one for herself.

I guess what I am saying is though we may wonder what the individual's story is; maybe we should not focus on what we think their motives are but instead just lend a hand and help them whether that be with a couple of advil (if we were only lucky enough to have those with us last night!) or a hot coffee....

Big R, Little r

So I heard about the activity you all got to do last Friday, and it sounded like it was a lot of fun! I would have been curious to see what everyone said to you all!

So what really is Ritual? It is funny because after I became a member of Kappa Delta the meaning of Ritual for me changed. At first, I remmeber thinking that Ritual is suppose to be a secret that only Kappa Delta know about, but after having some real converstations about Ritual at UIFI, Ritual took on a different meaning. I realized that many of us share many similar aspects in our Rituals. Yes, the ceremonies are likely different, but the meaning behind Ritual is similar. To me, I see Ritual as an expression of what a sorority/fraternity believes in--sister/brotherhood, growth, development, and becoming better people. Why would we want to keep that hidden? We should want to share that with individuals outside of the community, and we should be acting out our Ritual daily hence the word "Ritual."

According to Webster, Ritual means "of or relation to rites or a ritual: ceremonial ; done in accordance with social custom or nomral protocol; AN ACT OR SERIES OF ACTS REGULARLY REPEATED in a set precise manner.

Yes, true, Rituals are ceremonies, but the part that I focused on in the defintion was AN ACT OR SERIES OF ACTS REGULARLY REPEATED. I think this is significant b/c I beleive that is how we should treat our Ritual. Kinda going off on a tangent with this, but I think it is important to realize that their are two types of Ritual Big "R" Ritual and Little "r" ritual. Little "r" rituals are the things that we do everyday--brush our teeth, get dressed, go to class, etc. More importantly though is Big "R" that maybe we just perceive as a ceremony but isn't more? I think it is; I think that Big "R" Ritual represents the values of our community-friendship, service, leadership, academics, personal development, reaching one's potential.

Big "R" Ritual should be treated like Little "r" ritual; it should be practiced in our daily lives. Each day, we should strive to Live our Ritual as then not only will we become better people we will be able to show others what Greek Life is really about.

Transitioning!!!

So after receiving emails from directors it is evident that we need to set higher expectations for our outgoing council. I know that the old council is ready to be done at the end of the year, but when individuals are not transitioned correctly or have to wait weeks before the former director will meet with them, it delays the progress of the incoming council, and instead, we spend time going back to transition individuals that we are not even as informed about as needed. I know that last year I was not even transitioned.... This just is not fair to the incoming councils who are excited for their new positions and ready to start!

So I would say this will be one of my goals for the councils to properly transition the next council so they can start the first of the year:)

Your Very Best...

So I really like the motivational videos... I have seen this one before, but I thought it has a lot of relevant messages to leadership from perseverance, believing in one's self,always giving it your very best, to the influence that one individual can have on others. Brock Kelly was a leader for his football team, and if you ever watch the movie that this clip appears in you, you would see that he did lead his team to win games that they never thought they could win.

How do you keep the good ones in?

So I met with an young women yesterday who just joined the Greek community, and based on recent conversations with other new members in her class, she is not sure if Greek Life is for her. She was teary-eyed when I spoke with her, and she was conflicted on what she should do. She thought she was joining a community that was committed to service, academics, and who valued quality friendship. I tried to share with her that many of us face the same challenge and how she is exactly the kind of member that we want in our community, but I am not sure if that is enough. I only met with this individual for an hour, and I could already see her as the President of her respective chapter or even council. But how do we keep her apart of the community? These are the individuals that we need more of... So anyone have any ideas of what might keep her around???

I tried to explain how she could make a difference in our community, and that the ultimate goal is to recruit members that just do not perceive the drinking aspects of Greek Life. I guess that when you see again that we need to start with our recruitment. Recruit for quality not quantity!

CHANGE:)

So I wanted to blog about this last week as we were talking about change, but I feel like we are going to continue to talk about change the entire quarter so I think it is still applicable. Anyways, you may be thinking 2pac how is that related to our community? Well, I think it does b/c it talks about how we need to change-change the way we eat, change the way we live, change the way we treat each other. All of these things are reflective of our world, obesity is everywhere,we are too consumed in our own lives, and we treat each other poorly and sometimes do not show each other the respect that we all deserve. So I guess this reminded me of our conversation b/c things must change in our community for us to remain national organizations across the country. When I was reading the articles for this week about fraternities/sororities current existence and how some universities have eliminated Greek Life. This just reaffirms that things must change if we want to be in existence in the future. Not that OSU Greek Life is a disaster, but it is clear by those articles, that some institutions believe that Greek Life is not necessary...

Values, values, values

What are your values and how do they define you? Where do they fit in terms of your council's values? In terms of the community's values?

My values are central to who I am and who I strive to be each day. I know I am not perfect, but whenever I have a decision to make, the first thing that comes to mind is what I value. A majority of my values are a product of the example my parents have set for me, but many are a product of the experiences and obstacles that I have encountered throughout my life. Honestly, I think that three things really stick out to me when I think about how I came to adopting a firm set of values:

1. Family: My parents constantly lead by example and helped us adopt a strong moral compass to live our lives by each day. Through their actions and expectations for us, I believe that I established a foundation for my values that I still practice today. I value my family and how close we are!

2. Starting in 6th grade I began playing golf; anyone who plays golfs knows that it is a game of integrity, discipline, and honesty (except when Tiger Woods plays.. ZINGER.. haha just kidding not really though he lost my respect). Anyways, I became extremely dedicated to the game, and I would practice from 7a.m. till 5p.m. or later everyday in the summer and then after schools till it got to late. Through all those hours of practice, I really acquired an appreciation for hard work and discipline. Then, when it came to playing, I learned about the value of integrity and honesty, but beyond these things, golf really kept me out of trouble. In high school, I remember being pressured to drink, and I always would either be able to avoid the situation b/c I was traveling to a golf tournament or had the strength to stand up for what I believed in b/c I had acquired that discipline and was focused on achieving my goals.

3. Then, I got to college, and my faith really grew. I always believed in God, but at school, it became a personal choice to go to church every Sunday. Back home when I was younger, I think I went to church b/c we went as a family and b/c I felt like it was the right to do. Yet, at college, I joined a bible study, and I went to church b/c I wanted to be there. I wanted to know more about God and be a better Christian. Over these last four years, I have learned even more about myself through my faith. Love. Compassion. Joy. Hope. Serving others. Are just a few things, but through my faith, I feel that my values have only grown stronger and helped me grow as a person.

So I know that is a lot about what I value--family, integrity, honesty, compassion, unconditional love, do the right thing in all things. I think that all of my experiences and challenges that I have faced have helped define me as an individual and only helped me develop stronger values.

In respect to the councils values, I have sorta eluded to those above by talking about striving to do the right thing in all one's actions and to reach one's full potential, but I have not mentioned other aspects that I believe both the council and community "say" that we value such as friendship (I would be lost without my friends; they are like family!), service, scholarship, personal/professional development (both of these, though not stated exactly as so above, I value too!).

To wrap up my novel, I would say that my values are congruent with both the council and community as in life I believe that I strive to reach my full potential in all aspects of my life from being a good friend to serving my community.