Blog post # 3

When I first joined this fraternity, I did so for selfish reasons. I may have joined this specific fraternity because of the connection I felt with the people in it, but I came in with no intention of improving it or the community in general. If that happened along the way, it would be purely coincidental, but my sole concern was how it would benefit me.

Over the past few quarters, my attitude has completely changed.  I now regard the well being of the fraternity over my own well being. My core values have changed to those that reflect the ideals of Delta Upsilon. Before I make any decisions, I evaluate how each outcome might affect the image and operations of our fraternity and community. I am making concerted efforts to improve relations between members of our fraternity, as well as relations with other Greek organizations. I am taking on more and more responsibilities with in multiple communities. Whereas I used to be uninvolved and apathetic, I am now ambitious and feel like I have the responsibility to help those around me.

This drastic change in attitude has mostly stemmed from the encouragement of the people around me. At first, I was indifferent about helping the communities I was involved in. I felt like even if I did want to help, I didn’t have the ability or the resources to make a difference. My fraternity needed a strong leader to take over the presidential role, but I didn’t think I would make an effective leader. Despite being on campus for over 100 years straight, none of the other members of the Greek organizations knew who we were. I understood this, but couldn’t see what I could possibly do to impact this and improve inter-Greek relations. I recognized that a lot of people around me needed help, but didn’t think I could be the one to provide that help. Despite my insecurities, the people around me have continued to support and encourage me to pursue those goals I feel unreachable. Slowly but surely, as I started to see how I could help my different communities, I also started to see the importance of doing so. In other words, seeing that I had the ability necessary to incite change forced me to see why I had the responsibility to do it.

Unfortunately, some of the members in my fraternity care about their communities about as much as I used to and it’s hard to get beyond the wall of self-centeredness. As time has gone by, our culture has become more and more focused on working towards goals that benefit one’s self rather than one’s community. Insurance companies make obscene amounts of money by tricking good intentioned, gullible people. The price of a college education skyrockets while the comparative financial benefits of a college degree steadily decrease. This culture shift has made it exponentially more difficult to convince people to care about their communities.

Now the men in my fraternities will do as much community service as I tell them to, but only because I tell them to. If you were to ask them about the societal value of the work they were doing, they would just stare at you with a blank look on their face. This is certainly a problem I plan on addressing, but I am unsure of how to change this mindset. We have had people come in and talk to us about the importance of selflessness in regards to our communities, but it has not been very effective. I am currently unsure of what I can do to really motivate people to help those around them, and it’s something I will probably struggle with up until the inauguration of our next (fraternity) president.

WBP 2

Sorry about posting this so late (or early depending on how you look at it.) I reformatted my computer last night and have been spending the better part of 24 hours trying to get everything situated again. I am literally so tired that I'm hearing stuff, so I'm sorry if my blog sounds a little weird.

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change we seek.” –President Barrack Obama

This is one of my favorite quotes I’ve heard recently. Not only is it very good advice, but it’s advice that our entire nation needs to follow. For the past couple years, I have been hearing a lot of talk about things economy, jobs, world affairs, etc. And no matter who is doing the talking, the subject matter is almost always the same; somebody is unhappy with something, and they’re upset that no one has done anything about it yet. Sad as it may be, this is quickly becoming the universal trait of the 1^st world countries. Everybody simply expects that since there are so many other people in the world, it’s clearly not their own responsibility to fix the issue.

Well I believe in challenging the status quo. I know from firsthand experience that if you want something done, you better do it yourself. And every person has not only the ability, but the responsibility to cause change. Creating change doesn’t take a special skill set or a special kind of person. What it takes is bravery and hard work: the principles that this country was founded upon.

Any person can change their group or community. It’s as simple as asking yourself a few questions. First and foremost, how is change beneficial? It will be hard convincing others of the importance of your mission if you can’t answer this very important question. Secondly, what specifically needs to change in order for the issue to be completely “fixed?” And lastly is, of course, what can you do to encourage that change? Anything you can possibly do will bring you closer to your end goal. As a wise man once said, “the journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.”

Change implemented in this way is obviously first order change.

I think a very good example of this concept and process is the invisible children campaign. 2 nobodies decided to pursue a seemingly impossible goal. They started out small, and then slowly grew as they gained support. Now they have raised awareness on a global scale, and have hopefully touched the lives of many people. And all this started with the simple decision that they were the ones who needed to change the world.

Weekly Blog Post 1

Sorry this post is so long. I didn't really realize how much I had written until I was finished. I think I answered most of the prompts, albeit in a very roundabout way (also, I hope the prompts were only the first couple questions.) I took a bit of leeway while answering some questions, but I think it’s more beneficial to focus first on the why of social change, rather than the what. Anyway, here it goes.

As the president of a smaller fraternity, I am repeatedly faced with the same, albeit very crucial decision; to change or not to change. This choice manifests itself in many different ways. Should I change the way I interact with members of my organization in order to carry an air of authority? Should I change our recruitment system to ensure quality over quantity? Should I completely remove long standing traditions and practices that I feel do not add any value to the fraternity? Should I make changes that would please our international office but upset most of our current members, including myself? Should I change my personal identity so that my actions are more congruent with the principles that I preach?

As I continue to learn what is expected of me as a leader and what I have the power to do, I frequently take a step back and look at my position from an outsider’s perspective. This often makes me realize that the question I should be asking is not “should I change,” but “why should I not change?” After all, the only way to ensure rapid growth is through frequent change. Oftentimes, the resounding answer to this question is Fear: Fear of unpopularity, fear of failure, fear of losing my identity. And while I almost never let fear stop me from accomplishing short term goals, it quite often plays a major role in how I pursue my long term goals and aspirations.

The fear that has played the most into my decision making recently is the fear of failure. I lead a smaller group than most, so I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this fraternity will follow my lead; I have the ability to shape it into whatever I want. But as a very wise man once said, “with great power comes great responsibility.” I am now responsible for not only myself, but for 20 other men. If I fail, I am not only failing myself, but also my brothers, the alumni, and our national headquarters.

That is why it is so hard to work for social change from the top. If you are truly working towards social change, you are gambling with the resources you have at your disposal in order to make the world a better place. However, in the case of leaders of organizations, the bulk of those resources are people, who often are more important to you than the actual goal you are trying to accomplish.

To put it in terms that are a little easier to wrap your head around, it’s like being the leader of a squad of 10 men. You are sent on a very dangerous mission to save the lives of 50 starving hostages. To make matters worse, half your squad is onboard with the mission, and half are not. No matter what, you all have to go, but the quicker you advance towards the captives, the more danger you will face. Do you mount a full charge, try to save as many hostages as possible and risk the lives of your men, or do you approach slowly and cautiously, ensuring the safety of your men while subsequently dooming some of the poor hostages. This is the unfortunate decision that a true leader and catalyst of social change must make.

It is clear that there are major problems in the world that need to be addressed, and it is clear that we have a responsibility to solve those problems. But in order to make a serious impact; in order to succeed at creating social change, we have to be willing to run the risk of failing at other aspects of life. I may turn my fraternity into the most successful and respected fraternity on campus, but I may lose all my friends in the process. My fraternity might significantly improve the homelessness situation in Columbus, but shifting the focus off of internal operations might cripple the fraternity.

Going forward, I fully intend to grow the fraternity to the best of my ability and make it as successful as possible given the resources at my disposal. I also fully intend to use the fraternity to improve the rest of the community in a meaningful and lasting way. Where I happen to fall on the spectrum between “growing the fraternity” and “helping the community” remains to be seen, but hopefully I make decisions that I and my brothers can be proud of down the road.

I expect this challenge to be hard, and I expect to fail multiple times before i succeed. But in the immortal words of President John F. Kennedy, “We choose … to do [these] things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.”