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.