worth

When people usually hear about fraternity initiations, the image that comes to their mind almost immediately is hazing. Over time, we hear on the news how people end up in hospitals, or even die, from the extent of the physical battery they are put through. No wonder parents consider fraternities as taboo for their children; and, one’s peers would immediately have a different impression of a person when they join. Even with all the video games and crimes proliferating now, violence will (and should) always be a deviance to the norm.

Here in Silliman University, where initiation begins its cycle almost every semester, say the word “fraternity,” and people will not only imagine the hazing, but also the humiliation that goes with it. To be more precise, they will think of the Luce Lobby at night, with about a dozen subdued people listening to their “masters,” running, doing pushups, singing, and basically accepting torture, to their egos, to their bodies, to their minds.

In the case of fraternities, if you’re a “pledgie” or a neophyte, I don’t imagine there will be much difference. You suffer “days of gloom” with the purpose of surviving everything they give your way so you can partake in the supposed bond of a lifetime with your new “brothers and sisters.”
Let me just disclose my evolution of thought.

The issue on fraternities never used to be a big deal for me. I never used to see the sense in rituals, in secret meanings and ideals, and in the, as a Mass Communication senior put it, forced bonding between people who originally had nothing in common.

But there also came a time when I saw a different side of fraternities. A friend of mine recently tried joining one in Silliman not only for her father, who was a member, but for herself. She wanted to see just how much she could take. She wanted to discover her weaknesses and strengths, and she wanted the experience.

I firmly believe that it is always easier to walk away from hardships, but the best things in life do not just drop in your lap. You have to work for it. It takes discipline, dedication, and strength, and that will never change throughout the ages.

But for fraternities, you have to be really convinced of its goals, its sincerity as an organization. There is the question of, “Is this worth my time and effort?” People will hurt you, after all. You should be dead certain of its worth.

I am not a fraternity kind of person. I do not drink. I do not like clingy people. And ever since I was a child when my father disciplined me with belt lashes (and a hug after explaining the purpose of the belt lash), no one ever hurt me physically.

When I asked a Management senior why he joined a fraternity, he said it was because he didn’t want his college life to be just for study. He also wanted to be active, and to have an avenue for activities. He has an extremely laudable reason. He wants to be productive.

As I surveyed different members of different fraternities around campus, they almost always mention that “some members are no longer active.” The fact that some people will go through running, pushups, punches and whatnot (at the Luce Lobby, no less) then end up with other interests and loyalties is disheartening. Some also mention that now, all they do as a group is have drinking sessions.

Could it be true that the only thing holding some fraternities together is the initiation cycle every semester? Do some members only bond while taking out their vengeance for past embarrassments on unsuspecting “pledgies?”

A fraternity’s “purpose” is perhaps as what is written in the website of the oldest existing fraternity, the honor society Phi Beta Kappa. Namely, it is to afford stimulating associations; to offer inspiration in the quest for knowledge; and to give discipline in social cooperation. These people realize that a group has more power and influence than an individual.

But I was just wondering what will happen if this “purpose” was adhered to in all the fraternities here in Silliman University.