Rrrrrrritual

Thoughts on Ritual

It is always difficult to know where to begin explaining Fraternity Ritual and its significance to someone who is not in a Fraternity or Sorority. My explanation is that Ritual is a meaningful tradition that we have, which is ceremonial in practice, embodies everything that we are and strive to be as individuals and Fraternity members, and is like the centerpiece of our existence.

Fraternities are meant to be meaningful environments, and Ritual is something that all members share with one another, reflect upon during its observance, and live out in our lives. Most organizations are secretive about their exact Ritual, but the principles outlined in someone's Ritual should be obvious in how they go about their lives; it should be obvious what he or she stands for.

Why is it secret at all then?

I like to think that this part is mainly in tradition. There is no real outside danger anymore to just be a member of a Fraternity that keeps secrets. There was a time, however, when members faced very real danger because of the way that secret societies were looks upon. The ability of our secrets to remain secret even through those tumultuous times is, for me, something that should be honored by continuing that tradition. Secrecy of Ritual I think also creates a sense of inclusion to those who are aware of it, and is like a reward for those who have devoted their lives to an organization. This is a pretty shallow way of looking at it, but I definitely see it as a factor.

Here is a pretty cool article from Lambda Chi about secrecy and Rituals in Fraternities. A quote from the article:

If the teachings of our Ritual were made available to anyone, then both members and outsiders would attach only a modest value to them. Instead, we have spent decades of effort keeping the truths of our Fraternity secret, and passing them down to those who come after us. This should convince us that what we have labored so hard to possess is indeed valuable.

So to bring it all together, Fraternity Ritual is an embodiment of our purpose, a guide to how to be the best Fraternity man you can be, and how Ritual is practiced is a nod to tradition--something that is also important for a sense of inclusion and meaning.

A Perfect World? Might as well dream...

My Perfect World is based on a very simple rule that everyone knows:

Treat others how you wish to be treated.

And you're thinking: "Duhhh." I don't know how more to elaborate on this, so let's think of how this could change things.

Would you like the ability to express yourself freely? If you do, then you shouldn't limit the expression of others.
Do you value the material possessions that you work hard to afford? If you do, then you shouldn't take others' from them.

Consideration for others is the underlying principle. A considerate world would be my perfect world.

I ran across this video from 1950 that explains The Golden Rule in another time... It's pretty funny how they approach this, and I think it's ironic how it's also from an era that many people see as a more "perfect" time (straight out of Leave It To Beaver), despite the many societal problems and injustices that existed at the time. Interesting how this rule was still preached during those times by the same people who would have failed to see the problems with what was socially acceptable then!

OpporFratunity

Sorry for the "fratty" title.

Describe in your own words the dilemma -- and the opportunity -- facing the Fraternal movement.

Given this as a prompt, I have had trouble thinking of some particular dilemma that we currently face as a movement. We are faced by difficult choices every day that affect our future as a whole. I can see where there have been great dilemmas in the past that have changed the way things work in Greek life at Ohio State, such as the choices made during the era when the Standards of Excellence were put into place. As I understand it, this requirement came from the top down to improve the quality and reputation of our organizations after a period that was, well, not something that I would have been proud to tell my mom about. It is a shame that we need to have things like the Standards in place, since by the nature of our organizations we should be setting good examples already. I guess sometimes we need that extra motivation of having "requirements" to meet in order to do what we already know we should do.

Anyway, in discussing that, I now have an idea of a dilemma that we face. Some people think that the Standards that we now fulfill should be updated. I have heard arguments either way, but the case for updating them centers around the fact that they were established in the earlier part of this decade, are somewhat low, and do not reflect the community that has grown up in the past few years.

I could support this.

The current Standards were probably a balance of what the enactors wanted to see and what they felt like people would actually do. This might have resulted in less rigorous requirements than originally intended. We could make this era's Standards a stepping stone toward an even more productive and active community. Many chapters are going above and beyond the requirements already and would have no problem with raising the bar. Those who are struggling now would either sink or swim: they would benefit from what would be involved in getting themselves on track to complete everything and consequently become a stronger chapter, or they would fail to meet demands and suffer whatever consequences that might entail.

Is this harsh? Maybe to some. Is it necessary? Not completely. But it is a logical step in the right direction if our aim is to expand our community's reach and reputation. We wouldn't need to make drastic changes but just raise our expectations evenly, more or less, emphasizing certain areas to reflect where we need to improve. If it were handled right, there probably would not be much opposition to these changes. Everyone should be able to see the intentions, and how this would play into our longer-term goals as a Fraternal movement.

Oath

What does Oath mean to me?

An oath is a binding contract between you and yourself.

Sure, you take an oath aloud, in the presence of others, with the assumption of pure honesty. You are subscribing to some requirements, so that the others who are present will know that when you are not fulfilling those requirements, it is your personal choice. For if you stood there and told them, with your right hand raised and maybe your left on something meaningful (or however you demonstrated your solemnity) that you would do something, and then later you do something inconsistent with that oath, you can be held accountable.

Why I think this contract is really something within an individual is because every individual is aware of when they are approaching the breach of their oath. An oath is more than an agreement because if you fail to adhere to it, you are letting down more than just the person or people at the other end of the agreement. Traditionally, oaths make an appeal to a higher power, making the breach of that oath something more serious, because then, not only are your peers upset with you, but also now is that higher power. Oaths require personal integrity, in the sense of the cliche that integrity is how you act with others are not watching you. They must be upheld even when--especially when--not around those with whom the oath is shared.

Anyway, the success of a Fraternity is based around the lifelong oath that all of its members take. It is what separates our organizations from others that just end with the college experience. We have a responsibility to ourselves and to one another to uphold certain things that which are spelled out in our Rituals will help us grow as individuals and encourage us to lead fulfilling, productive, and responsible lives.

Below is a painting, called "The Oath of the Horatii," by Jacques-Louis David, that I think says a lot about oaths in general.

My interpretation: The three soldiers on the left are taking an oath together. They have surrendered their swords and stand close, even embracing one another while taking this oath. Their stances show their determination and passion about their cause. They are in it together. The older man in the red robe is appealing to God to hear these men and witness their promise to what they will uphold. The women and children on the right are the reason for this promise. I assume they are the loved ones of these soldiers because, well firstly, there are obviously the same amount of young women as men. But also, their posture and expressions show their worry and fear for the men who are vowing to protect them. The left-most woman is comforting two small children, as to reassure them that everything will be alright now, but they are also in her shadow, meaning to me that she is hoping to shield them overall from whatever tragic experience she expects.

This painting says a great deal about taking oaths to bring people together. How similar is it to how you have experienced your oath in your Fraternity or Sorority?

Fraternal Strengths Finder

So here's the agenda:

• What are the strengths of your chapter and in what ways does your chapter need to improve?
• What are the strengths of your council and in what ways does your council need to change?
• What are the strengths of our community and in what ways does our community need to change?

These questions beg for a S.W.O.T. analysis, so I will oblige. (For anyone unfamiliar, a S.W.O.T. analysis allows one to break down something into its Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, so that then a plan for success can be created based on those aspects).

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I. Chapter

Strengths

If I had to describe my chapter in three words, I would describe it as: On the rise. Currently, we are not exactly at the top of the campus' Fraternity list in any particular area, but we are improving across the board, growing in all areas somewhat equally.

Our strengths lie in our Brothers.

Our recent chapter history, filled with up's, down's, changes in recruitment processes, and changes in chapter facilities, helps to explain why our Brothers are currently very diversely qualified to lead us up the Greek ladder. Because of the many changes that we have experienced in the past couple of years, many classes of new members who have come through have experienced the intake process in different ways. Each brother has a certain attachment to the process that he experienced, and with so many changes, there are many ideas of the ways that we should do things.

Part of our strength comes from the older members of our chapter, who have the experience from which we can draw to maintain chapter traditions that have meaning to us. They are also mentors to the younger members, and can guide us to a more successful future by remembering where we have come from, and keeping us grounded in our close brotherhood.

The younger, more recent initiates of our chapter are very enthusiastic and ready to get involved, not only within the chapter, but also on campus in general. They are ready to try new strategies to help us develop as a whole, and generally want to contribute whatever effort they can to further our cause. They also have a strong sense of the values of the Fraternity.

Strengths: Experience and Enthusiasm!

Weaknesses

This is where change comes in again. Because we have been in a constant state of change, trying to find the best way to run our chapter in various capacities, we are not completely united in our Vision of what the chapter should look like. This lack of a unified vision causes many issues when decisions are made by members of the executive board. Though made with the best intentions, at different times some dissent within the chapter has caused rifts within the Fraternity. An effect of this can be seen in the lack of participation in the newer mechanisms by older members, who do not agree with the new systems in place. Some even seem to have a different mentality altogether of what a member should be here for; this is understandable, as of course, every man joins a Fraternity for different reasons. This is all okay, as long as every man is still acting congruently with the values of the Fraternity and striving to further its interests. Recently, one member expressed his concern to me:

"We've got a lot of people working too hard and a lot of people playing too hard, and not a whole lot in the middle."

This is a somewhat accurate portrait of where we are. There are some people working really hard to make us better, but not taking much time to reap the benefits, and in some cases, not connecting with other members enough because they're putting too much into the front-end. Others are spending a lot of time enjoying the fun aspects of what we have to offer, or complaining a lot about what they do not like without offering many positive alternatives (attitude has a lot to do with it), or simply not showing up. Ideally, I would like to see everyone in the middle. We all should be working hard towards the same end, and should be rewarded with the shared benefits of those efforts -- enjoying success as a chapter and having fun together.

Weakness: Lack of unity.

Opportunities

There are many opportunities for us, as evidenced by the weaknesses that I detailed above. We have the opportunity to unite the chapter, if we can just agree on a common vision. At the beginning of this executive board's term, the various chair positions of the chapter, in conjunction with the executive board, completed a strategic plan, outlining every area of chapter life. For each area, there is now a Goal, an Objective, and a Strategy.

Goals are broad ideas of what we ultimately want to see; objectives are like the "mile markers" that we want to hit on the way to achieving our goals; and the strategies outline the action plans for achieving each objective and, in time, fulfilling the goals.

We created this as a chapter, but I think from an overall perspective, we all became too busy in what we were doing this quarter to actually keep up with how well we were following this plan that we took so much time to create. It is laid out to make us a better chapter, but we spent more of the quarter bickering over inconsequential details than actually putting that same effort into our responsibilities.

Opportunity: We have a map; let's follow it!

Threats

I perceive our threats as being mostly internal. I've already harped on those issues enough, so I'll just summarize with the cliche: "We can only beat ourselves."

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II. Council

Strengths

The IFC this year consists of members from a range of chapters, and we have grown pretty close together through spending quite a bit of time with one another at conferences, retreats, and in having class together all quarter. We are very much on the same page when it comes to where we want to take the IFC community, and we have developed goals together that reflect this. Our strengths will be working together and relying on one another as resources, because we have a great deal of experience between us, and anything that we lack, at least one of us knows where we can go to find the answer.

Weaknesses

The weaknesses of our council are that there are only eight of us, and we need to make sure that we are hearing all of the voices of the community. We will be relying heavily on one another as we hold events, give presentations, and do our best to do the most for the IFC community throughout the year. This is not, however, a cop-out. We are all very capable in our respective positions, are surrounded by a community of motivated members who are always willing to help out, and we are already working to make the most of the time we have.

Opportunities

One take-home message from the IFC conference several weeks ago was that we have the opportunity to: Advocate, Collaborate, and Educate.

We can advocate for IFC chapters and the members of IFC chapters by being their voice to the campus. We are in place as representatives of that body, and we must do our best to help the overall cause of the Fraternity at Ohio State.

We have the opportunity to collaborate with other councils, facilitate collaboration between IFC chapters, and even collaborate between other Big Ten schools' Fraternities and Sororities in the upcoming year. These experiences will strengthen relationships in our community as well as provide valuable insight to those involved as to how others might be approaching the problems that many of us share as Fraternity members.

The council has the opportunity to educate through giving presentations, hosting speakers, and holding other such events on relevant topics of interest to the community. Education can extend past Fraternity and Sorority members, to the general campus population, faculty members, and other members of the OSU community, like residence hall staff, who could benefit from a better understanding of what Fraternities and Sororities are really about.

Threats

The threats to the council lie in not gaining the respect of the community. Many chapter members look at the IFC as a group that does not accomplish much or is just in place to discipline its member chapters. This is actually a very common view. We acknowledge this as a threat because it jeopardizes our legitimacy, and it because it is untrue. It is certainly not the fault of chapters or individual members that this is the case; the IFC needs to gain the respect of the community through an excellent year of programming and opportunities for involvement to work for everyone.

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III. Community

Strengths

Our strength as a community is that even though we are so diverse (giving us the ability to cater to nearly any individual, based on what type of Fraternal experience he or she seeks), we are still striving for the same things. This gives us strength as a community because it presents the opportunity for us to use our commonalities as a basis for united efforts in whatever we choose. Perhaps our goal is developing men and women who are, and will be, responsible citizens and bettering the college experience. Perhaps it is to raise a certain amount of money for a worthy cause, or maybe it's just as simple as keeping our community clean. Whatever we decide to tackle as a community, we have the common ground to work together.

Weaknesses

We tend to focus, of course, on our own chapters much more than the community. A weakness of our community is in reaching out to chapters for them to understand the importance of each organization's contribution overall. One prominent fraternity on campus that becomes known for being wild on the weekends and consequently gaining a reputation as a place where ambulances and police cars are frequent visitors, and where friends have gotten themselves in trouble, has an impact on the entire community because they are the visible ones, and they will become the image of the fraternity in many people's eyes. As a community, we could do more to promote positive behavior, and make that behavior what is visible. That is what we want to be associated with us.

Opportunities

I see the opportunity for us to change the entire perception of our Fraternal community and make an impact on other Fraternity and Sorority communities -- and the world. Just as the solutions to my own chapter's specific problems are laid out in our own strategic plan, the solutions to the Fraternal community's problems lie in all of our Rituals. The values to which we all subscribe are the values that will lead us to wherever we want to take our community. All of our Rituals in some way or another, and in some order or another, urge us to strive for excellence by being individuals who value scholarship, altruism, and leadership, sharing these and other principles as brothers and sisters -- holding that friendship is the true binding force between us as members of our organizations.

How can we all be this similar and not work together to make things better for all of us?

Threats

The greatest threat that I see to our community is incongruence with our values. See "Opportunities" above. The greatest threat to us is not pursuing these opportunities.

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Overload

AFLV was an incredible time spent with everyone from class, and I really enjoyed getting to know everyone so much better than before. And there were many well-spoken presenters that I really enjoyed listening to. I would have to say my favorites were Will Keim and Corey Ciocchetti. I took so many notes, and I was so blog-ready on the bus back! Being the organized individual that I am, I tried to keep it all pretty centralized, so I took all my notes all weekend in my phone... Yep, there's an App for that. So, where I'm going with this is that a day or two after we got back, we had the miraculous OSU snow day of 2010, and then I broke my phone. My biggest loss was all of the notes, quotes, and ideas that I put down in the past week or so! I'm so bummed!

I'll do my best to remember what I wanted to get across.

One thing that caught my attention: the constant effort by everyone to sell something. From this and from the conference in Indianapolis a couple of weeks ago, it really made me think about the motivation behind these presentations. Most presenters seemed genuine, had great things to say, and were really entertaining. But then again, that is their profession. They wouldn't have a job if they weren't entertaining to some extent. Anyway, it just rubbed me the wrong way and distracted me from the material when at one point I heard "...and do you know where you can find resources like that? I'll tell you. I'm giving them to you for ***free***!!! Just check out [insert something like www.YouDrankTheKoolaid.com]!"

In another one, the guy spent the majority of his speech telling me what "the" characteristics of a successful leader are: synonyms for the same characteristics that the previous speaker used, but they were in a different order. To pick on that presentation a bit, the SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) that many of us are familiar with, was apparently not good enough for this guy, so he created his own model: ROPES. I don't even remember what the first 4 letters stand for (had it in my notes), but they are very close to SWOT, and the final "S" is what he claimed really set his model apart. The "S" stands for "Success."

My reaction to that: "Well, isn't that special."

Wanna know the secret to success? Buy my book, pay me to speak at your school, and I'll sell my book to all of your friends. Success!

It's all relative, I suppose.

Anyway, to hop off that rant, I enjoyed the discussions that centered around character and values-based leadership without ever really focusing on "leadership" the whole time. My two favorite speakers didn't really make me think about leadership at all, they made me think about life. One made me think about the lives of prolific artists and musicians, writers and politicians, and I began to compare theirs to my own life. They were working with, generally, the same amount of time in their life (probably less, given the time periods that they lived) that I have. I think the speaker rounded it out to 25,000 days. These were people who really made the most of their lives. They found what they were passionate about, and built their lives around those things.

Corey Ciocchetti talked about priorities. An experience that he had, in which he thought he might have had some sort of fatal brain cancer, is what changed his outlook on life and rearranged his priorities for him. I think this also encouraged him to devote a lot of his time since then to helping others to realize what their true priorities in life are. We get very caught up in things as busy young people. The values of our Fraternities and Sororities, laid out in our Rituals, do not only help to guide us in how we should get along as chapters and behave as gentlemen and ladies inside and outside of our chapters (as I think we have tended to focus most on in our discussions in class), but they also help to remind us what is truly important in life.

Pi Kappa Alpha's Creed, for example, ends with a call to all of its members to: "serve my faith, my family, my community, my alma mater, and my Fraternity." The order of these obligations is what I think represents the priorities of our members. Family is put before any other worldly things. Academic commitments are named before Fraternity commitments, interestingly enough. I also really like that community is named directly after family. This I see as less of an obligation and more of a social responsibility. Collectively, feelings of social responsibility provide the most good for the most people. Be there for the community, and the community will be there for you. Value your priorities. They're in order for a reason.

And now for something completely different. (anybody get that reference?)

This commercial is hilarious... I've seen it so many times, but it never gets old:

What the French, toast?!

What happened?

What did we do last Friday?

We were asked to find random Fraternity and Sorority members and to ask them several questions (going from memory, I hope these are right):

• What does your chapter spend the most time on?

• What are the values of your chapter?

• What is Ritual?

I feel like the activity was supposed to illustrate the (mostly accurate) point that many members of our community don't know the values that their own organizations stand for, which is a problem. Not only are many not familiar with their organizations' core values, but if they don't know what Ritual is, then they have no real hope of discovering what their organizations' values are, because they don't really know where to find them. Maybe they aren't looking. This could imply that the system of delivery, the Fraternity (or Sorority), as a value-based entity, is not succeeding.

At the heart of all of our chapters, before we have the social aspects, before we have the educational events, and even before we have the philanthropical aspects, we have a value system. It's in the very letters that we wear and represent. So shouldn't we all be quite familiar with what our values are, since they're enumerated in our Rituals, and shouldn't we spend the most time on things that resonate with the principles that we stand for (or at least make sure these things are in the top areas of where our time is invested)?

That's what we did last Friday; we were supposed to be motivated by our brothers', sisters', and friends' lack of familiarity with what are literally the most important things behind what we do: Ritual. Values.

I think I'm sounding very negative, so I'll turn this around a bit. Lots of the things that we do are exactly congruent with our values. The brother-/sisterhood that we all foster through our activities together, the service events that we participate in, and the traditions that we continue in our chapters are all things that reflect our values and Rituals -- sometimes it's just difficult to explain or list what these things are. Many of us are very familiar with these ideas because we do things that reflect them all the time -- we just may not be able to remember our Preamble for long after joining. That is something that can be helped!

I see Continuing (internal) Education as where my chapter is lacking, and I bet that many others are in the same situation. We could all stand to be reminded about the reasons we joined, and challenged to continue learning about the deeper meanings of our chapters. We have Ritual, but it can easily become something that is just a custom--a following of protocol for chapter--if its principles aren't weaved into everything we do. Maybe it's reflection upon how it is integrated into the things we do that is missing. Think about it.

Value.

"Personal leadership is the process of keeping your vision and values before you and aligning your life to being congruent with them." -Steven Covey

"Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value." -Albert Einstein

I like these ideas, and I live my life in a similar way. To put the first one first (lol, Covey reference in itself), I firmly believe in this philosophy of always keeping close at hand what means the most to you -- constantly reminding you of what you stand for. How can you keep track of your progress towards goals if you don't constantly revisit what you're aiming for? It's a little different when the goal is simply to live a fulfilling life and be a good person, and that's when personal values come into play more so than goals.

What are my values and how do they define me? My values are very consistent with values identified in my Fraternity's Creed. I aim to be a very honest person and live with integrity, because I feel, as the Creed states, that "truth is the foundation of all lasting association." This is a pretty simple idea. All relationships are based on some mutual trust, and how can you have trust without truth?

Next, service is a value that I feel is important. Now, I don't feel obligated to volunteer for everything and in every opportunity, and I don't expect that of others. All I mean by this is giving to others what I am capable of giving (within reason). To me, it's more about responsibility than obligation or some fulfillment-seeking sort of good-karma-building action. This isn't a very deep thought. It could be deep if I delved more into it, but it's sufficient to say that responsible people make the world a better place. The attitude of helping others is contagious. The next time you get a flat tire on the freeway and a stranger stops to lend a hand, you will hopefully recognize the feeling of responsibility you hope to move forward with afterwards.

Another part of Our Creed says to "live with honor and courage, seeking the inherent worth in each person you meet." This is important to me because it advocates seeking the strengths and the positive in others, rather than focusing on what is negative about them. This is a value based around patience and tolerance, which are essential in anyone's pursuit of well-roundedness.

Courage is extremely important because without courage, one might as well not have values; courage can be interpreted as the manifestation of one's values. If you aren't willing to stand up for your values--the very things that make you who you are--then why not just live without values, because then they are nothing but words. To live with honor is exactly what Covey's quote preaches: to live congruently with the values that you have established for yourself -- your own, personal standards.

In terms of my council's values, mine fit well inside of the range range of values that we decided as a group best represented us and would best guide us. Creativity was pegged as something important to us because it will lead us to new heights as an organization. Creativity is what diverts people from the status quo, breaking them out of the comfortable box of routine and complacency they sometimes live in, and gives them a new direction, vision, or perhaps just a new perspective of what they already had. I like consider myself to be a creative person, and this should be an environment where I will have the opportunity to flex that creative muscle as we look for new ways to approach the problems we are facing.

In my community, the Ohio State community, a sense of pride is not a bad thing. It is something that makes us proud of who we are and appreciate the opportunity to be here. Pride can be a bad thing, yes, but as long as it's kept under control -- checked and balanced by other values that seek positivity and not putting others down -- it can even make other communities better because one community's pride can inspire another's.

I want to end with my interpretation of the second quote that began this entry. Einstein suggests becoming a man of value rather than one of success because he felt that success will come to those who seek to live by their values. Pretty smart guy.

Reflecting on Week 1

Prompt: Why did we choose to start a class about Fraternal Change with a service project, and what did you learn about yourself and your peers as a result of our shared experience today?

I should have jumped on this reflection right after our first class class, but the thoughts still seem fresh in my mind a week later. It's interesting that we ended up watching that clip from Pay It Forward, because over winter break I actually caught that movie on TV myself, and was inspired by the same scene. It wasn't the first time I'd seen it--just the first time in a while. That's one of those movies from which you pick up on something different every time you watch it; the meaning is a little different each time, but always makes an impact. Well, that's how it's been for me, I guess.

Anyway, starting things off with a service project in this particular class got us in the right mindset. Just like watching that movie clip. So what's the mindset? It's certainly a mindset of (I've already used the word "impact;" let's go with "significance") making a significant difference to someone. While I was making sandwiches -- in between learning things about the people at my table -- I thought about the difference we were making for people. Sure, a PB&J sandwich doesn't do a whole lot for a person in the grand scheme of things, but to think that someone on their last leg stood in line to ask for help, and we answered, is pretty significant I think.

So what I'm seeing is that whatever efforts we choose to put into the causes that we volunteer to support as individuals will make a difference to someone; no matter how big or how small our actions, somebody is glad we helped.

It's important that we know what change we hope to bring about and the reasons why; there are plenty of quotes by famous people regarding the ignorance of "change for the sake of change," and anything else for the sake of itself (I like this one: "Growth for the sake of growth is the philosophy of a cancer cell." -Edward Abbey), so what I think this class will help us with in the Fraternity and Sorority community is to develop answers to those questions for ourselves and to unify our vision for where we are going and what changes will lead us there.

Thoughts on Leadership

Filling out the survey sent out, I felt like sharing some thoughts for the first question: Define Leadership. So here.

I would probably define Leadership differently on any given day. Usually when asked, I think of it as the ability of someone to motivate or empower others to accomplish some common goal or objective. But thinking a little deeper about the idea that Leadership paradigms have changed from the idea that leaders are "born" to the idea that leaders are "made," I'm thinking about a common characteristic of leaders -- whether you consider them born or made: confidence. What does it take to lead? Confidence in a cause. People will generally rally behind enthusiasm and an overall confidence in success regardless of whether the leader's confidence is ultimately going to "win" or if drive his cause into the ground.

What comes to mind are some words from George W. Bush's presidential nomination acceptance speech: "Give me the opportunity to lead this nation, and I will lead."

Recently, this clip was featured in the Daily Show on Comedy Central, and (regardless of what you think of that show) that's why it's particularly fresh in my mind. The Daily Show used the clip to demonstrate the typical vagueness of politicians in their promises in order to avoid breaking promises--specifically by not making them in the first place. They then showed many clips of President Obama, making extremely specific promises on things that he hasn't exactly followed through with or has since done quite the opposite of.

I'm digressing; this is definitely not a political discussion. I'm just trying to illustrate a point and those two leaders are great examples of individuals with totally different leadership styles, but who both exhibited huge amounts of confidence in their speeches and so forth, and, when trying to rally support for specific causes, were supported by huge movements of followers.

So, new possible definition of Leadership of the moment: Possessing sufficient confidence in an idea to inspire others to follow your plan.

Here's the clip from The Daily Show that relates to the political tactic of vagueness. Pretty entertaining at least!

Favorite part:

Jon: "This looks and sounds pretty bad for Obama."

Samantha: "Well, only if you're watching and listening, Jon."

Samantha: "This has been a real problem for the President."

Jon: "...Because he is now being held accountable for his promises!"

Samantha: "No, because he made promises he could be held accountable for."

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Sunday thoughts

First of all, here's what I'm moving to this morning (it's Sunday, 1pm can still be the morning!).

Now that we're moving at the same pace, inspired by the raw feeling emanating from Mr. Withers, let me take you someplace "Where Unsold Clothes Meet People in Need."

This came up on my Google Reader (a new obsession of mine -- it's an RSS reader, and I'm addicted to news! Also using it to follow all of our class's Blog updates!), and it's about people making big changes. They're not making big changes by doing anything profoundly new or anything that you or I couldn't think of -- they're just doing something.

Here's what's going on: a lady named Suzanne Davis runs an organization, the New York Clothing Bank, that collects unworn clothes that manufacturing companies are, for whatever reason, not going to sell, but destroy. Tons and tons of items from these companies are destroyed when they can't be sold, and she has encouraged them to donate them to NYCB instead, for distribution to 250 different aid groups who then get them into the hands of those in need. Pretty cool.

Obviously, there are business issues with this, as the article mentions, where companies could be potentially "competing with their garbage" for customers, and also have issues with trying to maintain an image, wanting their clothes to be seen on successful people and not on people sitting on street corners. These are legitimate issues, but they're obviously being worked around, evident since companies like Macy's and Gap have contributed.

What's produced around here that may have excess and could keep somebody warm, clothed, and happy? Heck, if it's one extra pair of shoes or one extra sweater, those are each things that would make one big difference to one person.

What about food?

I know that restaurants and fast-food places throw out their leftovers or "expired" food after a certain amount of time. I put "expired" in quotes because I'm pretty sure that this isn't just talking about food that's gone bad -- it includes things that have just gone cold, or sat out for a bit while people haven't bought them. Example: French fries are always being made, and fast-food restaurants throw out the old ones (if any are left) when they toss new ones under the hot light to be ready to sell; the old ones aren't exactly growing mold, they're just not hot/fresh and going to make paying customers as happy as hot ones.

Anecdotal justification :)

Say you're like me, and you live in a small town back home that doesn't have any fast-food places (quite a stretch for some of you, I know!), and so you grab a #2 medium roast beef and curly-fries from Arby's and make the 20-minute drive home. When you get there, it's obviously not going to be as fresh as it was when you left the drive-thru. But it' not bad. Food wouldn't have been sitting out for any longer than this before they threw it out. I realize it wouldn't still be getting eaten just yet, but it would be quite soon after. Why still throw it away?

I don't know the specifics liabilities are here -- What if somebody does get sick from this "expired" food from [restaurant]? One could argue that someone in this position would be desperate enough to use this leverage against the restaurant to demand some sort of compensation from the restaurant since the food was given away as unwanted or expired.

Anyway, the possibility is interesting. There must be other things out there like this that are being looked over. ...That extra pan of meat loaf that nobody touched in the school cafeteria, perhaps, which may mysteriously be recycled into chef's choice casserole the next day?

I'll be on the lookout.

In the beginning...

Well, the first blog entry. I'm Zac, I'm a junior at Ohio State, studying political science, and my first entry won't be nearly as long as Tyler's.

Why am I involved in my Fraternity? There are so many things that drew me to Greek life in general and my chapter specifically that it's difficult to narrow it down; I'm sure this will be a common theme in everyone else's blog entry, but I'm also sure we'll end up drawing on many of the same themes. For me, joining a Fraternity was something that I put on hold as a freshman, not quite ready to make such a large commitment. I had made friends with a few guys in what would eventually be my chapter, but I was worried about the time commitment and how it would affect me academically, since I was already struggling to manage my time and classes. In retrospect, many of the things that I was struggling with and the issues I was facing in the transition into college life could have been helped along sooner with the help of the support superstructure that is the Fraternity. After a year of nothing but academic focus, I came back sophomore year ready to finally get involved in something on campus. I went to the autumn involvement fair, sought out the the guys I knew, and started attending events. Immediately, I was drawn into the culture of involvement in the campus community and the motivated mindset that Greek life offered. I had developed strong friendships with a few of the brothers and decided to rush.

After reading the Blogabus in its entirety, I'm excited to see where this class will go! It's a really interesting utilization of technology in (out? for?) of the classroom and should provide a great environment for sharing ideas amongst students and reflecting better on the ideas we will cover in our readings and class discussions.

Let's see where it goes!

Came across a great quote this week (unknown author, unfortunately):

Watch your thoughts, for they become words.

Watch your words, for they become actions.

Watch your actions, for they become habits.

Watch your habits, for they become character.

Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.