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.