“From the outside looking in, you could never understand. From the inside looking out, you could never explain.”
I’m not sure where the quote came from initially but it is one that has been with me for the duration of my Greek experience. How do you explain Greek life to someone who never wanted to join? How do you talk to non members about what life is like inside a somewhat secret society?
Too often, we want to talk about our experiences but we don’t know how to have that conversation well. We spend so much time using our well rehearsed Rush (Formal Recruitment) conversations that we don’t realize that our audience only hears “And this one time, at band camp…” We leave the heart out of the conversations but we remember to include our exhaustive lists. Sadly, today at BrazenCareerist, Jennifer Robinson’s (of Newly Corporate) post on Greek Life and Business enforced the stereotypes I would assume she wants to break.
We fail the Greek system and we contribute to its stereotypes when we fail to discuss the topic with intelligence, compassion and excitement. We discount ourselves as members of the Greek community when we fail to back up our affiliation with competence.
Like it or not, the decision you made to become a member of the Greek community at the age of eighteen means you will be held to higher standard for the rest of your life.
After graduation, it does not matter if your house won Greek Week. After graduation, it does not matter how high your dues were. After graduation, it does not matter if you were in the most popular house.
After graduation, it only matters that you were there.
Rebecca said...
1This is interesting to me since people always assume I was part of a sorority in college, which I wasn’t. When I was in high school, my best friend and I promised we wouldn’t join, but she ended up going to U of I which has the largest Greek population ever, and of course ended up joining. I didn’t, but I did date a lot of fraternity guys if that counts
I agree that there is a lot of unnecessary stereotyping going on. Everyone forms their own Greek system in one way or another, because you can’t survive without a network of people that support you.
04/3/08 6:06 AM | Comment Link
brstngphnx said...
2Rebecca – Thanks for your comment.
I made a lot of vows freshman year that I would never go Greek. I even went so far as to make GDI (g-d damn independent) t-shirts with a few of my friends. Then second semester sophomore year hit (complete with horrible break up and an overload semester) and I found myself pledging a sorority.
The Greek system did a lot for me in way I didn’t expect. At the time, I was a theatre major and Greek Life became the place where I wasn’t just “That girl from that show”. It was refreshing and it gave me a chance to explore who I really wanted to be as a person. The support network my sorority provided gave me the chance to take risks and know that I would always have a network to fall back on.
04/3/08 9:51 AM | Comment Link
Jacklyn Hyde said...
3Funny that I stumbled across this entry looking for other Phi Mus. Extremely well written and thoughtful piece.
I never thought I’d want to “go Greek” and even made sure that every school to which I applied had a strong independent faction. What happened? I wound up being one of your chapter’s founding sisters! There are the Greek stereotypes, and then there are the ideals and legacy you create.
Thanks for writing this.
–Heather
04/3/08 6:37 PM | Comment Link
brstngphnx said...
4Heather,
I am so grateful that individuals like you decided to be founding sisters. It gave the chapter such a strong legacy to continue to build upon.
Hope all is well with you!
04/17/08 8:52 AM | Comment Link