[19234] in APO-L
Re: Toast song
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Christopher J Stromberg)
Mon Oct 5 01:40:17 1998
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1998 00:34:46 -0500
Reply-To: Christopher J Stromberg <cstrombe@GAC.EDU>
From: Christopher J Stromberg <cstrombe@GAC.EDU>
To: APO-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU
> This is probably just one of my pet peeves, but I have difficulty accepting
> this. One of the bonds that makes us a National (or Inter-National) Fraternity
> is that I know all my Brothers share the same history, handclasp, Toast Song,
> etc. When individual chapters start doing things their own way, it begins
> to separate us
Brothers,
I would have to disagree quite strongly with the above statement.
Just because we have some differences does nothing to separate the ties of
the brotherhood.
My former chapter (Zeta Epsilon) had a "chapter version" of the
toast song (which used "We of" instead of "Men of" or "True to"), along
with a couple of other minor changes. We sang this song at the end of
every one of our meetings. The pledges all learned the National version,
and we sang the National version at all ceremonies. Our chapter chose to
do this because our chapter was roughly 90% female. We have even had
pledges refuse to sing the National version because of the language.
The chapter of which I am now a member (or, will be, as soon as
the paperwork gets through) (Zeta), also sings a chapter version (using
"True to"). I see absolutely no problem with this.
Personally, I would like to see the toast song changed. Yes, the
toast song is a tradition. But traditions should be looked at every once
in a while, to see if they still reflect the same meaning that they once
did. If they do not, we should think about changing the tradition to
something that does.
Keep in mind here, the tradition of the toast song will survive,
whether or not some of the words are changed. I would just like to see a
version of the toast song as representative of the brotherhood as the
original version was when it was written.
Chris Stromberg
P.S. The opinions contained herein are certainly my own, and should not
be taken as the opinions of either my current or my former chapter.
