[19235] in APO-L
Re: Toast song
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (J. Michael Strohmenger)
Mon Oct 5 02:15:03 1998
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1998 02:10:42 -0400
Reply-To: mstroh@usa.net
From: "J. Michael Strohmenger" <mstroh@NETWAY.COM>
To: APO-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU
one thing that i see in this argument, and mind you i fall on the side
of tradition on this topic, is IF the toast song is changed will those
who wanted it changed be happy? I'm sure that those who were against
allowing women to becom members of APO used the argument tradition.
Will the next argument be "We should no longer consider APO to be a
fraternity?" "Should we consider female members, 'Sisters'", rather
than brothers? I understand the arguments out there, but there must be
a question of how far is this going to go? I do feel that the toast song
will be changes one day, probobly not this year, but some year it will
be. I am just concerned that once the toast song has changes, what will
be the next thing to change? (and how long will that argument last?)
Christopher J Stromberg wrote:
>
> > 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.
--
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