[19958] in APO-L
Re: what does APO mean to you?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Hobbs, Victoria Lee)
Mon Jan 25 10:43:21 1999
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1999 10:47:34 -0500
Reply-To: "Hobbs, Victoria Lee" <vhobbs@ROANOKE.EDU>
From: "Hobbs, Victoria Lee" <vhobbs@ROANOKE.EDU>
To: APO-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU
Hello all,
I've been on this list since a month before my activation, but because I've
only posted, oh, once, I think I should quickly introduce myself. My name is
Vicki Hobbs, and I am a sophomore brother at Roanoke College (Alpha Beta Psi
chapter, Sp98 "The Odd Flock"). I hold the office of Secretary for 1999. I
am also a member of the Student Affiliates of the American Chemical Society
(being a Chemistry major / Environmental Science minor), and work regularly
with Habitat for Humanity.
Now to the question:
Why did I PLEDGE APhiOm, or why did I REMAIN with APhiOm? The answers are
two different statements, unfortunately. . . I pledged originally because of
service, true, but also because my roommate and I had agreed to pledge
together in our spring term, and I ended up going anyway after she left
school - I felt that getting more involved in something would do me good (and
it has.)
I stayed in my pledge class and as an active in the fraternity because I came
to believe in the principles of Friendship, Leadership, Service, and of
course the unspoken principle: Insanity. (Just kidding. ha ha ha. . . :-)
Seriously, however, I see in the fraternity an attempt to help people realize
that they can have an active role in controlling what they see around them.
Nothing is more depressing than seeing a family starving out on the streets,
or seeing children struggling through school without anyone they can trust or
talk to, or entering a neighborhood where drugs are running rampant and
people choose to live in filth because they know of nothing else to do. When
you know that there are things that you can do to help allievate people's
pain, whether it be tutoring and counseling a child who's parents cannot be
home when (s)he needs them, or planning a fundraiser for food banks, or going
into a neighborhood and helping expand a Trouble Center. I know that a lot
of people think of all Greeks as party animals (during one service projects,
me and a group of my friends were referred to as "a bunch of sorority girls
doing community service" - and one of our male brothers was standing right
next to us at the time :-). But that is not what Alpha Phi Omega is all
about - that's why I pledged here and not to a sorority. The concept of
APhiO is something that ideally would help eliminate a lot of the suffering
in the world that is so painful to look upon, many people have to block it
out. But I stayed in the fraternity to help and to refuse to block it out,
and to be around others who like me wanted to make a difference.
I could talk for a long time about this; but I can't. . . so I will probably
be back later. Good day to you all,
Vicki
(Coming soon: comment on voting in legislation, and my eye-opening service
project, also known as "the legend of the vile garbage can".)
ps. Has anyone else ever noticed that when we spell out "APO" we are calling
ourselves "Alpha Rho Omicron?" Just a random thought. :-)
~~~
Victoria Lee Hobbs
ABPsi Secretary
AIM sleeper375
ICQ #24256379
http://students.roanoke.edu/v/vhobbs/
"It is when you are most fortunate that you are also the most unfortunate,
for when you are fortunate you cannot imagine what suffering is."
~from Sundiata.
