[36625] in APO-L
Re: [APO-L] Despair- Tradition
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jason Risner)
Mon Oct 22 16:43:41 2007
Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2007 16:43:01 -0400
Reply-To: Jason Risner <zoomer69@GMAIL.COM>
From: Jason Risner <zoomer69@GMAIL.COM>
To: APO-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU
In-Reply-To: <352F8B9D-B5D2-4FE0-A259-8B5F16266396@gmail.com>
I had to buy that poster because the truth in it is amazing. I can think of
a number of occasions where chapters hang onto service projects or
fellowship events or bylaws that no longer are useful for tradition's sake.
Don't throw out tradition for the sake of newness. But don't hesitate to
throw out tradition that doesn't serve a purpose.
I'll give you an example of tradition that APO has hung onto for tradition's
sake, not because it's an especially good idea - the infamous toast song
lyrics beginning with "Men of".
Once upon a time, I thought the idea of changing "Men of" was dumb. I
figured it was simply a matter of the women getting over their hangups about
not having something gender-specific to them.
And then I actually heard the toast song sang with "True to", and something
clicked. We don't want to celebrate merely existing, as the "Men of" lyric
connotes. Big deal - so we're brothers. Whoopty do. So were the brothers of
Delta house (Animal House reference), and they didn't exactly do much to
change their world.
Now, sing "True to". All of a sudden, we're talking about living our lives
in accordance with the principles and ideals of Alpha Phi Omega. Better yet,
we don't exclude those who are not brothers, and not yet brothers, who live
according to our principles and ideals.
Now, I feel funny singing "Men of" in a chapter that's mostly women. It
doesn't work for me anymore.
This, my friends, is not meant to rekindle the toast song debate. But as an
example of tradition that isn't worth keeping, look no farther than keeping
"Men of" in the lyrics to the toast song.
And, as good advice to the active brothers, and to the fraternity as a
whole, cherish and honor the traditions that are useful and relevant, and
don't hesitate to dump those that are useless, or worse, harmful to the
fraternity.
In L, F, & S for Life,
Jason Risner
Epsilon Lambda chapter Alumni
On 10/22/07, Lefran Lloyd <lefranlloyd@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> (Sorry if this "double posts")
>
> I think just as often tradition is depreciated simply because it's
> not new. Innovation and tradition aren't mutually exclusive. A
> chapter can keep with the times and still hold on to yesteryear as
> well. Perhaps if we weren't so dogmatic about getting rid of the bath
> water, there wouldn't be so many missing babies.
>
> Lefran Lloyd
> Kappa Delta
>
> On Oct 22, 2007, at 4:00 PM, Brown Michael-EMB021 wrote:
>
> > One must know WHY we have a tradition to best understand why we should
> > keep it.
> >
> > Too often "we've always done it that way" because an excuse to keep a
> > tradition long after its purpose.
> >
> > Michael R. Brown
> >
> >
> >
> > ________________________________
> >
> > From: Rebecca Quodomine [mailto:aporogue@yahoo.com]
> > Sent: Monday, October 22, 2007 3:58 PM
> > To: Brown Michael-EMB021; APO-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU
> > Subject: Re: [APO-L] Despair- Tradition
> >
> >
> >
> > Yet we must also keep in mind that some traditions are more than worth
> > keeping around.
> >
> > Rebecca
> > brother since 1993
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message ----
> > From: Brown Michael-EMB021 <Michael.R.Brown@MOTOROLA.COM>
> > To: APO-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU
> > Sent: Monday, October 22, 2007 1:46:15 PM
> > Subject: [APO-L] Despair- Tradition
> >
> > All-
> >
> > http://despair.com/tradition.html
> >
> > Every Chapter that has a chapter meeting room or the like should get
> > this poster and hang it there.
> >
> > Michael R. Brown
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > __________________________________________________
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