Citizenship

Being in a fraternity is all about becoming a productive member of society.

SigEp's mission statement again is: Building Balanced Men


To me, being a citizen means being a productive member of society that works for the greater good and acts responsibly.

A SigEp balanced man must maintain a sound mind and a sound body. By promoting healthy lifestyles, SigEps are modeling the way for all citizens to lead healthy lifestyles, a healthy lifestyle is especially important with the rise of obesity in America. A sound mind promotes thoughtful discussion and a need to continue to be informed to make educated decisions. A good citizen must be able to carry out these discussions and must be able to make the difficult decisions for the betterment of our country and our society.

Ideally, a fraternity is supposed to create model citizens: gentlemen and gentlewomen who are going to lead productive lives as leaders of our generation.

I am confident that SigEp has done this for me.

Guest Leader Panel

Luckily, last week during our guest panel I took notes, so I guess that'll be really helpful when talking about the two points that I took away

Take-away #1: "People are going to disagree with you or you aren't doing anything right". I thought this was a really powerful statement... and one of the biggest challenges of leadership within our chapters and our community. I find it extremely difficult to face rejection from my own brothers- to have my own brothers upset about something I said or did. It's really difficult, but at the end of the day, you can't please everyone and you have to "break a few eggs to make an omelette". Sometimes it's important to make the unpopular decisions if they're the right ones.

Take-away #2: "Always Have Fun". With all of the serious talks we have about congruence, leadership, elevation, integrity... it's sometimes easy to get wrapped up in all of our community's or chapter's problems... we need to remember that we joined social organizations meant to provide meaning and happiness to our lives at many levels, including a socially. "Having Fun" doesn't mean (and shouldn't mean) only alcoholic events... but just spending time with your brothers or sisters and providing meaning and happiness to your day. I know that sometimes I get wrapped up in the looming problems... but it's important to enjoy life every second of every day because you never know what's waiting around the corner (see blog below).

I thoroughly enjoyed our guest panel and hope that one day I'll be able to confidently say that I too impacted our Greek community.

Brotherhood

 I just had one of the strongest experiences of "brotherhood" since accepting my bid to become a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon.

Tonight, we had our first ever pot-luck Thanksgiving dinner. The night was filled with laughter and great discussion and AMAZING food. I was especially grateful to have Thanksgiving with people I cared about-  my annual family dinner had to be moved around- my cousin is in Afghanistan and my grandmother is ill, so we moved our family dinner to accommodate my cousin's leave and my grandmother's health... I wasn't able to go home due to midterms and because they were trying to prevent my grandmother from being overwhelmed... so I was planning on just not having turkey this year... luckily, I was still able to spend this holiday eating turkey, and stuffing, and pie, and all the fixings with people I really care about.

This was great brotherhood- but the real brotherhood came after.

First, the backstory:
Last night at about 8:30 PM, my brother: J.R. Miller, 22 years of age, had a stroke. He was rushed to the hospital and is slowly making steady improvements... but he's still no where near back to normal and has a long road to recovery ahead. He's extremely intelligent, respected, quick-witted, and passionate. He had a Coop waiting for him in New York for after he graduated, which was supposed to be this year.

My experience with overwhelming brotherhood occurred when about 20 of us sat around the table in our formal room and prayed. Several different religious backgrounds, joining together as brothers, to reach out to a higher power to watch after one of our brothers and his family. I have seen what it means to truly care about someone as a brother- to know what it's like to have an entire group of 100+ men behind you, believing in you, supporting you and your family in an extreme time of need.

That's what brotherhood means.

Please keep J.R. and his family in your thoughts and prayers.
Never EVER take a moment of your life for granted.

Oath

Well... since the bomb threat seems to be going on... I'll take this time that I'm locked in my room to write my blog.

You may be surprised that I haven't written it sooner- normally I get really inspired by the prompts and write really long diatribes about visions to improve the Greek community.

Well, to be honest... the prompt: "oath" hasn't really inspired me.... I guess it's because "oath" is something that's not really something that can be changed.... oath is something that doesn't cause issues.... now if you break that oath you'll create issues... but that has more to do with values congruence which I've discussed plenty.

SO what IS an oath?

Dictionary.com:
a solemn appeal to a deity, or to some revered person orthing, to witness one's determination to speak the truth, tokeep a promise, etc.: to testify upon oath.

I'd probably define it closely to that: a promise to a higher power to live or act a certain way.

SO why take an oath? Again- being in a fraternity is a way of life... reinforced by this oath you are promising to a higher power to live your life a certain way.

I wanted to post a youtube video to spice up the blog but only found one that'd be remotely appropriate but it's 8 minutes long and has a lot of "preaching":

It's a man talking about the "curse" of a fraternity... he says that by taking an oath towards God to join an organization is sinful... it was interesting.... but.... I didn't agree with it and didn't want to put it up- if you're interested you can search "oath fraternity" on youtube and check it out for yourself.... it's a really interesting look at how oaths really do address a higher power and how that's a really BIG deal. I just feel that it's a positive big deal rather than rebelling against the higher power big deal.

Next week's blog will be more lively again- I promise.

No Holding Back

Ok- so our blogs were apparently not harsh enough.
So this is going to be harsh.
Prepare yourself for a rant.

First and foremost- we need to take ourselves seriously. Honestly- when we give up trying to change the perspective of non affiliated buckeyes, we lose. It's an uphill battle... but if we don't work to change how people look at us, we've lost. We're done. We'll keep getting the same types of people and our community won't grow. When we run around high street, drunk, yelling our organizations names or songs we're only proving everyone else right.

Next- we need to start acting with character. Drinking every night of the week, skipping classes, talking badly about other people (both affiliated and nonaffiliated- the word GDI makes me want to vomit), stealing composites, breaking into houses, using both men and women for a "hook up", skipping mandatory events, or even worse: showing up to mandatory events drunk: all completely derogatory to your chapter AND the community as a whole.

How about wearing your letters while drinking? having your letters VISIBLE in pictures of people drinking? Having your letters on a beer pong table? Wearing someone else's letters to drink or to a TG?

Now don't get me wrong- I love having a good time and really enjoy the SOCIAL aspect of my SOCIAL fraternity... but there's a difference between a good time and perpetuating stereotypes or being incongruent with our values. Do you need to get black out drunk on a Tuesday? Do you need to "hook up" with three different people every week? Do you need to try to steal things from other people? Do you need to use derogatory language towards other affiliated or nonaffiliated people?

We're making connections. Sure- other college kids are doing it. WE AREN'T SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE OTHER COLLEGE KIDS. we're supposed to be men and women of VALUES and CHARACTER and LEADERSHIP


Yet we continue to make connections between the stereotypes and the reality.

We are not a community of alcohol obsessed, dramatic, unintelligent, undirected, or morally debased peoples. 
We need to be seen as (and act in accordance to the view of) a community that values diversity, service, values, scholarship, brotherhood and sisterhood, leadership, and ambition.  


So start acting like it.

So... Is SigEp balanced?

After reading a few blogs I realized I missed an extremely important part of the prompt.

We strive to be balanced men... so how's Ohio Gamma doing?
I'd say pretty well.

We strive for excellence:
-in our social lives
-in our academic lives, maintaining the highest cum GPA on campus
-in our campus involvement (I've heard people joke that they meet a SigEp everywhere they go)
-in our greek involvement
-in our involvement with our national fraternity
-in intramural and athletic events
-in our diversity, having brothers of different races, religions, and sexual orientations.

And for all of these things- I'm incredibly proud.

We had a 3 hour chapter last night... yeah... 3 hours... why? We were approving by-laws to help better the chapter and to account for some of the quarter-semester transition... and to elect a temporary standards board member while a brother takes an internship in NYC winter quarter. We took both of these long and tedious processes very seriously, and never rushed discussion or rushed to voting... things were questioned and examined and no one really cared how long it took because we knew it was important for our chapter.

BUT all of this being said... we still have our weaknesses like every chapter.

We definitely need to work on putting a priority on SigEp. Being so balanced, sometimes SigEp is not always a priority... sometimes brothers will chose not to go to chapter because of schoolwork or working with another organization, and I feel that SigEp should be the glue that holds the involvement together: The aspect of a brother's life that helps to PROVIDE that balance. Last night, at the end of the three hours... we probably only had 30-40% attendance... many brothers had left or just didn't show up. Here's the paradox: they're maintaining virtue and diligence by working to succeed academically or within their organization... but they're lacking the brotherly love: the ability to take time to make time for your brothers.

In addition, we need to focus a little more on philanthropy... I feel that this is a MAJOR weakness of our chapters. Sure, we all like service... but not as a unified SigEp- we put priority on service OUTSIDE of SigEp... and I feel that if we put more energy to our own philanthropy events... they'd be so much more productive and better received and we'd be able to add that additional aspect to our balancing act.

Speaking of Service
(insert plug for upcoming philanthropy event):
CHECK THIS OUT THIS SUNDAY:

I'm proud of my organization and think that if we can get brothers more invested in our chapter, innovation and involvement will increase exponentially.

Building Balanced Men

Yeah- I wasn't kidding in class.
Our mission statement is 3 words.

It was officially changed last May from "Building Balanced Leaders for our World's Communities" to the three worded: "Building Balanced Men". Funny story about the change: we were doing a mission statement activity at BGLI and myself, along with the two brothers working as group leaders, were thrown off when we saw the three worded statement on the wall... we actually thought that BGLI had made a mistake- nope... our mission statement had changed since we left columbus.

The Balanced Man ideal comes from an initiative created by our national fraternity in 1991 to attempt to eliminate any opportunity for hazing. Bye bye pledge model hellooooo Balanced Man model. What does that mean? Instead of a "pledge" process- SigEp has single-tiered membership. Upon accepting my bid I was a full member. We have to work our way through three challenges: Sigma, Phi, and Epsilon. Upon accepting your bid you go through Sigma ritual, then after a quarter or so, once a member has sufficiently learned local and national history of both our organization and greek life in general, you interviews for Phi- if you "pass" the interview- you go through Phi ritual and become a Phi- Phi is a much longer challenge made to make a SigEp into a Balanced Man having both a Sound Mind and a Sound Body and after learning the true meaning of our cardinal principles: Virtue, Diligence, and Brotherly Love. After you think you have become a Balanced Man, you interview for Epsilon... now... I was downstairs studying during an Epsilon interview tonight- I couldn't hear what they were saying... but the interview went on for 2 hours. We take becoming an Epsilon pretty seriously. Why? Because Epsilon ritual (after "passing" epsilon interview) contains all of the remaining secrets not part of Phi or Sigma rituals...

That's right... I've been a member of my chapter since January 15th and I have not "gone through ritual". I couldn't tell you what our symbols mean... because I don't know. I like our system- it ensures that a brother has proven themselves as a SigEp man and is ready to go through ritual to understand why being a Balanced Man is so important.

The Balanced Man symbol (and the pin for Sigmas and Phis) looks like this:

Our pin (when becoming an Epsilon) looks like this (you may have seen it on my laptop):

Colors: Purple and Red
Flowers: Violets and Roses
Crest:

Check this out: the new asics commercials are based on the Balanced Man principles of our fraternity- the guy in charge of the ad campaign was a SigEp alum



Eh- who needs a long mission statement when three words can cover so much right?

To Be or Not To Be: A Legacy

Now that the modern fraternity has been established for quite some time- I'm sure an interesting dilemma is (or will soon be) emerging... and it relates directly to congruence of values.

Our community seems to put much emphasis on two paradoxically polarized ideals:

Keeping to tradition and creating positive change.

This paradox has begun to creep into the "legacy" ideal as well.

Tracing my fraternal heritage through my father's family: my grandfather never went to a university as an undergraduate- he was able to enter Optometry school upon completion of his military service. My grandmother never really attended college either other than as a sort of secretarial training. So, my father became the first (in my direct line) to really experience what it means to be an undergraduate.

My father pledged Phi Delta Theta at the University of Akron and became an active brother. His pledging experience was just a little bit different than the SigEp balanced man process (let's just say his experience was not ideal and wouldn't fly now-a-days). He loved his time as a brother. However, he never really talks about it- He's secretary of his Alumni board, and recently helped with a HUGE project to completely reconstruct the Phi Delt house at Akron (which is now BEAUTIFUL- definitely the best looking house on their campus). However, I never really thought of my dad as a "fraternity man". My experiences with his Greek identity have consisted of a quick visit to the house when I was 10 or 11 to collect coins out of the washing machines late one night (one of his duties at the time), seeing his house on coasters we use at our house, and hearing an infamous story about how he didn't tell my grandmother where he was staying one night and she called the fraternity house an alleged 50 times at 2 AM.

My dad never really talked to me about going Greek and once I told him that I was considering going Greek, he never really told me to look into his organization. In fact, I can honestly say I didn't even know what organization my father was in until after I had begun new member education (or "Sigma" for those of you familiar with the balanced man process).

But what if he DID desire a legacy? Am I obligated to carry on the fraternal tradition (a core value of greek life) or am I to pick an organization with which I identify most and see providing me the lifestyle needed to maximize my best self (another core value of greek life)?

When/If I have a son, I'd love for him to one day carry on my legacy in SigEp, but I think I'll go with my dad's strategy: If he asks me about my fraternal experience, I'll be honest, and I may encourage him to look into it more than my dad encouraged me just because of everything being in a fraternity has done to positively impact my life.

 But to me, improving oneself and one's organization just slightly outweighs the tradition in being a legacy.

Oh and did I mention that his chapter here is directly across the street from my chapter house? Talk about   irony.

Living Their Cheesy Values

Alright, it's admittedly getting hard to come up with creative blog titles off of serious and relevant prompts. So please pardon the cheesy pun (there I go again...)

Anyways, when prompted about what company or organization displays their values: I instantly thought of the recent Dominos Pizza campaign (I promise, no more "cheesy" jokes)



Dominos clearly displays THESE values:

1. Honesty- they know their faults and they're upfront. They admit that they're not going to hide their skeletons and instead they face them and openly admit them.

2. Creating Positive Change- we discussed that leadership is a process that creates positive change. Dominoes displays this leadership by trying several different methods, and by working collaboratively with employees at all levels within its company to improve the company overall: creating the best pizza, the best marketing strategy, and the most honest organization that they possibly can.

3. Diligence- Dominoes knew that the process would not be easy to create a better pizza- yet its chefs worked with several combinations of sauces, crusts, cheeses, etc. etc. until they found the combination that met their purpose. They did not settle for just a small change but overthrew all of their company norms to create something totally different, and did so with dedication and hard work.

4. Integrity- Dominoes understands what its values are and understands the need to be congruent with these values. As one of the chefs said during the commercial:

"It's not about us being right. It's about us having great food." (right in the sense that the consumer is wrong)
then he was quickly corrected: "no it's about us being right" (right in the sense of doing the right thing).

Think about THAT next time you bite into that slice of cheesy deliciousness.

Values

Let's talk about values.

I'm an idealist... for sure... if you haven't picked that up from any of my other blogs... I see the world from a  very utopian "should be" way. It causes a lot of frustration with the imperfection (that every human being is allowed to have) of our society.

I think my stance on values is best portrayed in a speech I wrote my senior year in high school... I delivered the challenge to the underclassman at our distinguished scholars brunch... a lot of lost values amongst my peers had me frustrated so this speech resulted... I still feel very similar and have found that my values have changed very little since then.

I've done some editing to get rid of the irrelevancies and please excuse the dated references:

"I was honored enough to be invited to this breakfast all four years and this speech was always my favorite part. I really admired the upper classmen who spoke. You can understand how intimidating it is to try to live up to those who have gone before me. I am walking in the footsteps of giants....What do we have in common? How can I live up to these impressive people? Then I realized what he have in common- the thread that connected us all. That is our integrity, reliability, and responsibility.

These character traits combine and work together. Reliability is consistently doing what you say you’ll do while integrity is consistently being what you say you are. As academic leaders, you have the responsibility to be truthful to who you are and to accept and complete new challenges. Michael Korda, editor-in-chief of Simon and Schuster explains that “success on any major scale requires you to accept responsibility in the final analysis. The one quality that all successful people have is the ability to take on responsibility.” In order to stand out, you must accept the responsibility to be accountable and to be truthful to what you know is right.

Reliability, integrity, and responsibility: Without these traits, history would have been drastically different. In order to be a mover and shaker, you must display all three working simultaneously together to form your strong character. What if Paul Revere decided to wait before his midnight ride to warn the settlers of the nearing British fleet? Paul Revere acted as he said he would. Paul Revere displayed reliability. What if John F. Kennedy, who believed in American excellence, never challenged us to go to the moon? John F. Kennedy displayed integrity. What if Captain “Sully” Sullenburger of American Airlines flight 1549, which recently safely landed in the Hudson River without any casualties, had panicked and decided to give up hope? Captain Sully had a responsibility to the safety of his passengers. These traits clearly delineate the ordinary and the extraordinary.

You all have been told to “reach for the moon because if you miss you still land among the stars.” That HAD to have been on a poster sometime during your educational career. Teachers always seem to like that one. Sure- goals are great- but what’s the point of setting a goal if you aren’t going to achieve it? Once you set a goal you have the responsibility to overcome any obstacle to ensure that you see your goal fulfilled. This comes back to reliability. It isn’t easy and it may require hard work but there is joy in the journey....

My challenge to you is not only set your high goals but work hard to ensure that your goals become a reality. Find out who you are and what you stand for and stay consistent (that’s the integrity part). Once you start acting, see everything through to completion (that’s the reliability and responsibility part)...."

Sure, values are important... but more important is ACCOUNTABILITY. Like I mentioned: I get frustrated when people make human mistakes that cause them to stray from values... but again... I'm not free of guilt either.

Recently: One of my brothers called me out for straying from my values, at first, I was a little insulted that I was questioned... then realized he was TOTALLY right. Had he not said anything, I would have continued being a hypocrite and straying from my values- I needed to make a change in my life and with his help- I can become a better person.

It's important that you surround yourself with people like my brother: people that will hold you accountable to the beliefs that drive your life.

Wait.... WHAT? A Lesson in Perpetuating Stereotypes

So, picking up the new-to-campus exclusively greek newspaper: The Odyssey, I was shocked. I think I may have even stated "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" quite a few times.

When the Odyssey first began publication- I was excited. Finally- a newspaper for greeks by greeks. I'll be able to read stories about relevant events in our community.... about that...

First and Foremost, 4 of the 7 ads in the paper: BARS. The two largest ads? The O Patio and The Frat House (a rant about "The Frat House" may or may not be coming in the next few posts). The other 3 ads? food- not a problem... except Hang Over Easy sent this message: "For those about to PUKE we salute you". So- remember how we claim that we're more than just drinking clubs? You sure wouldn't know it by these ads! You really couldn't get SBX or Barnes and Noble to take out an ad?

Second, It seems that a continuing trend of articles from sorority women seem to be about losing weight, shopping, or fashion. There isn't anything wrong with these topics- but when it's the ONLY topic being discussed by sorority women from week to week- what message does that say about Sorority women? These female writers should be empowered to write about more pertinent issues- it's ok to write about your interests but when that becomes the focus from these women in their articles? We're perpetuating a stereotype.

Lastly, and most disturbingly was an article... still not quite sure about the topic... it seemed more to me like a melange of topics. I highlighted a grand total of 15 passages that were outrageous. This member of our community wrote about how leggings make "your derrière look amazing! I mean wow that thing is POPPING." but then made a remark about being too tight and revealing in the front (in more inappropriate terms of course). Then went on to say "drink less or learn how to drink" then called OSU a "party school" and that "girls can be kind of a pain to drink with sometimes." I seriously still can't believe it.

Now- don't get me wrong... it's not all crap. It's really refreshing to read about the house of the week and what they're doing, the philanthropy events going on, and issues that really are pertinent (such as living in, greek life on resumes, finding leadership, being involved on campus, etc. etc.). Can't we see more of these stories? Maybe stories about legislation to make fraternity and sorority houses safer by updating fire escape systems? Maybe stories about why Greek life is BENEFICIAL? How Greek life is changing things in and around campus? Stories about members that are doing positive things on campus? THAT would be worth publishing in a greek newspaper!

We need to realize that this is what nonaffiliated people see- all of our actions, everything we do, write, say... reflects on our community. We need to be more conscience of the way we talk about greek life.

I can't help but wonder: why do we insist on doing this to ourselves?

Frat Rat

Oh how I resent the judgement that takes place every time I say "I'm in a fraternity". No, I'm not a "frat rat" as my grandfather (who's not affiliated) teases or a member of Iota Tappa Thigh as my aunt would say (also not affiliated). I'm a fraternity man belonging to an organization with principles and standards extending beyond the normal student org at OSU.

I've had to learn to overcome one of my major weaknesses: caring too much about what other people think. Even while visiting high school teachers I've noticed a difference: the ones that respected me that weren't greek seem different, more judgmental- making assumptions. While visiting one teacher, a student asked "did you have to do anything to get in?" before even letting me answer she quickly said "even if he did it'd be a secret and he couldn't tell us" WHAT? No. #1. I'd like to answer the question directed towards me #2. I have too much dignity to belong to an organization that would require me to do anything that makes me uncomfortable to become a member. In fact, SigEp is the only IFC organization on campus that grants full membership upon accepting a bid (not trying to imply that pledging chapters haze but SigEp provided that extra safeguard in their balanced man program as extra reassurance for me). I mean- I don't know all of the ritual and do have to interview to transcend through the levels of Sigma, Phi, and Epsilon after proving my dedication through involvement in the chapter and displaying improvement of Sound Mind and Sound Body...

but I digress...

It has been nice talking to teachers who WERE Greek though- they seem to be 1000x more interested in what I'm doing in college than other visitors that come along with me. That's one of the main reasons I've joined- an instant connection to people of ALL ages just because you're greek: I worked with a SigEp this summer without knowing it! One of my grandparent's friends saw my SigEp sticker on my car and commented that he too was a SigEp. It has even brought me closer with my father. My father is a member of Phi Delta Theta at Akron- in fact, he's the treasurer of their Alumni Board. He never once pressured me into joining a fraternity, and in fact, never really discussed his organization until after I had joined. Joining a fraternity has opened up a whole new avenue of discussion with my dad, and that is perhaps the most rewarding take away (in addition to the 113 upstanding brothers as mentioned in blog #1) of joining.

But again- I haven't answered the question.

I did not want to join a fraternity at OSU- so I'm guilty of what I complained about earlier (I was narrow-minded, I admit). At the beginning of my freshman year- I came to realize that I had missed leadership opportunities (the LC in particular)- my high strung personality panicked. I didn't want to become "just a number" and wanted personalized help to become the leader that I was in high school- after looking at a few leadership opportunities, I noticed a common name- Jen Pelletier, an associate director of the Ohio Union. I e-mailed her right away to schedule a meeting to talk about leadership and she quickly responded. I walked over to the Shunion from Lincoln tower to meet in her office- we discussed what I did in highschool and she addressed a few of my questions about Leadershape and Student Leadership Advocates. I ended the conversation with: "what other leadership opportunities are there on campus?" She suggested I look into greek life. I laughed at her. She addressed my doubts and skepticism. She gave me the names of a few organizations and I began sending out emails to the brothers she directed me towards. I only did it because Jen seemed to know what she was talking about and I really appreciated that she took the time out of her day to meet with me, reassuring me that I wasn't just a number. I was still extremely skeptical. I met with a few brothers of a few different organizations but was most intrigued by Andy Delong, an AWESOME guy (even though we both sat, waiting for each other for 45 minutes at Oxleys b/c we didn't know what each other looked like- we eventually found each other after I was about to give up and head back to Lincoln). He passed my name along to the Vice President of Recruitment, and I attended my first chapter in November. I was blown away. Every brother that spoke was so articulate and seemed so successful. I was hooked.

I accepted my bid January 15th, 2010 and have been a proud brother of Sigma Phi Epsilon ever since.

Changing the World: One Pessimist at a Time

Alright, let me be frank. I don't think one person can change the world. One person can be a part of a collective movement that changes the world, but honestly, no one person can do it by themselves. JFK, FDR, Mother Theresa, MLK, Lincoln, Washington, Jefferson... all changed the world right? Sure, but they got lucky. Conditions were just perfect for them to get the recognition they needed to succeed at the time (or to be recorded in history as "heroes")

Don't get me wrong- all of the listed people did extremely admirable things and the world would be much different (in a negative way) had they not been successful. I'm just trying to say that they got lucky. Plenty of unnamed heroes have done admirable work but have not been recognized.

That's why changing the world needs to be about a vision. This vision needs to be shared with a large amount of people in order to better advance the vision into the realms of reality. This blog post is now going to act as a vehicle for my movement to change the world.

Below you will see an image. This image derived from the Leadershape conference I attended prior to returning to OSU this fall. The entire conference focused on vision: how do we, the leadershapers, see our perfect world? What's our vision? We displayed our visions during an exercise entitled: Headlines of Tomorrow. You can read my headline below:

My vision has base in the difficulty I had growing up (see blog #1). All of the struggles we face today have basis in lack of understanding. If only we, as a species, could come together and appreciate differing ideas, as long as they follow a genuine societal norm (killing for the sake of killing is an ideal that does not lead to a better, more well rounded society, but instead brings that society down). Our goal should be to come to understanding: appreciate differences and trying to challenge our beliefs. If we continually challenge our beliefs, we will become stronger and form more genuine thoughts, and with these more genuine thoughts, we produce more genuine actions.

Acceptance and tolerance ends hatred.

Who Am I? Really?

Who Am I? Really? Perhaps the most trite question in human conversation other than "how are you" is "who are you".

Let's be honest- there are two ways to answer "who are you": thoughtless droning about your station in life or  meaningful discussion. My experience has told me that when people say "tell me about yourself" or "who are you?" they're looking for a long and thoughtless list of adjectives (maybe even some fun facts that people forget instantly after you share them), not true insight to your inner being.

So here's my thoughtless list of adjectives for those of you that get satisfaction from that sort of thing:

I'm a son, a brother, a student at OSU, a bio major (pre-dentistry). I work at a summer camp. I'm involved in Sigma Phi Epsilon, Relay for Life Committee, Buckeye Leadership League (which I helped to form after the disestablishment of Leadership Ohio State), and began involvement with USG this year. I identify as a reform jew, straight male, able bodied, democrat. I enjoy reading, watching movies, listening to music, attending theater, having passionate discussion, and meeting new people. Some fun facts: I no longer have a gall bladder, I'm a fourth generation buckeye (my great-grandparents met in Columbus, my grandparents met on campus, and my parents met on campus).

My little sister Amy and I

My family before a game: (l-r) My dad (Larry) Optometry School Alum, me, my sister (Jr. in high school), and my mom (Mary Ellen) Optometry School Alum

My Bubbie and I

After Graduation: (l-r) Dad, Mom, Grandpa, me, Grandma, sister, Aunt Barb, Uncle Tom

Now if you'd like further insight into who I really am:

Family is extremely important to me. My grandparents are the largest influence in my life and inspire me and challenge me. Most of my personal beliefs come directly from them. My mother and I are very close. I share just about everything with her: sometimes, arguably, too much. I'm going into dentistry because I enjoy science and want to make a comfortable living (the expression "money doesn't buy happiness" is B.S.). My job at camp is one of the most rewarding jobs ever. I joined my fraternity because I've never really had "guy friends" growing up: most guys I grew up with didn't appreciate my morals, goals, and dedication. I was also the "nerd" and involved in theater rather than sports. Becoming a brother has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I went from having no male friends to having 113 upstanding men who I'm glad to call "brother". Being "different" as a jew in a relatively large town consisting of only 2 jewish families (including my own) was one of the most difficult and challenging experiences of my life. I feel that a lot of my strength comes from these experiences and despite from it being a terrible time in my life: I grew a lot and wouldn't change the negative experiences for the world. I'm pessimistic and worry a lot, especially about the future and the direction of my life. I'm organized and extremely particular about a lot of things but I'm working on it.

It probably would have been easier to just stop at the adjectives.
But let's be honest.
A list means nothing.