Pi Kappa Alpha will set the standard of integrity, intellect, and achievement for our members, host institutions, and the communities in which we live.
The question is how are we living congruent with our values, or how aren't we?
As far as not living congruent with them, I would argue it's not that we're not following our mission, just that we're not living up to standards we have set for ourselves. Mainly because we have brothers who are not holding themselves accountable academically, or for things they do socially. Not only does this make us look bad to our nationals, but it is detrimental to my brothers' futures in general. I can even say that I am one of those people who don't always live congruently but most times I do. Also as far as achievement goes I feel like we could be doing a lot more. We seem to become unorganized on a few things regarding philanthropy events or events we do for our community. its kind of upsetting sometimes when things fall through due to people dropping the ball, but sometimes stuff happens.
Now on the other side, I'm actually extremely satisfied with how congruent our chapter lives our mission statement. Yes we may have individuals who might not live up to every notion of it, but our chapter as a whole is a good representation of this statement. We have one of the highest hours of comm service given our size, we raise a lot of money for ACS, we are respected in the community for what we do, most our guys keep good grades and get good internships, we treat ladies with respect while stilling having a good time. In my eyes we're doing just fine.
It's kind of tough for me make a fair assessment however because the main thing we like to live by is our preamble of our constitution. It establishes into our mind not only how to live as men, but how to live as brothers and act with one another. I actually try to live my life more according to our preamble more so than our mission statement mainly because of my personal beliefs about fraternities.
I dont care what anyone says, you don't join a social fraternity because you want to just serve the community, or do philanthropy, you join because you enjoy the people within the organization and it's something you want to be apart of. While doing community service and philanthropy definitely should be emphasized within everyones life, especially greeks, we need to remember greek life is here to enhance our college experience in every way. When it comes down to it your experience is enhanced by still taking part in these events that people might not care so much about with the brothers and sisters you care about while still making a difference in the world. The short of it is when you come back as alumni in however many years, you dont come back and say "oh hey remember that one time we volunteered at that soup kitchen?!" No...you say, remember that one road trip, or that one party, or that one etc.... To me it all comes down to brotherhood leading to helping others.
I definitely agree with what you're saying in the last paragraph.. our philanthropy had nothing to do with why I joined Alpha Gam. But, as I became a member, and learned our Ritual and values, I realized how important service is. Service is everywhere in our ritual. This is why I find it such a important aspect, because I pledged myself to uphold our ritual when I became a sister of AGD. And our Ritual includes service.
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