'You Have to Change Them Yourself'

Call it headstrong or Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, but if I want to get something accomplished, I rarely rely upon others to get me there.  Sure, I'll accept a helping hand, but when it comes to the matriculation of details and the compilation of the big picture, I cannot stand to not be in control of it's full development.

This tends to make people perceive me as an elitist or an @$$hole, but it is quite the opposite.  It is me descending into the ring.  It is me, putting forth my blood, sweat, and tears to ultimately bring change that I feel is for the better.  I am not Voldemort or Tom Riddle, or any other super villain of literature with the ultimate goal of conquering and enslaving the world: I simply do what I do because it is for good.  Similar to Andy Warhol quote, I prescribe to Gandhi's quote: "You must be the change you want to see in the world."  Lead by example.  Lead valiantly with just and promise.  Lead with integrity and passion.

 One person can make all the difference.  The founders of each chapter across the Nation/World were endowed with a brilliant gift: courage.  Lambda Chi Alpha was started by one man with the support of his three friends at Boston University in 1909.  Because of his socio-economic status in society, Cole was unable to join another organization, so he set out to create his own.  Instead of allowing society to shun him from his pursuits, he had the courage to defy status and society and create his own Fraternity.  Lambda Chi Alpha, an International Fraternity, today stands at a membership of over 270,000 men across the world.  Chapters have expanded to every state in the United States and have crossed international borders with chapters in Canada. 

Warren A. Cole changed my life.  I was "never-ever" go Greek kid in high school.  When thinking about college, Fraternity life never even crossed my mind.  It was an absolute: I saw no reason for their existence nor their benefits.  But yet here I am today, the High Alpha of Gamma-Tau Zeta --only two years later.  Fraternity changed my life for the better.  It gave me or strengthened my traits of courage, leadership, loyalty, respect, and countless others. 

Organizations aside, I went through a second-order change.  My mentality on frat-stars and their groupy-esque sorority girl friends completely changed.  I wasn't the popular kid in high school, nor a jock, nor the kid that could shotgun two beers into a keg stand finale'd by a backflip: I was a show choir guy that got the leads in the musicals, the guy that teachers talked to in order to reach troubled students, and the student that deep-down hated high school so much that I moved 800 miles away. 

Fraternity gave me a home, a family to fall-back on when mine couldn't be there.  I didn't transform over night into some bro-monster, but I did change.  Change doesn't mean that I disregard my values or lost sight of who I am and where I came from, but the opposite in fact.  I know myself better than I ever thought I did.  I am one person out of 270,000; Warren A. Cole was one person.  His legacy of Lambda Chi Alpha lives on for over a hundred years past its founding, and now it is our duty to carry the legacy forward.  "They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself." --Andy Warhol





"Men make history and not the other way around. In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better."
-President Harry S. Truman, Lambda Chi Alpha

The Social Change Model

My journey to Nicaragua last year was an unforgettable adventure that I will never forget.  I applied to the Honors & Scholars trip just on a whim, not exactly knowing the details of the trip, but knowing that I would be able to get 10 credits and use my years of Spanish study.  My ten days abroad ultimately changed my collegiate career, and in turn, the rest of my life.

As I studied development theory and international politics (specific to Nicaragua and the United States), I grew more interested in the topic and the study of international politics.  For our major project, we each adopted a certain trade to invest our theory work into and try to uplift through Fair Trade.  Global Galleries helped us market and sell Pottery (the group I was specifically assigned to).  All of the groups, including mine, hosted events on or around campus: we set up an art gallery for the pottery at a local space, and ended up selling all but 6 items in our collection.  When we were actually in Nicaragua, we had the opportunity to visit the town and the homes of the artisans that created the pottery that we sold in Columubus that we had shipped over.  It was amazing.  To think that the pottery he was creating in front of me was purchased and then shipped to the United States and sold at events like the one that we put on...I was in awe.

But what was most hard to believe was the manner in which they created the pottery.  Nicaragua is the second poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, behind Haiti (the poorest in the world).  The average Nicaraguan survives on two dollars a day, and average monthly salaries hardly top off at $100 for a family.  The artist used hair from his wife tied with twine to an old pen as a paint brush; he used a shard of plastic from a broken chair as a cutting tool for the clay; and he used a homemade fireplace made out of rocks as a kiln to fire the pottery.  He used what he had to make a living for his family.

The level of need drastically overweighs the level of want within the country.  When touring local development projects in the country, some started by students and other 'First World' citizens, and others by the UN or the United States, it was evident that the Nicaraguan people were in survival mode and don't have access to the same necessities or luxaries that we Americans do.  The group received clearance to go and view a Free-Trade Zone factory, a zone in which no taxes are paid and that was set up through CAFTA (Central American Free Trade Agreement of the United States).  The hundred of women working in the textiles factory work strenuous, monotomouos hours of sewing certain pieces of cloth to make one pieee of clothing --much like a human assembly line.  What was the day's clothing article?  $250 Red Northface Jackets that were to be shipped to the United States for the approaching Holiday buying season.  But the people working in this factory only made $114 dollars a month.  It would take them over 2 months salary to afford a single jacket that they make for 'First World' consumers.  Knowing this, I wanted to help make a difference: to promote Fair Trade, stable wages in other regions, and to try to put an end to these legalized sweat shops.

But as I found out, soon after leaving Nicaragua and adjusting back to a normalized American lifestyle: change is hard, especially in the realm of Globalization.  One consumer doesn't make too much of a difference in the purchases they make, especially with brands such as The Northface, Ralph Lauren, and the Gap, that have such an overwhelming mass appeal to consumers not only in the United States, but abroad as well.  Even changing my own buying habits was difficult, and I cannot say truthfully that I completely changed.  Look into my wallet right now and what do you see? --the Gap and Express credit cards, and 2 coupons for 15% off at their stores.  Though I don't shop there as much as I did prior to Nicaragua, partially because I care and mostly because of other college expenses, but when it comes down to style, comfort, and affordability, it is a hard issue for me to personally face.  Change is inevitable, I believe.  Once something has been in practice for so long, people either grow discontented with it, or it evolves into something else.  But what is most difficult about change is change itself: it is uncomfortable, different, alien, and unpredictable.

Overtime, I know that trends will emerge, and I hope that out of the Green Movement, Fair Trade will spark as well.  Building off of the principles of sustainability, environmentally conscience production, and fairness for humanity, it has quite potential to shape the world into something different.  With advocacy and the formation of the student organization I helped found: Ohio Students For Fair Trade, we can make a difference together.  One person cannot do change by himself/herself.  Change is about collaboration, progression, and enlightenment.  And that's what I like about change: it is something different and fresh, and it is something that is possible.

The First of Many: Reflections on Social Change

It has been seven weeks since I first took over as High Alpha of Lambda Chi Alpha, Gamma-Tau Zeta; but the initial fears, doubts, and uncertainty that I initially had have suddenly subsided and disappeared.  I am not sure if it was the retreats, the new officer core, or the long talks over coffee and tea with other Chapter leaders and Sorority-Fraternity Community leaders, but I actually see the light for once.  The last few weeks were tough, and without any reservation of doubt, I know that I will have to work just as hard for the forty-nine coming weeks.  But alas, I am truly ready.

I never saw myself as 'president-material' until the Outgoing-President approached me when accepting his executive position in the Inter-Fraternity Council, my fraternity's governing board.  I was the Scholastics Chair at that point; to say that I had any mass of influence or a formalized lead role within the chapter would be a poor hyperbole.  I did have some leadership experience, mostly potential, but that potential quickly manifested itself into concrete ideas and theories as to guide my chapter towards success and progress.

When first taking over the chapter, I was more 'flailing turkey' than 'soaring eagle' --to be expected of course in such a important role.  But I say 'turkey' not for it being one of the most awkward birds next to the penguin or Kevin (the bird from Up: see image), but due to its sheer lack of aptitude and inability to sustain flight for long durations of time.  I transitioned into the presidency young, fresh, naive, and uninformed: problems existed within the chapter that hadn't been dealt with for years, low accountability on my part, and a genuine underestimation of the position's complexities.  To put it best, my leadership style was more bipolar than Charlie Sheen during an interview: saying one thing, and doing the other.  Though I had high standards overall, they let down on some people and then not on others.  I wanted change and more accountability within the chapter, but I didn't have the confidence nor the personality to "care-front" (confront) people.  I was the awkward turkey that gets spooked and flies into incoming traffic.  Ultimately, I was just causing more noise than productive change, causing more stress for myself and fresh roadkill on the the chapter's road to the future.

Change is hard.  Like dirt settled on the bottom of a pond, no body likes to be upset and sent drifting to a new place.  The leaves and stones around you may not land with you in the end, but sometimes that new place is better...a lot better.  I learned a lot from the former President, from my father, from my Executive Board, from my Big, and from my brothers.  It is collaboration that is needed in order to make change successfully.  When writing the above section, I used the word 'I' five times when talking about chapter operations.  Yes, I am the President, but more importantly I am also a Brother.  I know that I always do the best for my Brothers, but if I am not working with them on change, doing what I think is best, and  only focused on the negatives, then I am not doing my job as a leader.  Social Change is collaboration.  Social change is togetherness.  Together is how we make change.



~Quote of the Week~

"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows achievement and who at the worst if he fails at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

-Theodore Roosevelt