'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