(no subject)
I found this pearl in a newspaper article about Abu Ghraib. I don't like the topic, but found this to be intensely interesting and true. No, Alpha Gamma Delta does not endorse hazing of any kind and Delta Theta does not haze members or new members of any kind.
"But what about hazing?" you say. "Wasn't there hazing?"
Sure there was. Of course. And I won't get into specifics here, but let's just say I went through six weeks of humiliating initiation rituals, and I put the next group through the same thing once I got in. And, yes, a few frat boys have killed their pledges over the years. But those guys are idiots. Their antics aside, hazing isn't pointless - no matter what you've heard.
Lots of times, when you graduate high school, you think you can conquer the world. But what happens when you fall down off a high horse? You hurt yourself. And that's where fraternities come in: They knock you down, but they dare you to ride again. And you know what? Real men always do.
Real men get up. They ask for more. They say, "Thank you, sir, may I have another," and they never stop saying it for the rest of their lives - no matter the things they may face. Fraternities drill this thinking into you. From where I stand, that's a good deed.
But was there a certain sick and twisted pleasure to watching the new guys writhe? Of course there was. I won't lie. But that came with the territory. I won't apologize.
And that's just the thing: Guys who pledge fraternities want to pledge fraternities. They go streaking through the quad and call their peers "sir" because they want to. It's a rite of passage, but it's passed by freewill. No one has to be there. It takes a lot to earn Greek letters. Nobody owes them to you. And if you don't like that, you can drop out. There's no reason to endure this stuff if it isn't worth it to you.