An article I wrote for my Fraternity's newsletter
Relationship and Environment
Alif Muhammad
The atmosphere of higher education can sometimes be quite perilous, and it can cause us to detach and become frustrated with the little world in which we live. It is terribly easy for us to assume that we must focus inward and reject the unfamiliar to preserve our sense of self. However, an unforgiving environment is no match for something far stronger: relationship. This is by no means limited to romantic endeavors; all true relationships allow us to maintain our understanding of ourselves, empowering us to be what we ought to be regardless of our circumstances.
These statements may sound cliché, but they are important to remember when one feels threatened by new burdens and expectations. Such obstacles may cause us to feel that we have lost our way, or that we have been led to the wrong place. This is the mistake that leads to three debilitating weaknesses: regret for the past, doubt about the present, and worry about the future. They are all rooted in the false belief that we can stray from the true path. We simply cannot. There is a bond that exists between all people, and when we see that we are connected to each other by that which is common within us, we remember what makes us who we are, and we maintain our happiness no matter where we are.
Fraternity and sorority are not simply the result of an agreement to befriend our fellows. They are one’s recognition of our universal kinship. Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity seeks out the man who has freshly joined other musicians and reassures him that there is something within him that belongs to everyone. By surrounding himself with his fellow men, he is able to slowly acknowledge the pure principles that he and his brethren share, that he might do the same with all his fellow musicians, and then all people who are in his environment.
Such a man is wiser for it, ready to do the same for those who so desperately need to learn, in the words of the poet Terentius, that we all “are human,” and “nothing human is foreign” to us.
Alif Muhammad
The atmosphere of higher education can sometimes be quite perilous, and it can cause us to detach and become frustrated with the little world in which we live. It is terribly easy for us to assume that we must focus inward and reject the unfamiliar to preserve our sense of self. However, an unforgiving environment is no match for something far stronger: relationship. This is by no means limited to romantic endeavors; all true relationships allow us to maintain our understanding of ourselves, empowering us to be what we ought to be regardless of our circumstances.
These statements may sound cliché, but they are important to remember when one feels threatened by new burdens and expectations. Such obstacles may cause us to feel that we have lost our way, or that we have been led to the wrong place. This is the mistake that leads to three debilitating weaknesses: regret for the past, doubt about the present, and worry about the future. They are all rooted in the false belief that we can stray from the true path. We simply cannot. There is a bond that exists between all people, and when we see that we are connected to each other by that which is common within us, we remember what makes us who we are, and we maintain our happiness no matter where we are.
Fraternity and sorority are not simply the result of an agreement to befriend our fellows. They are one’s recognition of our universal kinship. Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity seeks out the man who has freshly joined other musicians and reassures him that there is something within him that belongs to everyone. By surrounding himself with his fellow men, he is able to slowly acknowledge the pure principles that he and his brethren share, that he might do the same with all his fellow musicians, and then all people who are in his environment.
Such a man is wiser for it, ready to do the same for those who so desperately need to learn, in the words of the poet Terentius, that we all “are human,” and “nothing human is foreign” to us.