Adventures of a New High Pi - One Year Later
January 22nd, 2007 by Art Hebbeler. Popularity: 7%.I have just returned from the 2007 Winter Leadership Retreat at T-Bar-M Ranch. If you weren’t among the 250 or so brothers gathered in the “brisk” confines of the ranch, you missed an outstanding event. In a word, I am stoked!
But, it’s not my intention to write about the WLR right now…that will be in my next blog, probably. No, tonight I want to reflect on completing my first year as High Pi.
It has been an interesting year, to be sure. Thankfully, no one has been injured, there have been no late night calls from the university authorities, and so far, no calls from the local law enforcement agencies. In that regard, I’d call it a pretty successful year.
But there have been some bumps along the way. We’ve had some pretty serious conversations about brotherhood and what it means to be a brother of this great Bond. Some of our younger alumni just didn’t get a well-rounded education during their associate period or after initiation, either. Their opinions of Lambda Chi Alpha is that is first and foremost about fun (read: having parties all the time) and they felt that accountability and responsibility are off limits. It was pretty ugly early on, as I was working with the High Zeta in particular to set a new tone for the chapter. The attacks got pretty personal, and I was ready to toss in the towel–even recommend closing the chapter and starting over in a few years. At the least, I was ready to resign and let someone else deal with the problem.
However, I couldn’t quit–at least not so soon after starting, and not if I really wanted to live up to my obligations that I took in the fall of 1980 as brother. If I really believed that I was my brother’s keeper, and that I was obligated to help an erring brother, and that I was to leave the Fraternity better than I found it, and, most especially, that I was to keep my promises when I made an obligation, then I could not resign. It simply wasn’t an option, unless I wanted to make a mockery of our Initiation Ritual.
And I’m glad I didn’t, because these last couple of months, I’ve really begun to see the changes in the undergraduate leaders. The biggest change has been an openness and willingness to say, “I don’t know how to do X, Art. Can you teach me?” Wow! Can I? Please?! That is what I think is the coolest part of being a High Pi–to teach and help guys grow. The officers weren’t real happy to have ideas challenged or to be asked, “Have you considered…?” in the first months, but as we began to work together, and especially to talk about living out our Rituals (though I’m not sure that most of the officers saw that’s what we were talking about!), there was a growing openness to learning and growing. Guys started not only taking responsibility for their programs, but more importantly, they started holding other brothers accountable for their actions and their obligations. Slowly, but surely, the conversation changed from “Do it because Nationals say you have to do it” to “Do it because you made an obligation to the Brotherhood.” Guys were finally beginning to “get” it.
Believe it or not, there are some similarities in my work as a High Pi and my vocation as a priest of the church. In both roles, I spend a lot of time planting seeds, nurturing young plants, tilling the soil, and working to make poor soil better. It’s not often that I’ll get to see the fruits of my labor, since undergraduates will move on, and unless I spend the rest of my life in this parish and bury many of those whom I baptize, I won’t see how many in my parish will end up, either.
But that is OK by me. My reward is not in this world, but in the next. My calling is to use my God-given talents to the best of my ability for the good of the world around me, with the hope that I will indeed leave things a little better than I found them, that I have helped make good men better, and that, when my journey in this earthly body is over, and I lay down the working tools of life, I will hear those blessed words, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”
Yep, I’m glad I’m serving one of the best bunch of young men in the world. Thank you, brothers of Lambda Chi Alpha, and especially those of you at Phi-Delta Zeta.