Incredibly Conflicted…
November 21st, 2006 by Jon Wood. Popularity: 9%.So, i’m going to preface this post with an apology for its inevitable lack of brevity (what can i say, i’m long-winded!)…
This last sunday my chapter began its officer nominations for the upcoming elections. Now, ever since i took office as Rho, i’ve had the complete intentions of holding it for the two years i had left as an undergrad, growing it from the dead postition it was, and then passing it on… after 1 year, i feel that i’ve done a relatively decent job and have created a decent foundation for another brother to grow on… Don’t get me wrong, i would love to be Rho again (and i’m pretty sure my chapter would like to see that) but lately my heart has been elsewhere… The reason this blog is titled “incredibly conflicted” is because for the past few months i have fallen in love with our ritual and its application, thus leading to the bombshell that i dropped during meeting when i nominated myself for Phi…
Now, for in the interest of fairness to my brothers who are also running for Phi, i’m not going to sit here and rail off why i would be a good Phi, i’ll save that for election night… instead, i’ll tell you why I’m incredibly scared taking on such a responsibility. First and foremost, it would require me to abdicate my Rho position that i basically raised from infancy, and like any father, i’m reluctant to let my baby go… There are a couple brothers in the house that i would be comfortable turning over the office to (obviously with me pointing them in the direction that i was heading and helping them to get there), but unfortunately for my psyche, the MOST qualified brother (in my mind) hasn’t been nominated yet, something i intend to talk to him about and hopefully convince him to do… what’s really sad, is that historically in my chapter, Rho has been either a blow-off position or just a stepping stone to a higher office, a mentality that i was hoping to change… yet, during these nominations, the only people accepting nominations were 3 AMs, 1 brother, and myself… which in my mind means that i haven’t done enough to turn Rho into an office that is really respected and striven for by seasoned members of the house (in contrast, Beta had 8 nominations, including only 1 AM)… Like i said, i’m conflicted… making matters worse, the brother that i would see doing the absolute best job as Rho (perhaps even better than myself depending on his passion for the office) is nominated for, and intending to run for Phi!…
Break for class!
Wow, ok… apparently this draft got posted without me telling it to… whatever, anyway, to finish my story (as it has played itself out)… after talking to our incumbent Phi I realized that i had too many reservations to take on that responsibility, but that i was ideally suited for the office of Kappa instead… well, in the end it was obviously my brothers who got to decide where i could do the most good, and my conflict was resolved for me when i wasn’t elected Kappa but instead the uncontested office of Rho…
In the end, i’m happy with the way this situation worked out and i’m excited to be continuing in my role as Rho… Here’s to year two!
In ZAX,
Jon Wood
December 29th, 2006 at 11:39 am
Brother John:
Wow! Can I identify with you — except about being High Rho (which I realize is THE POINT of your message here). Firt of all, I’m long-winded too, and often find it difficult to hold to the K.I.S.S. principle (Keep It Short & Simple). Go to my blogspot, http://glenalans.blogspot.com for verification of my long-windedness!
But when you speak of how you “fell in love with our ritual” and nominated your self for High Phi — well, that’s me! It was years ago that I served for two years as High Phi for Epsilon-Gamma Zeta at Univ. of Idaho. But the memories of that blessed ritual and how it helped me grow in my understanding of basic Christian and New Testament teachings, is still fresh!
And strangely en’uf, before I served my two years as High Phi, I served as High Kappa, which office you also mention. That one was a natural for me, since I was an education major — which is probably why it was the first office for which the brothers nominated me and in which I served during my undergraduate years.
But still, our RITUAL! How blessed I was to serve as High Phi at E-G Zeta! How blessed I was to experience the Ritual again at a General Assembly held at Nashville’s Opryland Hotel in the 1980s! And how blessed I was to experience it again at the colony at Austin Peay State Univ. in Clarksville, Tennessee, in the late 1990s!
Didn’t I say I, too, was long-winded?
Yours in ZAX,
Glen Alan Graham
EG 540, U of Idaho Class of 1976