small scar of honor

I have this scar on the wrist of my left hand. It’s been there for about for about 5 years now and will probably be there for the rest of my life. It has consequentely developed a strong sense of permanence in my life, just as there are other things to me that remain constant. After last weekend when the Alpha Omicron brothers were initiated, I came to this realization, and ironically it was my small scar that sparked it. Our fraternity is comprised of a variety of differences, both good and bad, and it is literally built on a foundation of different qualities each of us are willingly able to share with the fraternity. Sure, these donations each of us put forth toward an organization we all are familiar with can be small and almost unrecognized, but that’s not the point I’m getting at. Although we are all different from one another, even though we bring different respects to the table of the fraternity in which we call "ours," what we all have in common is that indescribable 7 week period known as pledging. For some classes it starts immediately hard and only progresses bit by bit, others it begins as a walk in the park only to come to an abrupt switch to a walk through hell. No matter how we all were educated, no matter what path of hell we individually walked down, what we all share is something nobody else in this world can compare with. We know of other fraternities like ours with similar rituals, we know of other organizations that initiate members through grueling challenges; however, nobody, but us can relish in the outcome of such a challenging journey. It was this journey that brought us together and it was this journey that bonded us to perhaps a group of unlikely individuals you never would have had the honor to know otherwise. Despite any lingering hard feelings in the fraternity or any brothers who are no longer active, we all deserve the equal credit for that journey we can thank Sigma Rho for. It might be the backbone of every challenge we face here on out for the rest of our lives or the credibility we will have when facing impossible situations. Love, charity, and esteem is engrained in us even if we don’t always know it or display it, but it takes a man to understand it. We are the men of Sigma Rho and nobody can ever take that away from us. So look for that small hardly acknowleged scar on your body and smile with pride for it will be the tattoo of an honor only we can share with each other forever…