United

Back in my days as an active fraternity brother, recruitment was not just an activity, it was a way of life.  No matter what we did or said in public, we were always mindful of how that would reflect upon our fraternity.  However, there were certain times of the year when there existed a higher concentration of recruitment-oriented events than usual.  Even though we were encouraged to bring our non-Greek friends to hang out with the other brothers all year round, these recruitment events were those that served as specific target events to aim for when trying to get other guys to come together and meet the other active brothers.  For the active brothers who did not bring many non-Greeks to meet the other active brothers year-round, each of these events was their chance to shine.

Most importantly, these were events where, if a non-Greek showed up, there would be a guarantee that he would get to meet many other active brothers, not just a few.  At least that's how it always was in theory.  It was usually like that in practice as well but not every time.  Sometimes there would be active brothers who did not show up to required events, which was wrong.

Basically this was our take on recruitment events:  We want to show our support to those who may wish to join and we also want to help our fellow active brothers recruit by allowing their non-Greek friends to meet as many of us at once as is feasible.  They would also get to see how we interact with one another and how they feel they would fit in amongst us and our unique social dynamic.

Although it is wrong for active brothers to not show up, those of us who are there have responsibilities as well.  As disappointed as we may be with certain other active brothers, we should try to avoid letting that show on our faces.  We should also never speak badly of those absent active brothers or of the reasons they provided for not showing.  Not only are we to be mindful of what we say, but also how we say it.

A fraternity chapter divided will fall while a chapter united will stand.  This temporary storm in the life of the chapter will pass by fairly quickly but if it's what the potential new members see, that is the impression they will have of us.  Given that we are alive and kicking indicates that, for the most part, we are united.  In other words, a chapter divided is just not who we really are and would thus be an unfair representation of ourselves.  Therefore, we ought to show the potential new members a chapter united.

Luke 11: 14-23