 |
|
|
September 12, 2000 Do you ever feel like you just aren't appreciated? All my life, I have been very giving of myself. That is just what makes me happy. I would rather see someone else happy before I am content. Take my sister for example. No matter how long my day was or how bad it was, if I came home and she asked me to make her something to eat for dinner…I would cook her something. When it comes to my friendships and relationships I would do anything in order to see a smile on a friend's face. For my service fraternity, I put in so much time into it because it is an organization that I am very passionate about. I am currently the treasurer and big/little coordinator. For the new pledges, I hand wrote twenty letters and gave one to each of them. As the treasurer, I have created a budget, which is something this chapter hasn't seen in a long time. I have established a strong set of books that is well organized and easy to follow. Granted, these are all part of my job descriptions, but I have gone way far and beyond that in my frat. I strive to do things that will make our chapter grow. When I suggest a new goal for the group, that idea is implemented. Everything that I have brought to the chapter has strengthened us as a group, and I don' expect anything in return because I am in effect benefiting from the changes that I make. The clincher comes here… As a National Service Fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega is having a National Convention in December of this year, and it has been a goal of mine to be a voting delegate from my chapter. Each active chapter gets to have to voting delegates who sit debate after debate on legislation that will become the governing rules of the fraternity until they are changed in a future National Convention. I have made it very evident in my chapter that I wanted to be one of the two voting delegates. It was a well known and accepted fact in my chapter that I was to be one of the voting delegates. So, on the night of elections, the nominations for the two voting delegates where being given. I was one of the nominations, but there was a third person who was nominated. I was a bit worried, but I still felt confident that I would be one of the two. After the voting was all done, the two delegates were announced. This is where my problem lies because my name wasn't announced. A guy who had no experience in the chapter had beaten me out, and I just couldn't believe it. After the meeting was done, I called Josh, and I know that the elections that we had just held weren't conducted correctly. So, him and I worked to figure out everything that was done incorrectly so that I could take it to the exec board and say that I wanted to void the elections that had just taken place and have a completely new election. In a week of pure hell, I tried my best to get that new election, but I soon accepted the fact that I just had to let things be. I saw that my chapter made a conscious effort to try and accommodate the issues that I was trying to bring up, and that alone made me happy. So, I am left not being a voting delegate; which, I have accepted. It doesn't bother me at all, but I am still frustrated that the time and work that I put into my chapter isn't appreciated. I find myself second-guessing the results if the elections were held correctly, and I wonder if the same results would have occurred if I weren't gay. These are thoughts that plague my mind every once in a while, but what the hell can I do? At this point…the only thing that I guess I can do it suck it up and forget about it. I can keep on putting my all into the chapter and hopefully one day see the recognition that is well deserved. 
|
| y e s t e r d a y |
