the symphony of alpha chi omega

alpha chi omega's motto is together let us seek the heights.  i think this it pretty relevant to the "elevation" we are attempting in this course.  and as with in this course, i believe a chi o still has a long way to go.  it's difficult to rise above certain situations that occur within the house.  i truly believe that every alpha chi girl has an immense amount of pride in our chapter, but sometimes, it is hard to show it.  when girls get in quarrels, (bc im not gonna lie, living with 38 girls is not ever going to be perfectly harmonious) they can forget to uphold our values.  we all have the intention of being congruent with the values of our chapter and want to show off our chapter as much as possible, but personal emotions can definitely overtake the good of the chapter on occasion.

i find it difficult to realize that every single action of mine reflects on the chapter because of my membership in alpha chi omega.  there's certain rules that apply to the chapter, that i don't necessarily need to follow outside of chapter activities such as "no boobs, butt or belly" at TGs.  obviously, i dont run around in nothing, but in the summer, i will wear a bikini.    this doesn't reflect poorly because its a social norm outside of a chi o functions.  sometimes, though, it is difficult to separate what is okay ever and what is only okay on your own.  loud scenes at the o patio, for instance, are never particularly acceptable.  even if i am not there as an alpha chi, its a pretty fratty bar, people know where i am from, and it will reflect badly on my organization.  i dont think im alone in this issue.  i do not WANT to cause scenes of course, and this helps me to be the best person i can be, but its hard to think that every little choice i make can be traced back to an organization that i want to be seen as absolutely perfect.

a chi o started as a musical fraternity, so we have a "symphony" which is kind of our mission statement.  i think it is beautiful & its something i strive to achieve daily, but its difficult.  to see the beauty in everyone and everything can be hard because im not always in a sun shiny mood.  but i think if everyone did what this symphony suggests, the world would be a better place.

to see beauty even in the common things of life,

to shed the light of love & friendship 'round me.

to keep my life in tune with the world so that i shall make no discords in the harmony of life.

to strike on the lyre of the universe only the notes of happiness, of joy, of peace.

to appreciate every little service rendered.

to see and appreciate all that in noble in another,

be her badge what it may.

and to let my lyre send forth the chords on love, unselfishness, sincerity,

this is to be my symphony.

my personal organizations.

so, after i realized that audrey already wrote about toms (look at her blog! shopping, shoes & a good cause. i love it), i was pretty stumped about what to write about.  the blogs were pretty creative this week coming up with organizations that publicly display their values.  it was jaclyn's blog though, that led me to realize that an organization doesn't have to be nationally recognized or a huge business to prove its values.

so i decided to write about my church.  bellarmine chapel is on xavier university's campus in cincinnati.  when i first moved to cincinnati (approximately age 1), my family began attending mass at bellarmine.  when i began catholic school in 4th grade, until my little brothers graduated 8th grade in 2007, we took an intermission and attended St. Mary in Hyde Park, since thats where we went to school.  my mom had always missed bellarmine, and jumped back almost immediately.  this church is pretty liberal, due to its location on a college campus, and has the strongest sense of community that i have ever witnessed.

just this past weekend, a member of our congregation passed away.  it was an old man with a large family that had been attending mass for as long as i can remember.  i had only spoken to him a couple times, but he had always gone out of his way to make sure he waved to my family or said a friendly hello, no matter where we ran into him.  there was an enormous wake and funeral, due to the loss of one person.  everyone came to tell the family that we were here for them and bring them food as a comfort.  the strength of our church is amazing.

i bet this story doesn't stand out as something abnormal for a congregation, but it still reminds me how important it is to stick together and belong to a group that will always be there for you.  this is very reminiscent of alpha chi omega & ursuline academy, my high school.  these 3 places are the groups in which i feel loved and connected to those i am around and far away from.

ive mentioned before that i have 16 best friends from high school, but one of the closest's mom died our freshman year. 10/10/04.  six years later, i always personally send and hear from someone who is organizing sending her flowers on this day.  it's something that i cannot relate to, but i still want her to know that i'm thinking of her in this difficult time.  during mother/daughter brunches, my mom would always invite my friend to come with us and she gives her a call sometimes to tell her that we're here for her.  i can't imagine going through such an event, but i know if i did, that axo, ua and bellarmine chapel would be there for me & i can't think of a better way to display values than actions that show this degree of love and compassion.

"die for the truth"

okay, so this is actually pretty unrelated to "dying for the truth" that will smith was talking about. but for some reason, it reminded me of this story.  im a pretty avid fan of stumble upon, because i work at a desk on a computer and if nobody calls, i have an excess of free time.  ANYWAYS.  this is one of 5 lessons that everyone should know in life and i cry pretty much every time i read it:

5. Fifth Important Lesson - "Giving When It Counts"

Many years ago, when I worked as a volunteer at a hospital, I got to know a little girl named Liz who was suffering from a rare and serious disease. Her only chance of recovery appeared to be a blood transfusion from her 5-year-old brother, who had miraculously survived the same disease and had developed the antibodies needed to combat the illness. The doctor explained the situation to her little brother, and asked the little boy if he would be willing to give his blood to his sister. I saw him hesitate for only a moment before taking a deep breath and saying, "Yes, I'll do it if it will save her."

As the transfusion progressed, he lay in bed next to his sister and smiled, as we all did, seeing the color returning to her cheeks. Then his face grew pale and his smile faded. He looked up at the doctor and asked with a trembling voice, "Will I start to die right away?".

Being young, the little boy had misunderstood the doctor; he thought he was going to have to give his sister all of his blood in order to save her.

for the other 4: click here!

values & meaning

friends & family.  these are the two things i value most in life.  my family and my friends will always always always be there, no matter what.  all of the best memories of my life are family vacations, surprises by my friends and simply being together.

secondarily, i value health, academics, religion and honesty.  possibly to a fault.  now to elaborate:

i went to an all-girls private catholic high school in cincinnati.  the friends i made there, i would trust with my life.  as a relatively new member of alpha chi, i am not yet there with these girls.  living in for just these past few weeks, i can already notice a difference.  my roommate, amanda, is the best friend i have here at ohio state.  we rarely spend more than a few hours apart and have kept this pattern for the past 4 months.  we try to use each other to uphold our values and be the best people we can be.  just tonight, we went to a yoga class together and typically head to the gym about 4 times a week.  currently, we're sitting on our big green couch in axo, finishing homework, quizzes & sunday night football.  (she's an eagles fan, im a bengals fan.. one of us had a better day.  especially when you consider the reds.. we dont need to talk about that)  we both have similar goals for this quarter and are working towards them together.  4.0 and six packs, here we come!!

now family.  i call my mom and dad almost everyday just to chat and see whats up.  a lot of the time, i think i call them too much.  my dad never answers on the first try.. i know he loves me though! i promise!  my mom and dad travel a lot and are really busy, but my dad takes me out to dinner once every other week during his trips around ohio and my mom calls me from every airport so i know shes okay!  my baby brothers are seniors at archbishop moeller in cincinnati and i miss them more than is typically reasonable.  i keep pictures of them on my binders and force them to text me after pretty much every big event they have.  the best friend, amanda, says its creepy that i keep pictures of them everywhere, but we all look exactly the same, so i think everyone knows. exhibit a:

so not creepy, right? yeah. not. so my fam means the world to me.  my grandma lives nearby in columbus so i get to see her alllll the time. she is cute.  and very small, so i call her the pygmy.

also, raised as a catholic, i try to follow the morals that i was raised with during my catholic education, the ones that aren't outdated of course.  a lot has changed since the time of jesus and i think that needs to be taken into account when interpreting the bible.

i feel like im being wordy. i also value health.  if you dont have your health you dont have anything.  i have this poster hanging in my room, to remind me of how i want to be:

kbye!