One-Step World Peace

            I would like to tell you about how we could achieve world peace in one-step. I understand that you may think that I am clinically ill for proposing that I have a solution for world peace that is only one tiny step. I mean it has been an elusive concept for millennia.  How can it be as easy as one step? It is a simple yet mind-bendingly difficult concept. It boils down to how you think of yourself and how you react of others. By applying this concept to our daily lives, our dyadic communication, our organizations, our nations, and all the way up to our world, we take steps towards making this world a better place. I’m going to focus on the first three places I mentioned: self, individual communication, and within an organization. If we can apply this to just those three we could virtually eliminate the need for risk management and undoubtedly increase our retention within Alpha Phi Omega. Now, I’ve been hyping this up without telling you my secret. The secret to a better environment is simply empathetic listening. Now, bear with me for just a few minutes and I will explain. Most of us know how to listen, but with that we have a learned set of biases that influence what we hear and interpret. We have a unique set of filters that create our personal reality: culture, language, values, beliefs, attitudes, expectations, intentions. Because no one has the same perceptual set, no one has the same reality. I’m not saying that everyone should be psychiatrically admitted. In order to succeed at interpersonal communication you have to be aware of not only your own filters, but the filters of those around you. By applying empathy and understanding to why someone thinks the way they do, you can better succeed in finding a solution that pleases both parties.

In order to be successful, the most important aspect is having a true sense of self and acknowledging your personal biases. For this I’m going to recount some of my own perceptual filters and how they affect my reality. It is an example of why I will see the world differently than every other person in this room. I grew up in a home with divorced parents, one of whom revealed he was in fact gay when I was 9 years old. I grew up in the Catholic Church and then denounced it when my priest told me at age 11 that I was a bastard child who would never find Heaven. I’ve been in situations of sexual and physical violence and experienced episodes of major depression. But even with those factors, I have a wonderful set of friends and family who encourage me in everything that I do. Can you see how my perceptual filters would cause me to see the world differently than other people? I encourage you to think about what some of your perceptual filters are because understanding what affects your interpretation skills will help you look past your personal biases, see situations from multiple perspectives, and embrace post formal thinking. Next time you find yourself getting angry or vehemently in support or against something, I urge you to reflect on what experiences and conditions have led you to that response and consider what perceptual filters people who might disagree with you might have. Considering the perceptual filters of others is what will truly lead to a sense of harmony in your life, so let’s move on to dyadic communication.

                The first step to applying this concept is through dyadic communication, or communication between two parties. Remember, everyone has their own reality and it will inevitably be different than yours. When someone expresses a sentiment that you disagree with, remember there is a reason that they think that way. Their reason is dictated in the same fashion yours was: through their individual experiences. For example, if you recall from my above example, I had a gay father and I have denounced my religion. As a result, I am very passionate about gay rights: a hugely controversial subject in society right now. I also know people who are vehemently opposed to the idea of two men or two women being married. I will never agree with them because I interpret not only their Bible, but my moral compass in a different fashion than they do, but I do have the ability to consider why they might think the way they do. What could influence them to believe that gay marriage should not happen?

·         How they personally interpret the Bible

·         Fear of Rejection by important parts of their life

·         External influences:

o   Church

o   Family Beliefs

o   Beliefs of Friends

We must remember that people are a product of their surroundings. Their biases are learned and they were not born with them. We must understand that getting angry at someone for their beliefs is not productive. Instead try to utilize empathy and see the situation from their perspective. In some cases, you might see the situation in an entirely new light and learn something from the experience. Approach every interaction you have with an open mind and the results could surprise you. Our goal should be a healthy understanding of one another in order to cultivate respect. When this mutual respect and understanding can be achieved on both sides, both parties can universally walk away better than when they first encountered.

Now, we can move on to the organization. Your committee, chapter, section, region, and the national organization as a whole are all dyadic communication on a larger scale. There will always be disagreement as to what is best for the organization going forward. Make it a goal to check your filters when approaching a problem and consider the filters of others. Acknowledge why you think the way you do before engaging in an argument. Be empathetic and listen to why others feel the way they do. This will lead to a decline in tension. This decline in tension will often lead to you being a happier individual as well as the individuals surrounding you to be happier. Approaching things in this way creates the highest probability that a solution that is acceptable to everyone is met. When the organization as a whole is happier, the issue of retention lessens and the need for risk management virtually ceases to exist because the group is functioning harmoniously.

Speech Prezi

'Til the Day I Die

      My freshman year of college, I was asked by a friend to join her at an information session for one of the over 600 organizations on the campus of The Ohio State University. I had no idea what I was going to; I just went because she didn't want to go alone. I sat in a room with around 20 other people and sat a little shell shocked as Greek letters were being spoken at me. The members in front of me kept mentioning doing a lot of community service and it seemed a lot like things that I enjoyed in high school. Leaving the meeting, I still had no idea what the organization was called, but I was going to join with my friend. Looking back, that decision was one of the most critical moments of my life. That was the moment I started my journey to become a brother of Alpha Phi Omega.

     It was a huge risk for me. I was that shy kid that kind of sat in the background and didn't say anything. This idea of joining a service orientated brotherhood was terrifying. I came in with no preconceived notions. Back then, I wouldn't even be able to tell you what a brotherhood was. After four years, spending exorbitant amounts of time with these crazy people who kept throwing Greek letters at me, I think I can define it.

What is brotherhood?

      I am guilty of using the mantra, "I came for the service, stayed for the friends." From the moment I joined, I felt like I belonged. Brotherhood is that sense of belonging. Brotherhood is my first pledge meeting when the 'bigs' were introducing themselves and a guy stands up and says, "Choose me, you're going to be jealous if you don't because I'm the best big ever," (I bet you will never guess which big I chose). Brotherhood is when you find out that someone shares your favorite restaurant and proceed to go eat there weekly for over two months. Brotherhood is when someone sits in a car with you for 32 hours in the course of a week and is still willing to speak to you afterwards. Brotherhood is when you were at the hospital the entire night and spent the entire day in bed crying and someone comes to check on you at 5 pm because you hadn't been answering texts and phone calls all day, then when they see that you're in a bad place, invite you out to dinner with them. Brotherhood is when you tell someone that you think you might have to quit the fraternity and they tell you, "No matter what you decide to do, you're always welcome here and you're always my little." Brotherhood  is that someone who goes trekking across campus in the middle of finals to give you a hug and play a game of pickup volleyball because you're having a rough week. Brotherhood is when you are sitting in a hospital bed and someone comes and talks to you for five hours straight just to cheer you up. Brotherhood is when someone picks up their phone at 3 am, opens their front door, and rolls over to let you take up half their bed because you got in a fight with your roommate and can't stay in the dorm that night. Brotherhood is when your dad dies and someone comes to meet you outside chapter because they wanted to be the first one to give you a hug and when you walk in there seems to be a never ending reception line of others ready to do the same. Brotherhood is when someone carries you 400 yards up and down flights of steps because you just shattered your knee and then drives you home in the morning to grab crutches. Brotherhood is when you feel like giving up and someone gives you that push to give it one more try.

      Brotherhood happens in those moments where you form this irrevocable bond with someone. Brotherhood happens when you realize that these people are here for you, no matter what you need, and you want more than anything to be the same to them. Brotherhood is a product of common goals being completed by uncommon people. As a brother of Alpha Phi Omega, I know I am a brother for life and I have built unbreakable bonds with some of the most amazing people that I have ever met. I could speak to my brothers every day or go years without a word and the same spirit of brotherhood would remain. We are forever united in common goals and convictions: socially, academically, spiritually diverse and yet at the concurrently the same. That is brotherhood.