what is a sorority?

What is a Sorority?
If it is really anything at all,
A sorority is not entirely
A flower,
National conventions
Monogrammed rings
Worn-out rush songs
By-laws
Membership standards
Or a pearl-encrusted pin.

And it is not entirely
An institution
A creed
A legacy
An obligation
Or a way of life.

If you are really going to insist that it is something, a sorority is:

Moving into the house for the first time and slowly learning that all beautiful people have fat legs, use mouthwash and wear last year's shoes.

Sitting next to an alumna you don't particularly like and being nice because you have a common goal and she has been where you are now.

Long, tired hours of black coffee and study hall when you still can't remember the Renaissance architects or the anatomy of a paramecium.

Borrowing a skirt from Betsy and a blouse from Jennifer and shoes from Stephanie and a coat from Cathi and passing it all off as your own.

Sitting on the back steps listening to your pledge sister with helplessness because she's lost and she's lonely and it seems like the whole world just fell into a bunch of ugly little pieces.

Coming home very late one night and closing the door to tell your sister who's seen you through the hardest years of your life that you're happy now and you're getting married.

And a sorority is, I suppose, a kind of evaluation. You grow up inside these elegant halls and perhaps you do learn more of this circus we call life than if you lived somewhere else.

You learn that a football player is sometimes just shoulder pads and that skinny arms sometimes hide a great man.

You learn that some lecture halls are just watery echoes and that there are silent rooms for your deep rivers.

You learn that no matter where you came from, or who brought you here, you still have to find that one small acre that belongs to you on your own.

You learn that the world is made up of people you're not going to like, and you learn to live with them anyway.

You learn to wait because change is slow and change isn't always right.

You learn that there is still a lot left to believe in and a whole lot more to hope for.

You learn that love has never been easy and that it's a long time coming.

And if you're very smart or very lucky, you learn that no matter how big or how messy the world becomes, what is precious and what is enduring will always be the same.

And in the end, a sorority can only be a better way to stumble down the back steps and out the front door.

–Anonymous

**i copy pasted this entry from our yahoo group courtesy of angel.