i received this text message a few minutes ago:

"character is not the ability to slam a paddle on bare legs, or the strength to endure it. character is not standing by a brod, right or wrong as they claimed they do. every man who bears the name of the this fraternity, or one who behaves in a manner similar to this is a man with blood on his hands. JUSTICE FOR CRIS!"

there are times wherein i wonder if i'm being unfair in judging the frat as a WHOLE vis-a-vis its individual members who may
(or may not) be responsible. there are members of that frat whom i considered to be my friends, and then this issue erupted. now, though it pains me to admit it, i have a hard time even looking at them straight in the eye. it's especially hard when these people have been nothing but nice to you. it's difficult not to feel guilt or even feel as though you are being rude.

but then that message came and it got me thinking. while it may be true that most of them most probably had no involvement whatsoever in cris mendez's death, what i cannot stomach nor tolerate is the fact that they have remained silent thus far. apparently, what happened does not bother them what bit, it is not repulsive to their senses, it has not elicited any feelings of remorse nor triggered any indignation over the inherent wrongness of what happened. all i hear as i walk by the halls of up law is this uneasy, almost-deafening silence. almost as though they would rather pretend nothing happened. that's one thing i fear i never understood about the entire fraternity system, the whole vow of secrecy and sticking by the brods no matter what thing they have going on.

a year or so ago, i had a very long conversation with a friend of mine from a frat on that very same topic. he explained it to me in terms of the nature of brotherhood, that even if you know your brother is wrong, by virtue of the fact that he is your brother, you will stand by him. that time, i merely pondered on what he said, but looking back, i cannot see the logic in his explanation. sure, i may not be a member of a frat (well, obviously. hehe), but i have brothers and sisters and i can say that when i see that they do something wrong, i am the first to call them on it. my not-so-baby brother knows full well what i am talking about. i am a firm believer that despite the varying shades of gray as regards certain issues, there are also those wherein there is no room for compromise, wherein it's always a toss-up between black or white, good or bad, right or wrong. i would think violence and death would fall under the latter category.

sadly, what i have known all along but hoped against hope that i would be proven wrong is true: they will choose their frat no matter what. even in a toss-up between FRATERNITY LOYALTY AND WHAT-NOT and WHAT'S RIGHT, they will choose the former. the events of the past week have concretized my theory. they choose SILENCE and CONDONATION over COURAGE and SPEAKING THE TRUTH. they choose the COMFORTS OF COWARDICE over the possible drawbacks of STANDING UP FOR THE RIGHT THING. they choose SO-CALLED FRATERNITY LOYALTY over LOYALTY TO ALL THINGS GOOD AND JUST.

and these people, ladies and gentlemen, most probably harbor ambitions of running our beloved country one day. some might even succeed.

i echo the rhetorical question a professor of mine asked me the other day, "what's becoming of us?"

WHAT IS BECOMING OF US? :(

Labels: frat violence, local/up issues

first year law student.kid at heart.idealist.optimist (except about myself).hopeless romantic.daydream believer.dreamer.klutz(hehe).


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"I don't care if I never grow up
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