What’s in a name? “PATRIOTIC BROTHERHOOD OF THE REPUBLIC” How I thought it was; and now. THEN…. Over 20 years ago, I was on that age of wanting to know how is it like being a part of some kind of organization called “Fraternity”. I don’t even understand the word “Brotherhood” but I do know the meaning of the word Patriotic. I’m on my age of exploration back then and with mere curiosity, I made a... decision to join the brotherhood. Not too much of a peer pressure on my part I really believe because I decided to join and be initiated out in Barrio, not like where most of my friends from town that joined in and was initiated “downtown”. Anyway, 72 paddles and some brotherly physical contact later…. I was a new member but I still don’t understand what I got into, all I know is that I am happy to be a part of something big! All I know is that in case something would happen to me, I have this group of brothers and sisters that would come around and help me. In just a couple of years, I was even voted to be M.E.B “Most Exalted Brother”. Now I was really feeling big it was not even funny but I have so many younger member brothers and sisters that are actually looking up to me as a leader. I have some influence on the decision making process and have some sort of power to call shots. The crazy thing about it is that I cannot even recall a single good thing we did to our community. We had a lot of troubles, fights, and any other ugly experimental thing that teenagers could think of. You may just realize this now but for somebody like me that is born in 1967 and have joined an organization in 1983 that was founded in 1962, there was not really much of Leadership, Mentoring, Guidance or Counseling. We did not really do much anything that has to do with our name “Patriotic” We had a lot of “Brotherhood” if it fits the definition of what teenagers would like it to be. This, however is just me and my perspective, it does not reflect the rest of our fraternity in the Country. This is not also to bring discredit to our past hometown leadership. We may have actually done some great things but I’m just a little old now to remember. NOW…. What do we really have here now? I mean….. Right Here! Right NOW! What I see is nothing but OPPORTUNITY! Something that I believe we should not take for granted and may just go down the drain. We have the chance now to make a difference, chance to lead, mentor, give idea or suggestion or guidance, chance that a lot of us may have been waiting on to happen for a while or something that a lot of us could not even believe that is actually happening right before our eyes. I see the opportunity for us to make changes that are absolutely necessary to implement so we can work together towards our hope, our vision and, our dream. We have come a long way my Brothers and Sisters, it’s not even a year yet when we started this journey together, but I must say that we have to grab this bull by the horn and run with it. It should be high time now for those of us that are still sitting on the side watching but has more to offer on the process. Leaders are expected to make tough decision; sometimes they are not necessarily the most popular one. They have to be made however. If this means being a little more intrusive and assertive and some decision may hurt somebody’s feeling, I say …. So be it! Sometimes we just need to do what we have to do. Lots of hard work has been done, but there’s a lot more work to do, but together as a group; we can make a big difference! TOGETHER SISTERS, TOGETHER BRETHREN! What’s in a name? “PATRIOTIC BROTHERHOOD OF THE REPUBLIC” What does it really mean to YOU?
Posted on: Sat, 13 Dec 2014 07:27:16 +0000
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