By: Coordinator of Volunteer Development Tyler Wash, Georgetown ’06
In 1982, President Ronald Regan stood in the White House Rose Garden and signed a bill that created Martin Luther King Jr. Day, honoring the life of King and the values he embodied: civil rights, equality and nonviolent activism.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day is observed every year on the third Monday of January. While that day was chosen because of King’s Jan. 15th birthday, I find the date most relevant because of its proximity to the start of a new year.
Every New Year’s Day, people’s minds turn to setting new year’s resolutions … or to put it another way: tactics to improve themselves. Martin Luther King Jr. Day is not only a day to remember the past and honor a man, but it also a time where we can refocus ourselves and dream about how we want to better ourselves, our community, our Fraternity, and our nation.
How do we better ourselves, our community, our Fraternity and our nation? Simple. Be a leader! To gain some wonderful advice, we must go back to the 1960s. The ’60s were a time of unrest in this nation—college campuses were engulfed in Anti-Vietnam protest, civil rights marches and rallies were occurring all across the country, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and a counterculture was developing across all generations. Because of those reasons and countless more, the American people were looking for true leadership, a leader that could tackle the monumental problems of the day and provide inspiration.
While several men and women stepped up and became true leaders, I want to focus on just two—Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy—and the words they used to inspire America.
“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’” — Martin Luther King, Jr.
King was dreaming that America would stand up for the creed and mission on which it was founded. Each and every Phi Kappa Tau member, regardless of age, should dream that each member of the Fraternity would embody the creed, the Ritual and the mission of the organization. To do this, the Fraternity needs leaders to step up and lead that charge.
“Some men see things as they are and say why? I dream things that never were and say why not?”
― Robert F. Kennedy
In every aspect of life, including Phi Kappa Tau, members instinctively ask why. Why should I have to do that? Why should we do so much community service? Why is that policy in place? While I appreciate, even encourage, members to take an active role in the Fraternity and ask the hard questions, I also value the people who live up to Kennedy’s works and say why not? Why not try something new? Why not take the entire chapter to National Convention? Why not embody our Ritual each and every day? True leadership is not asking why, it is saying why not and leading your chapter and the entire Fraternity into the future.
As you establish or better define your 2012 New Year’s resolution, remember these short quotes. Be sure to dream, but also add true leadership to your dreams. And then make your dreams a reality.
I leave you with a poem that was first given to me by Dr. William H. Crouch Jr., the president of my alma mater, Georgetown College. The day I received this poem, I framed it and hung it in my room in the Delta Theta chapter house. Now it hangs in my office at the Phi Kappa Tau Executive Offices. There is not a week that goes by that I do not take a few minutes and read the words. Every time I do I am re-energized and recommitted to being the best leader I can be.
People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.
The biggest men with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.
People favor underdogs, but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.
People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.
Resources:
National Convention
A Wish for Leaders
Leadership Academy
