Saturday, Aug. 23, 2003
Helpless and feeling like shit over something I can't do anything about. :(
Okay, so right now I'm sorta upset.
You see one of my good friends and one of the sweetest people on earth is going through sorority rush at the University of South Carolina.
This girl is the most fantastic, sweet person. She's full of enthusiasm and has got a ton to offer to any sorority. Seriously. She has the potential to be a huge asset to any sisterhood she chooses to join and should be considered such by any sorority that rushes her.
But, here is where sororities get tricky. The personality and the person behind that personality isn't the only thing that is always considered. I mean the process does work. People do end up in a good place, not always the place they think they want to be, but girls do end up in the right sorority for them. The place where they will be the most comfortable and happy, because afterall, what you get out of a sorority is what you put into it.
Other factors are considered during rush and some things that aren't a factor for other people end up affecting some. Rush is very structured and objective in the south...not like "the I like her or I don't like her" notions that some people have about the process. I know from experience that girls are not criticized unless there is a blatant and very important reason for them to be. The whole package of each girl that goes through is looked at and taken into account. Most people probably don't realize that grades and activites beat out looks and fashion during rush any day. I mean this genuinely too, as every girl who walked through an ADPi party was treated with respect, kindness, sincerity, and congeniality. However, objectivity like that, even when matched with a fantastic personality, can end up doing just the opposite of what was intended.
And for as objective as the whole thing is, it can also be ruthless and petty. I've seen it happen. This didn't happen to me, because, obviously, girls had no preconcieved notions of me as I was from so far away. But, there are other aspects that can take away from the supposedly objective pieces of rush.
Grrr. Its just frustrating. The process worked for me and for my sisters and for my cousin, but its not working for someone I care so much about. Someone who deserves to be in the best sorority on campus because if she gave it her all she would be the person who you would want to represent sororites as a whole. And thats what makes it a double edge sword, because these girls who look forward to rush so much, do put themselves on the line. They put themselves up for rejection and as objective as the process can be, sometimes it does go wrong. And a little hiccup in the system can cause a deserving girl to loose out and get the shit brown end of the stick.
So, yeah, I'm feeling for her at the moment and I'm frustrated, because its unfair that me, a person who could have given a crap about being in a sorority all throughout her life, got into a fantastic sisterhood so easily. I was surrounded by beautiful, inteligent, kind people. It was an amazying experience for me.
Then there is this wonderful person who watched myself and my cousin have such a perfect experience and who did care about the sorority thing for a much larger portion of her life than either of us did, and now her experience isn't nearly as fun nor perfect as it was for either of us.
Its just not fair sometimes, is it? And there is nothing I can do about it, which makes it even worse.
*sigh*
ted-ted at 4:00 p.m.