In my travels through the Internet, I came upon a story recently that intrigued me. The sorority I had belonged to in college, Delta Gamma, was in the news. So I took a look.
Apparently a DG sister with responsibilities for Greek Week social activities for her chapter was outraged-- outraged-- that she was receiving complaints from their Matchup, Sigma Nu, about how awkward and boring they were, and that the frat brothers would not want to hang out with them. So she sent an email demanding that the sisters shape up.
Not just any email...but an “exercise in digital rage, worthy of a Quentin Tarantino curse-a-thon or David Mamet dressing down,” according to a CNN report. It was filled with so many f-words, expletives, and profanities that it was leaked to a site called Gawker, and inspired news articles around the web, a “hilariously unhinged” dramatic reading by actor Michael Shannon, as well as U-tube parodies by Barbie, an animated Joe Pesci, and various standup comics. You can Google it...Delta Gamma sorority rant. Some of profanities were so new to me that I had to go to Wikipedia to find out what they meant.
The email and parodies stimulated long strings of comments....people love to make judgmental comments. About half condemned the writer as crazy, hysterical, deranged, shallow, and representative of the depths to which young people today had sunk, particularly those in sororities and fraternities. And she had ruined future job and grad school prospects with this “online tattoo.”
The other half found the email and parodies hysterically funny, and even liked the rhythm and “take no prisoners” writing style. It helped that she looks very attractive and angelic in her photos. In one TV news story, one fellow commented no girl could have written that; it had to have been a guy. So women’s lib is alive and well. I enjoyed the whole circus.
For me, I flashed on memories of my own college sorority days, some 55 years ago. My freshman year, I definitely was one of those “awkward” and “boring” girls and was cut by all the sororities but one, which I chose not to join. Sophomore year rolled around, and I figured I had nothing to lose by loosening up and having fun with rush. That, plus my 4.0 GPA, brought an invitation from Delta Gamma.
Sororities didn’t have their own houses, so we clustered in different areas of a very large dormitory...complete with house mother, sign-in and out sheets, room inspections, and curfews...9 p.m. my freshman year. Definitely another era. We had white glove tea parties, as well as parties with fraternities. I wrote and directed some prize winning skits for big campus events, made some great friends, and definitely enhanced my college experience. I even met my first real boyfriend at a party with graduate students.
So how does this relate to Religious Science?
I found the answer in the writings of Walter Starcke. I was asked to teach a class based on Starcke’s book, “It’s All God.”
Walter Starcke puts it in perspective. He clarifies the necessity of finding a realistic balance between living in the Absolute and the Relative world -- to find the balance between our humanity and our divinity. It's not a matter of “one or the other,” but rather, discovering the key to doing both at the same time.
God is ever present--he says. God is all there is--the good, the bad, the ugly. The human and the divine are one and the same, that even Christ was flawed and made mistakes. If we can accept our failures and weaknesses and those of others as opportunities for expansion, growth and learning, we can evolve our own Christ consciousness.
The email writer resigned from Delta Gamma; the story has died down. But who knows, she may show up on "Good Morning America," or "Oprah," who can ask “what were you thinking when you wrote this?”
And she can show she has matured into a thoughtful, compassionate, tolerant young lady. She’s only 20 or 21...lots of time to live and learn.
And so it is.
