It's brotherhood, and when you get down to it, my Greek brothers aren't so different from my sibling.
For instance, I didn't think I would ever meet anybody else in the world who would shout at a Starbuck's barista for forgetting the whipped cream on his mocha until I joined my fraternity. My little brother did this last year, and it was probably the most embarrassing thing I've ever experienced while receiving coffee. One of my fraternity brothers also did this. He's 21 years old. Here are 5 things my fraternity brothers do or have done that my biological sibling also does or has done.
1. When my brothers are not out saving the world, they are sitting on the couch playing video games. Don’t get me wrong, they do save the world. My fraternity brothers walk for ALS, work community service hours, raise awareness about issues they feel are important. My little sibling, Matthew, is soon to begin his expansive journey through high school that will, certainly, open his eyes to the need for contribution to the community. On a daily basis, however, both Matthew and my fraternity brothers share another thing in common: They rampage, pillage, plunder, kill, destroy, and violate, all without getting off the couch. They blow things up in video games, the sacred, secret outlet of teenage boys around the globe.
2. I’ve gotten into food fights with my Greek brothers over something as stupid as who called shotgun on the ride to the Albertacos drive-thru. I’m not proud to admit it. It’s not a reflection on my brothers, my fraternity, or my family. I flung a flying glob of guacamole into the face of our chapter’s secretary after a long night out. I mean, he stole my seat. So really, if you think about it, he left me no other options. We’re talking about a specific spot in the car I had to fight my biological brother for everyday for the past 13 years. Would you give it up? Didn’t think so, moving on.
3. I have walked the streets in my underwear alongside both my biological and Greek brothers. Chapman University Undie Run, Fall Semester, 2013. I won’t go into detail but I had a fun night. There was not one second I did not have a fraternity brother beside me, half naked and proud to be a Phi. When I was ten (making Matthew a total of five annoying years old) I was gunned down with ice cold water at eight in the morning on a Saturday. Why would I remember this tragedy 9 years later? Because I was still in bed when my little brother began to open fire akimbo water pistols into my face. I ran and he chased me, all the way down the street. To the house of my crush (at the time). He and I both stood there half naked on the street in front of her house, her mother stepping out onto the porch to grab the newspaper and raising her laser heat vision just high enough to disintegrate whatever remained of my pride at that point.
4. There are no decisions. Ever. I don’t care how long it takes your chapter, there is no sleeping for me on bid night. Whether we are voting for who our next president is going to be, or just picking where we are going to eat after meeting this week for brotherhood, deliberations are the bane of my existence. But at least in my fraternity I get deliberations. Reasons for why my brothers feel the way they feel. My sibling and I cannot agree on anything, but usually my brother’s argument is because he is “right.” Apparently, he’s always “right,” it just takes him a while to come up with anything more than that to say to me when it comes to our arguments.
5. No matter how encased I become during finals, rough work days, or even difficult periods with other family members, either is able to cut through y tough skin and make me laugh. My little brother can make me laugh just with the look he gives me. There’s not a lot of people I can say that about, but some of the people that I can are in my fraternity. Brotherhood doesn’t take a lot, but what it does take is an indication that what you have with this person is particular. You’ll know when you see it.
