What I took away from the pannel

The thing I took away the most from the guest speakers was the need to speak up.  NO matter how hard it may be, or what problems it may cause we need to speak up. Speak up against sisters who are making us worry, and things that are going on that are not congruent with our values and standards. Speak up against things that are wrong and people who are not putting their all into our organization. Speak up for what you believe in…

It’s interesting to realize how much each of us tiptoe around the problems we see in our own organizations. I call all of these girls my sisters, meaning that I should be comfortable with them, at least comfortable enough to tell them how I feel right?

….Well not always. But not because I don’t love them, or care about what they have to say, I guess it’s because I care about them and our bond so much I’m so afraid to damage it. But then I wonder, is my bond with them that fragile? I never thought so… It raises so many thoughts in my mind when I think about why I sometimes keep my mouth shut about the things that bother or worry me. Usually I use the excuse that I don’t want to upset anyone, but does it mean that I’m just too afraid?

The thing is, like I said before, these are my sisters. They are my family here at school. We do everything together; we share secrets, stories, memories, a house, and many other things so I think it’s important that we do bring up the controversial issues even if it can cause a temporary problem. I mean we should be able to over come it, we are sisters, we did make a promise to each other to always be loyal….

The reason this comment hit me the hardest is earlier this month I began to worry about one of my sisters. She was not acing like herself, and frankly I was not the only person who had noticed. A few girls had approached me about talking to her about the concern but I brushed it off, and basically said that she would “come around” and I “wasn’t the right person to bring it up”. Thankfully someone else did and I’m so happy that they did, but during our guest speaker last week I couldn’t help but think what if no one had? At that point I knew I should have spoken up, and since I have decided to make it my goal for the year, to speak up to all of my sisters when it is necessary. I now know that my organization is only as strong as it’s weakest member, and to change and improve my organization and my community we ALL need to learn to use our voice.