Change!

"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek." - President Barack Obama

This is so true. If we want something, some person or some issue to change - we've got to take a stand and start the ball rolling. If everyone always thought "well, someone else will do it," nothing would ever get done! I say be brave and be the change you wish to see in the world. (Okay, so Gandhi totally said that, but whatever!)

An individual can create change in a group in many ways. Let's take a sorority for example. Sally doesn't like one of the bylaws in her chapter's constituion. If she speaks out about it, perhaps she can get a group together to propose an amendment to the bylaw. This could allow the chapter to review their constitution totally. With that, Sally sparked single order change.

Now, let's say we want to know how Sally can contribute to second order change. Again, say she doesn't like a bylaw. "Why only 3 required service hours a quarter?." she asks. Sally really values community service and talks with other sisters. Together they approach the service chair and ask her to encourage sisters to do more community service...say, 5 hours a quarter. Everyone starts doing 5 hours a quarter and really enjoys this change. Sally's values and her desire to encourage more participation in service inspired her entire chapter...creating second order change!

The same things have happened with my chapter. We've done some single order change. Amending rules, creating bylaws, instituting fines. But we've done some second order change too - determining a chapter philanthropy, reaffirming our values and creating programming that fits them.

I think any type of change is important, but now I realize that I'd like to see more second order change than single order change this year. That is one of my goals as chapter prez....spark more positive, 2nd-order change! :]
-b