[15332] in APO-L
Scout oath and law, who's a brother, civility, females,
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Richard Byrne)
Thu Nov 7 16:44:03 1996
Date: Thu, 7 Nov 1996 16:43:09 -0500
Reply-To: Richard Byrne <RBYRNE@OTIS.STATE.NJ.US>
From: Richard Byrne <RBYRNE@OTIS.STATE.NJ.US>
To: Multiple recipients of list APO-L <APO-L@VM.CC.PURDUE.EDU>
etc.
My dear brothers,
I believe that the scout oath and law is a wonderful standard to live by
and is the foundation upon which our cardinal principles were selected.
And accordingly, it (the scout oath and law) deserves a prominant place
in our purpose, by-laws, and lives.
I also believe that any person who satisfies the requirements, is
accepted by a chapter, and is inducted through the ritual (without
subsequently being expelled by the National Fraternity), should be
considered by every brother, a brother in the fullest brotherhood sense
of the word. Regardless of position on issue, or action.
I beleive that trying to argue intolerance against intolerance is not
productive (hence the preface of everything in this note with "I believe",
and "not you're wrong about this and here's what's right"), and leads to
the diminishing civility between those of opposing views.
I believe that there is a difference between 'fairness' and 'rightness'. I
don't believe that it is fair that willing and able females are denied the
opportunity to serve as brothers in this fraternity because they attend
schools where our chapter is male only. However, I believe that it is
right that those brothers can retain their right to self determination and
association. When faced with conflicting fairness vs rightness, I usually
go with what I believe to be right.
I believe that I have reached the end of this note.
Yours in brotherhood,
Richard Byrne
RBYRNE@OTIS.state.nj.us
Alumnus, Delta Rho, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
