Bob Schieffer visits GHQ - Part II

My wife, Jennifer, and I attended Brother Bob Schieffer's lecture in Hall Auditorium on the Miami University campus a few weeks ago. For those of you who have attended Leadership College or Emerging Leaders Institute, we have held the model initiation ceremonies in Hall Auditorium before (not to be confused with Heritage Hall in the Shriver Center). It is just a short walk away from the GHQ building.

Bob's speech centered on his time as a reporter and he told wonderful stories about his days as a young newsman. In one story, he relayed how much times have changed and how you used to be able to wear a police detective style hat and everyone would assume you were a cop. One of his biggest scoops was interviewing Lee Harvey Oswald's mother immediately following the assassination of President Kennedy. The hat worked so well that he was able to accompany her to Oswald's holding cell. He thought he had a huge story until a senior FBI agent asked him who he was. His response of "Who are you?" didn't fare too well and he was escorted out.

He also discussed how political campaigns today have been removed from the community and are now on television (and now even YouTube - have you seen the latest Obama ad?) Bob said politics used to be an amateur sport as people from the communities the politician was representing would provide advice and then share in the joy of victory but when they lost they had to return to the community and live there. But today the media has turned it into a professional sport as politicians hire pollsters, advisers, use computers to figure out who is living where... it has removed all spontaneity out of politics because we have removed people out of politics...

One comment that stuck out for me was Bob's feeling that our country needed to get back to the basics. He said, "The way we can influence the rest of the world is to practice values that have made us the nation we are. I don't think we can do it for other people, we can help them, but by underlining what this country stands for and showing the other people the differences in how we go about things and how those who oppose us go about things then we have a chance to influence the rest of the world."

He went on to quote President Huebert Humphrey who said that the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which righted a wrong of over 200 years, was the single most effective foreign policy initiative that this country had ever undertaken. By that he meant it showed we were willing to correct and admit our mistakes and it showed we stood for fairness and that our system of government worked.

We have to emphasize what sets us apart and in no time should we ever find or seek shortcuts by adopting the methods of those who oppose us.

Was Brother Schieffer talking about our government or our Fraternity? Undergraduate leaders often are troubled when faced with the decision to discipline one of their own brothers due to financial delinquency or behavioral problems. They use brotherhood as their "shortcut" and therefore offer our competitors, who are willing to make those hard decisions, a window of opportunity to surpass us. Where is the value in that?

During my 12+ years on staff, the Fraternity's leadership has initiated several values-based initiatives including the alcohol-free housing policy, having Ritual as one of three educational pillars at the Emerging Leaders Institute, The Accolade member development program, and instituting a minimum standard for our chapters relating to the practice of Ritual at weekly chapter meetings. If the Fraternity can provide our members an opportunity to learn what is right, and instill in them the confidence to do what is right and to stand up against what is wrong, we are successfully influencing the leaders of tomorrow.

Until the next time, remember... Go far.