A lot of people are skeptical of sororities – often times believing that they’re just a group of fake girls who take “candid” photos together and stand for empty values.
I could not disagree more with this.
This past weekend I was reminded of just how strong and phenomenal my sisterhood is. It was formal recruitment: a seriously jam-packed three days of sorority-meeting, emotions-running and celebration-happening. Although sororities prep all year for this hectic weekend, one can never truly be ready. Luckily, when tragedy strikes, my sisters and I are there for each other.
Girls might describe sisterhood as being there to cry with your sister after a bad break up, or staying up until three in the morning to study for a big exam, which are two very real life examples. However, this weekend, sisterhood was literally giving the clothes off my back and shoes off my feet to my sisters. Before the start of our sisterhood round of recruitment, one of my sisters came to me in tears. She had just changed into her dress and felt very uncomfortable and didn’t know what to do. I was still in my baggy T-shirt and sweats. Without hesitation, I simply said, “You can wear my dress” (keep in mind I’m 5’11” and she’s somewhere around 5’5″). Although I wasn’t really sure what I was going to wear, it was important to me for my sister to feel comfortable and confident. I found a spare dress just a few minutes before the start of sisterhood rounds (*sigh of relief*).
I felt as if had I dodged a bullet, but tragedy almost struck later in sisterhood rounds. A different sister broke the strap on her shoe and was, in result, without any shoes to wear. She came up to me wondering what to do because you can’t really go barefoot in this setting … but that was exactly what I was about to do. I wasn’t talking to anyone that round so I slipped my shoes off and gave them to her so she was able to talk in the next round.
The trend with these two incidents was that I didn’t even question what I was doing. My sisters had a need; I had a solution. After two years in my sorority I’ve realized that is what sisterhood is. Not goofy pictures or shirts with “SISTERHOOD” printed on it, but being willing to give everything you have to lift up your sisters. I’ve always known my sisterhood was strong, and this weekend reinforced that.
To the outsider, dresses and shoes might not seem like a big deal. But to me, it’s the care and love we have for each other that really defines sisterhood.
