There are times within a community such as the Bond where the past and future are clearly and unfortunately ignored to the pleasure or pain of the present.
I am really deeply saddened by the fact that the mechanisms within the Bond are too far and remote when it comes to aggressively preserving our collective wisdom for future generations of Kappas.
I do not mean to romanticize moments where Brothers (myself included) might drift off into a near Alzheimer moment to relive the past glory days. But within each Kappa experience, there will be countless generations of Brothers who will indeed need what we currently have but are not warehousing for them to have access to.
Some may say that the best thing that we can do for future Kappas is to make sure that the Bond still exists and I will not debate the argument because there is no way to logically refute the statement. You are indeed correct of the critical need for basic survival.
But beyond the mere continued existence of the Bond, everyone should still thirst and desire that future Kappas are more than properly equipped to handle the tasks of their present days while not having to reinvent the wheels that we have had under our control since 1911.
I propose an idea that should be undeniable to anyone who crossed the Burning Sands before 1994 that your Kappa experience has been improved and deepened with the integration of e-mail and other technological and communication advances.
But at the same time, the vast majority of the tools of communication have not kept an archive of the conversations where many relationships have been established, strengthened, and maintained to the advancement of the entire Bond.
Determine without spending too much time, effort, and energy to find the oldest e-mails that were shared among Brothers that you have immediate access to THAT IS NOT STORED ON YOUR COMPUTER'S HARD DRIVE. Find out how close you can get to 1994 or even earlier in some cases without revealing anything of a personal nature.
Did you find an e-mail that gave a thumbs up or down to a movie, song, album, CD, restaurant, or any other experience?
Did you find a message inquiring for greater detail on a message previously sent?
Did you find anything that indicated who and why it was going to be important to attend any Fraternal events on any level?
Deeper still, did you run across a message that has stood the test of time and is just as relevant today as when the Brother sent it? This same message will be just as concise and straight to the point in 2111, 2211, 2311, and beyond.
Is it possible that someone somewhere has given some words of wisdom, encouragement, and counsel that although it was addressed to the situation of one Brother, Chapter, or Province, if it were shared with anyplace else that it did not and will not lose any strength?
I am not suggesting that every mailing list, website, blog, photo album, and anything else has to be totally opened to the public to be stored within Google's online cache.
But there should be some type of way that the cream of ideas should rise to the top and become a part of a permanent database or record that documents critical information and intelligence that should be shared throughout the entire Bond.
It is unfortunate that many insightful thoughts that took Brothers their entire lifetimes to accomplish will have to result within the entire lifetime of someone else going through unnecessary experiences to reach the top of the same mountain when an elevator was already created (although its location was not shared).
As a result of knowing this, I propose that every means of worldwide communication create a list or a document that records what messages are most likely to contribute to another Brother's ability to positively achieve and at least make the document known within the community if the information was regarded as too sensitive for public distribution.
The Grand Historian should be forwarded a copy if at all possible and multiple copies should be forwarded to the other levels of historians within the Bond. Make the information and intelligence available to the entire Bond if technologically and economically feasible.
The Holy Bible tells us not to put our light under anything that might hide it, but to let our light shine that the entire world may see and glorify our Heavenly Father.
You see not only am I a minister today and was the charter polemarch of Mu Theta, I was the charter historian as well and my sense of history compels me to compose this message.
Help a Brother out three, four, and five lifetimes from now and you will have guaranteed your place within Kappa history.
Do not think that your thought are not worthy of being recorded as well as the thoughts of other Brothers younger and older worldwide.
Someone someday is going to need you. They will need you then and they definitely need you now.
Yours in the Bond!
UPDATE: After I published the words above, I realized that there should be an online website that provides the content of every issue of The Journal of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. ever published. This should be done by Grand Chapter at a minimum.
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