Affiliations: Pledging Life to be Hazed for Passage
Call it what you may – an old-school tradition, a requirement to fulfill, a cure for boredom, or simply a nonchalant way to fit into the standards of society. If you look at it twice, one word does not tend to fit into the group – nonchalant. It is ironic to think that such a nonchalant reason to fit into something could turn out to not fitting in at all. Nonchalant is giving no care or no worries about everything. In short, it is embarking on something in a relaxed and calm way without putting into consideration the possible outcomes it may bear. Point is, hazing is and will never be a nonchalant topic or an activity to discuss. Hazing has been an alarming problem ever since and is continuing to escalate as new ways of doing it continues to peak at a rampant rate. Such a bittersweet reality that we cannot deny having, and we cannot turn a blind eye against it. In fact, we shouldn’t. This issue is a matter of the future of the children of the world. If they are to be exposed in an environment basked in violence and hate, the future of this world could potentially be devastating, and the chances of regaining peace and coherence could be slim.
Numbers don’t lie. Glaring statistics from the University of Dayton, Ohio show that 1.5 million high school students are being hazed each year with at least 47 percent of students come to college already having experienced hazing. And 55 percent of college students that are involved in clubs, teams, and organizations experience hazing. That is in the United States alone, how much more worldwide? If we were to expound of what hazing is all about, it is defined as an action or situation to produce mental or physical discomfort, embarrassment, harassment, or ridicule (Lehigh University), or in short, it is to induce violence to someone as an assurance of total loyalty and longtime membership to a particular group, fraternity, or sorority. In the Philippines, at least 31 deaths caused by hazing were recorded since 1954 and 15 percent of these deaths involved 17 fraternities, mostly from learning institutions, universities, and colleges. The stigma that this had caused did not leave every organization; whether school or community based, unscathed. Because of hazing, people are afraid to join such as they fret whether they had to be physically, emotionally and mentally scarred just to be in their organization of interest or not. It doesn’t have to be this way, it mustn’t be.
Violence is never the answer to vow someone’s loyalty, cooperation, and dedication to an affiliation as these take time to develop and should require genuine and strong relationships within the members of the group. Hazing will only make matters worse as it would damage a person’s dignity and well-being to the extent that the consequences are so severe that it couldn’t be resisted anymore. It is true that providing a well-rounded atmosphere for newbies by the old members is essential to creating and fortifying bonds within the group, but this process needs a price to be paid. Hazing may come in different variations, but they all intersect at one point – dignity is degraded. Lots of people had indeed paid the price for pledging their lives for the sake of entering a group. Now, would you do the same? Think about it.
