As We Gather here today we celebrate not only the unity of our Brotherhood but also the the enduring Legacy of Omega men our 112 year history is defined by our pot card and of principle our unwavering commitment to service and a bonds of friendship that we have cultivated uh together we commemorate
Our achievement we the theme Omega Man promoting a harmonious future through friendship and service when I read this theme of Omega men promoting harmonious future through friendship and service I don’t know about you but what sticks out to me is harmony I think everybody in this room knows what friendship is
Everybody knows what Harmony is I mean what service is but Harmony maybe not so much I’m sure the walls in your bathroom could talk and the windshield in your car can speak it may say or I’m curious what it would say about your ability to harmonize but I will tell you that
Harmony underscores our dedication to Foster peace and unity and balance we aspire to make a positive impact on society and work towards a world that where people can coexist harmoniously you know I believe that if the people in Israel in Gaza knew what Omega knows about friendship and how essential it is
To live together in harmony that maybe just a little bit more peace right now amen a harmonious friendship and service highlight our intentions to create a beautiful place to uplift Souls but to achieve this we must first find inner peace within ourselves we must understand what a good friend is and why
We serve so I just ask for you to take a second and have just a little self-reflection and ask yourself are you a good friend and do you know why you serve you know we was at the table laughing around but when I think about Harmony I’m just reminded of a choir a
Harmony involves multiple individuals coming together to create a beautiful sound harmonious service requires us to understand our individual roles and responsibilities it’s important that we approach service with confidence and a positive mindset remember that you can’t effectively mentor by youth if you don’t have inner peace within yourself you
Know what I learned over the time I learned that hurt people hurt people so it’s important that you find inner peace uh within yourself it is crucial to not Define Yourself by your challenge our first Cardinal principle of manhood teaches us to Define ourselves by our character and our
Actions not by the challenges we face so it’s important to embrace your challenges but don’t let your life challenge Define you when you’re communicating about yourself your friends and others choose your words wisely as the power of our words cannot be underestimated the Bible reminds us that the tongue has the power of
Life and death emphasizing the profound impact our words have on others so for instance don’t call someone a recovering addict they’re just someone embracing sobriety successful amen you’re not an immigrant you’re a newcomer to the land of opportunity people are not homeless you are you are a friendly unhoused
Neighbor you’re not old but B yes sir you a well seasoned individual all right a veteran in this thing or this joy that we call life she is not stubborn she’s just tenacious all right he is not cheat he is intentional in catting generational [Laughter] way you are not
Single you are enjoying life in solitude all right I tell people I am not fat I am large and in charge all right my my next point on harmonious friendship and service emphasize the important of balance in our lives a balance is a powerful way to live it’s what our younger generation
Are emphasizing see I was born in 1981 I consider myself an OG Millennial I’m at the beginning of this thing and what the Millennials are trying to tell you parents the the generation ex what they’re trying to tell you parents is that they love love their balance and
They love their boundaries this is them trying to create balance in their lives it is essential that we as a chapter here at Z Kappa that we avoid the small percent of the people doing the majority of the work you know what we call the
20% R where 20% of the people do 80% of the work being unbalance is like eating on one of these tables that don’t have all their legs it’s hard to focus on selfcare being unbalanced makes it hard for you to be in deep thought uh being
Unbalanced makes it hard for you to set goals for yourself M learning when to say yes and when to say no is critical to balance so please don’t let being a friend and provide and service stress you out prioritize yourself appropriately remember to serve your families and your community in
Harmonious proportion you know I had an uncle I talked about him last night at dinner uncle was a OG my uncle professed when I was 16 years old he told me he said hey uh if you give your girlfriend a dollar and your wife two oh say you’ll never have a
Problem now I profess [Laughter] that now I that giving the fraternity a minute of your time giving your family and friends a your hobest two minutes of your time you will prevent problems in your household now if your spouse and friends and children don’t want you around serve all you
Want there won’t help you I learned early in my career about about the importance of balance how was was a young professional I was working at Price waterhous Coopers accy friend in Greensboro North Carolina I was fresh out of college the only suit that I had with my membership selection process
Suit 23 you know what it is the black shirt I’m sorry the black suit the white shirt the black T the black socks the black shoes that was my professional wardrobe I Rec carboard the plane leaving North Carolina route to Virginia the plane was called a puddle Jun cuz
They were so small I only had 50 seats on the plane so I boarded the plane I made my way to the back of the plane I sat down and got in my seat now I was 20 years old it’s very cute I wasn’t married at the time his
Very C cute flight attendant walks up to a 21y old me and says sir I have a seat for you in first class as you can imagine the thoughts running through my head at the time so as the flight was going on I went to her
I said say hey ma’am thank you for letting me sit in first class what made me so special and she kind of leaned in closer to my hearing and she Polly whispered she said the sir the pilot said that we had to balance the way [Laughter]
Plan and she said when you in the r we thought it was too too heavy to so I learned that day that balance was always required to saf my third and final point to promote harmony with our ranks we must address purple on purple what I call Friendly
Fire you know with over 100,000 members OPP paternity is equipped with the diversity of thought diversity of thought for Omega Sai fraternity is its strength uh but we we have to handle this with care adhering to our Founders call to a higher standard what I like about our principles is that manhood
Teaches us to resolve our differences with respect a scholarship encourages us to learn and grow from our differences perseverance reminds us that we can overcome these obstacles and uplift cause us to support and hug on one another I was uh in the house one day
And I was saw a water BG crawling around and I walked up to it and I smashed that water B with all my dirt it was a wrap for the little fell well a few months later I was clean out the garage and I accidentally stuck on the spider there’s
Nothing I hate worse than a spider but I still felt bad about the accident cuz I didn’t mean to kill the little fell most purple on purple incidents are accidents be mindful I did call PES control uh cuz my wife was hysterical that Not only was a water bug and a
Spider and that’s so here come the pet people but I’m reminded of that incident that purple on purple even accidental is still harmful purple on purple damages our reputation it makes it attractive to it makes us unattractive to partner and sponsors and candidates Alik purple on purple decreases Innovation a culture of
Conflicts hinders creativity purple on purple increases member attrition now the Reclamation team has to work hard harder the retention team has to work harder members leave this organization because they don’t want to be a part of a toxic ire purple on purple reduces morale it erods trust who’s motivated to serve and
Who’s motivated to be your friend and they think you may stab them in the back good intentions and even greater communication solves all purple on purple in as we contemplate a future our future in the pillars to sustain our Brotherhood let’s commit ourselves to passing on a better
Make I like to use the word Hospitality over service when people come to the international headquarters where I have opportunity to work they say oh we appreciate your service I say I hope you appreciate even greater our Hospitality cuz to me uh Hospitality means to be friendly and welcoming to
Our Guest to our friends and even strangers service is black and white but Hospitality was give service is colors M this this what makes the royal purple and the old gold so special to me you know Maya Angela was right when she said I’ve learned that people will forget what I
Said she said people will forget what I did M but she said they will never forget how I made them feel uh being hospitable creates a good feeling uh will you encourage people especially my teachers in the room with our young when you encourage people to
Love as if they had never been hated when you encourage them to express themselves as if they never been judge when you can affirm your friends desire until their affirmations become a reality when you can dream as if you never had a nightmare you and everyone around you
Will feel good and you have then have embraced the spirit of hospitality I thank you for the opportunity to provide remarks to you today I hope you go out and do to be the best version of yourself every day be 1% better for tomorrow I than for this
Opportunity to speak May the Omega Sai the greatest land I me the greatest Fraternity in the land flourish for generations to come thank you so much for the
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