I, Barbarian
(note: I was hemming and hawing and itching to write a reaction to malu fernandez that wouldn't include any dissertations to her appearance -- in the spirit of fair and balanced blogging of course, but thousands have beaten me to the punch. If you have no idea who the Diva from Dubai is, please read up even if it's a bit too late. You might be an OFW sooner than you think...
I decided to write about a different, more pressing topic altogether. As for divalicious malu, let blogger anton de leon illuminate you instead.)
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This post is dedicated to Cris Anthony Mendez, another senseless victim that shouldn't have been one.
I have few complaints about my college alma mater, but there are few experiences that stood out in my mind during my four years of stay. During my third year, i was constantly asked by new friends on what fraternity i belonged to. Since i swore my undying fealty to no one, nor do i have plans to do so, i told them so. 9 times out of 10 the laconic reply would be "Barbarian ka pala!"
I then realized that in UP, living out your entire college life without joining a fraternity/sorority classifies you as a "barbarian." I guess they were well-meaning to imply that independent living denies you the life of belonging to illuminated organizations that will better prepare you for the world outside of school.
I also remember the college days where the classes would be interrupted by an air raid siren. Since warplanes are expressly forbidden in campus, that could only mean one other thing: another rumble in progress. For those not educated in the ways of brotherhood, a rumble is an inter-organization match between fraternities that involve mostly neophyte members of one group bludgeoning members of another group for the honorific objective of finding who's the better organization. Little is needed to start these contests - a perceived dirty look, affections over the same girl, or just plain provocation.
What is more disturbing is the fact that after each siren session, usually level-headed students would scamper about and congregate and ask who won and what's the score, the score being how many students fell to the ground from injuries or death.
Score? Some unlucky guy currently feeling the effects of massive head injuries after being hit with a lead pipe over the head, and people call it a score? If the same person dies within a week after lingering in the hospital, would that count as double points?
For four years, I have seen people falling down after getting battered by bats and pipes and moaning unintelligibly while both brothers and opponents scamper for anonymity when the campus security people arrive. For four years, i have seen classmates fidgeting the day after rumbles, often skipping classes and in the event they show up, hiding box cutters and nightsticks in their bags in case some groups corners them for revenge. For four years, i have seen students refuse interviews from investigators, even if they jabber excitedly minutes after witnessing rumbles. For four years, i see students running away from another band of brothers chasing them with crude weapons.
13 years later, i have suffered no ill effects from being a barbarian. I survived college without the expert guidance of brothers, applied and got jobs without glowing testaments from my extra-curricular activities as a member of these fine organizations, and cultivated friendships by introducing myself and just being me.
13 years later, the stories coming from UP regarding these fine societies of men remain the same. Another student losing his life due to multiple injuries sustained from joining these fine institutions of brotherhood. 13 years later, another graduating student puts his hopes up by submitting himself to a time-honored initiation rite and then dying at the entrance of a hospital. To this day, organizations still deny that hazing is alive and that victims were with them the night they died.
13 years later, things are pretty much the same. Fraternities seem to spend half their time maiming people who want to join them, and spending the other half maiming members of a rival group.
The term still confuses me. Because i refuse to be part of this gang culture, I'm the barbarian?
I decided to write about a different, more pressing topic altogether. As for divalicious malu, let blogger anton de leon illuminate you instead.)
----------
This post is dedicated to Cris Anthony Mendez, another senseless victim that shouldn't have been one.
I have few complaints about my college alma mater, but there are few experiences that stood out in my mind during my four years of stay. During my third year, i was constantly asked by new friends on what fraternity i belonged to. Since i swore my undying fealty to no one, nor do i have plans to do so, i told them so. 9 times out of 10 the laconic reply would be "Barbarian ka pala!"
I then realized that in UP, living out your entire college life without joining a fraternity/sorority classifies you as a "barbarian." I guess they were well-meaning to imply that independent living denies you the life of belonging to illuminated organizations that will better prepare you for the world outside of school.
I also remember the college days where the classes would be interrupted by an air raid siren. Since warplanes are expressly forbidden in campus, that could only mean one other thing: another rumble in progress. For those not educated in the ways of brotherhood, a rumble is an inter-organization match between fraternities that involve mostly neophyte members of one group bludgeoning members of another group for the honorific objective of finding who's the better organization. Little is needed to start these contests - a perceived dirty look, affections over the same girl, or just plain provocation.
What is more disturbing is the fact that after each siren session, usually level-headed students would scamper about and congregate and ask who won and what's the score, the score being how many students fell to the ground from injuries or death.
Score? Some unlucky guy currently feeling the effects of massive head injuries after being hit with a lead pipe over the head, and people call it a score? If the same person dies within a week after lingering in the hospital, would that count as double points?
For four years, I have seen people falling down after getting battered by bats and pipes and moaning unintelligibly while both brothers and opponents scamper for anonymity when the campus security people arrive. For four years, i have seen classmates fidgeting the day after rumbles, often skipping classes and in the event they show up, hiding box cutters and nightsticks in their bags in case some groups corners them for revenge. For four years, i have seen students refuse interviews from investigators, even if they jabber excitedly minutes after witnessing rumbles. For four years, i see students running away from another band of brothers chasing them with crude weapons.
13 years later, i have suffered no ill effects from being a barbarian. I survived college without the expert guidance of brothers, applied and got jobs without glowing testaments from my extra-curricular activities as a member of these fine organizations, and cultivated friendships by introducing myself and just being me.
13 years later, the stories coming from UP regarding these fine societies of men remain the same. Another student losing his life due to multiple injuries sustained from joining these fine institutions of brotherhood. 13 years later, another graduating student puts his hopes up by submitting himself to a time-honored initiation rite and then dying at the entrance of a hospital. To this day, organizations still deny that hazing is alive and that victims were with them the night they died.
13 years later, things are pretty much the same. Fraternities seem to spend half their time maiming people who want to join them, and spending the other half maiming members of a rival group.
The term still confuses me. Because i refuse to be part of this gang culture, I'm the barbarian?
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