Wednesday night, a memorial service for Jake Freeman was held in Centennial Quad. Jake was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, and Wednesday marked the one year anniversary of his death.
Watching the candlelight reflect off the tears streaming down the faces of the strong young men standing in front of me made me wonder about the stereotypes and distaste the Northeastern community tends to hold for Greek life on campus. There’s an expression that’s frequently used when describing fraternities and sororities: “From the outside looking in you can never understand it, from the inside looking out you can never explain it.”
There are times when this expression holds true, but Wednesday night was not one of them. We’re not an elitist group; we don’t believe we, as individuals, are better than any one person at this university. We simply believe in our brothers and our sisters, and we rely on the strength they give us.
Death does not have to be lonesome – with each person’s passing a piece of each one of us goes with them.
At the memorial service for Jake ‘Puck’ Freeman, I saw what it meant to be part of a group of people relying on one another. We use his pledge name because it’s a part of who he is.
If your biological brother passed away, he would still be your brother. You would never forget him, and you would never cease to celebrate his life and the way it affected you. Wednesday night was a celebration of life and of generosity.
There were tears streaming from the eyes of people who had never met Jake. Why? Because we relate everything we do to ourselves. We cannot imagine what it would be like to lose someone we love, someone we call a brother, so we empathize with the people who are forced to imagine it.
Together, we lend strength to one another to form a wall that cannot be broken by dissonance or hatred. Together we celebrate the life of a brother, the life of a friend, the life of a stranger, but most importantly we celebrate the life of a human being.
Cheers to you, Puck.
– Heather Hoefer is a sophomore communication studies major and vice president of programming for Delta Phi Epsilon.
