I know you’ve heard from one of those guys.

  I know I have.

  I’m talking about one of those men you might see on television or hear on the radio, reaching his senior years, talking about the “younger generation” has no drive, no guts, that America is sliding backward due to the “lack of character” shown by our teens and those in their early 20s.

  They’ll certainly use that “they’ve been handed everything” line, and maybe one of those “they never had to work for anything” comments.

  I recently met young men (none of them over 21) from universities such as Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Ohio State, Missouri, California-Berkeley, and South Dakota and I can tell you I’m not going to be one of those old guys berating the “lack of character” for our younger generation.

  These kids were great!  All of them.

  God smiled on me in 1994 when I met a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity (his name was Jay Williams) at Gracy Hall on campus at Middle Tennessee State University.

  By the winter of 1995 I had been initiated into Beta’s Epsilon Theta chapter at MTSU.  My roll number is 235.

  Beta is a social fraternity founded on principles including devotion to the cultivation of the intellect, unsullied friendship, and unfaltering fidelity (all direct quotes from the fraternity’s public Objects of Beta Theta Pi).  Principles put in place in 1839 and are continuing to be shaped to this very day.

  Each young man I met at the 171st General Convention of Beta Theta Pi in Arlington, VA spent the weekend seeking out those principles to the core.

  These are young men that are future leaders on their campuses in places such as Columbus, OH, Berkeley, CA, Gainesville, FL, Athens, GA, and Cincinnati, OH.

  These are also young men Beta is training to become future leaders in the worlds of business, law, education, and many others.

  I’ve taken the principles I’ve learned as a Beta and applied them to being a better husband, father, brother, and reporter.

  Other fraternities may be doing things similar as Beta, but perhaps not with the pinpoint focus of making these 18 to 21 year old men into 25 to 40 year old future leaders.

  I would recommend to any college freshmen to check out your university’s greek system to see if it’s right for you.

  I would encourage parents to give those greek systems a chance and put aside any stereotypes about fraternities they’ve seen so many times in the media.

  When done right, the greek system can work.

  I’m proof and I’m proud to be a Beta!