BTL Fall 2009: “We must never forget what we strive to be”
By Kevin O’Brien
Every other year, baring any unpleasantness, we proud Demosthenians end up in the horrid brick heap for an intersociety meeting.
While this would ordinarily be a purely soul-crushing experience, due to the infrequency it serves an important function. Without viewing the illiterary alter-native to our literary soci-ety, we would grow com-placent and cease to appre-ciate the little things.
We often take for granted the ability to ask questions at any point during a speech, the lack of “points of infor-mation” which serve only to break up one’s flow in a spiteful fashion, and the glorious general competence of Demosthenian.
Having been to an intersociety meeting before, I was not terribly surprised by any of these.
What did surprise me was that, even with the presence of a needlessly vocal food science major in their society, they ignored a basic rule which is simply understood during any sort of special Demosthenian function: proper food storage techniques.
You don’t set out meat without ice or a heat source for a two hour period. I could forgive the humus that was made with garlic instead of chick peas, and I could forgive the dollar-per-gallon soda, but improper food storage at such an event is tantamount to an attempt to poison your enemies… and yourself, which I believe is advised against in The Art of War.
The experience, while quite disturbing, left myself and many Demosthenians with a profound sense of appreciation for our properly lit hall, the lack of Whack-a-Mole-esque antics from our bench, proper decorum with questions, and an actual willingness to speak during unresearched resolutions that we see in our illustrious hall.
Because we must never forget what we strive not to be, the Intersociety Meetings at the brick heap are an unfortunate yet necessary part of being a proper Demosthenian.
