Money floating around the greek system

This is a long-awaited rant, but one thing that perturbs me about the greek system at universities throughout the country is that while we are philanthropic, bonded and more....we still spend a LOT of money. Tonight's chapter development meeting discussed finance, and provided some interesting statistics

• Greek chapters spend about $14,000 on supplies for Mizzou's Homecoming
• $17,000 for Panhellenic Formal Recruitment
• To hold the letters of a greek chapter, you are paying at least $1,000 to the national organization per MONTH
• And my personal favorite, is that during recruitment, $3,000 are allotted for 'disposable goods' such as napkins and cups for water. That's it. So if Mizzou's 14 greek chapters did not distribute water or soda during recruitment, the world would save $42,000.

This is money that we could do so many philanthropic or useful things with, and why don't we?

Life is a continuous competition, and this is not only the greek system, this goes for everything. Colleges across the country, businesses in the workplace, private and even public schools, and more....it all comes down to spending more money than the opponent so you can look better.

Writing this does nothing for the greater good, because that's not going to change, but I encourage you as the person reading this to look at what you're spending money on sometimes. If it's between that extra favor for your sorority or fraternity, or putting $5 to buy canned food, which one will you choose? I hope that in the long run, decisions like the second one will outnumber the first, and then maybe there won't be thousands of dollars floating around college atmospheres, businesses and the greek system.