Well, maybe not in scale. But in principle it’s happening everyday.
History lesson: World War II would not have elevated to the scale it eventually went to if it hadn’t been for the Axis Tripartite Pact between Germany, Italy and Japan. In a nutshell, the collaborators of the Tripartite Pact were required to assist each other should they be attacked by any country not already involved in the European war. This was what Japan was counting on and most analysts think gave them the balls to attack Pearl Harbor. With the Pact in place, once the U.S. declared war against them, it was tantamount to declaring war against both Germany and Italy as well.
Sounds familiar? No, I’m not talking about school fraternities per se. In my honest opinion, school fraternities have always been a good thing. It only began to look bad when us Filipinos, in our usual over-dramatic flair, gave a new and decidedly harmful twist to the arrangement. Just think back to the “rambol” that used to happen frequently during the 90s in many of the bigger universities. It’s silly because most of them usually start of simply as a disagreement between as few as two people who just happen to be members of their own “frats”. Next thing we know, everyone in both gangs is involved. Sillier still is that most of them don’t even know what started the fight.
Which leads me to the point of this post: let your friend fight his own fight.
It is always honorable to stand up for your friend, especially when he’s outnumbered 6-to-1. But there is no honor in ganging up on a single adversary. And in the absence of a physical scuffle, there is also no honor in rallying all your friends against one single opponent in order to sway public opinion to your side. Remember that he might also have friends who’d want to stand up for him. Involve your entire circle, and his circle will jump into the fray as well. Result: large-scale divisiveness.
I’ve always admired people who don’t butt in to their friends’ quarrels because they don’t want to stick their noses into things that don’t directly concern them. I could never say this enough (and so here I am saying this again): It’s none of our business. Let your friend vent his frustrations and disappointments stemming from the quarrel. Listen to him. Be there for him. But don’t step into the fray. Don’t go charging into the next room to start a word war with your friend’s adversary. It’s HIS adversary, NOT yours.
History has taught us that this kind of thinking could only result in more chaos. Let’s learn from the mistakes of the past.
