Guild: Brotherhood of men; a Fraternity in the making.
In the course of history, men have always banded together for a common cause, in the early days, these groups of men are called "guilds". The purpose of these guilds are to facilitate some common necessities such as protection from attacking bandits, health care specially during caravans, and caring for the well being of their members. Over the years the word "guild" was replaced by another name, it was replaced by "Fraternal Order" or "Fraternity" as we call it today. With the evolution of name so did the function of the guild, they became a more philosophical organization focused on brotherly love, charity works and ethical living. So, if we try to look back from the beginning or the origin of the term "fraternity", we will all learn that these groups are form to look for one another, care for each other and watch each other's back, in short it REALLY is all about "Brotherhood". Which begs the question, what has happened to that brotherhood in today's time?
Brotherhood in the Philippines
The earliest record of brotherhood in the Philippines is in the 1850's and it belonged to the Spaniards, and other colonizers who established few Philosophical and Fraternal societies within the country. However, only the Spaniards are allowed to join into the society, and no natives are ever allowed to join. In the book, History and Geography of the Philippine Islands (1908), author O.W. Coursey stated:
“The awakening of the Filipinos to a deep sense of injustice being practiced upon them by the colonizers was the introduction of 'fraternal' societies in the Islands, and to the influence of higher education obtained by those of means to schools of Hong-Kong and other old-world countries.”
The first ever Fraternity founded by the Filipinos is the KKK which stands for "Kataastaasang Kagalangalangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan" also translates as Supreme and Venerable Society of the Sons of the People. The Katipunan was said to be founded the one of the greatest Filipino National hero Andres Bonifacio, together with Teodoro Plata, Ladislao Diwa and many others.
Modern Day Brotherhood
In our modern day, specially here in the Philippines, most Filipinos specially parents alike, view or sees most "Fraternities" as a life-threatening groups of young and irresponsible students. Why? Here's why, there are so many groups of young students and adolescents who engage in this so-called "brotherhood" or "fraternity" but the thing is, they really are not the fraternity that we discussed earlier. They're just some gangs of thugs who likes to play fraternity and band together to start fights among other gangs. Most teens who gets involved in this kind of groups or society are those who are out of school, some still goes to school just for the sake of it while other join gangs for the protection. They join gangs to be protected from bullies, other gang members, and other factors of society that they deem dangerous. But, for what price?
Hazing: Brotherhood bound by blood.
Hazing, this is the most dreaded thing that comes to a parent's mind when a child mentions Fraternity. It's the rite-of-passage where the senior members or gang leaders sometimes(Okay I'm not gonna lie here, it's often not sometimes, but not in all cases.) hits the neophyte with a paddle. An oar-like piece of wood often used used in initiation rites. These ordeal doesn't end with the simple paddling of the initiates, there are also some other initiation rites observed by other fraternities, and it varies with every fraternity. There's nothing wrong with initiations actually, what I think is wrong is the mind set of those who officiate the initiation, I spoke with a former school mate, and he's one the officials that hits the initiates in his gang. I asked him, "why do hazings sometimes ends up with someone dying or beaten nearly to death?" I was kind of surprised of his answer though it's kind of a given, he grinned before saying "Well, when we were initiates, we were paddled like they intend to kills us, so now it's our turn to do the same.". But it was the cold truth, misfortunes during fraternity hazings mainly are caused by the thought of "Payback!", and lives are being wasted because of this simple thought.
Fraternity, Brotherly Love; a Guild
It's not important what we call it, whether a guild, fraternity, brotherhood or even a gang, there should always be a sense of responsibility within the group and loyalty should not be measured by how many paddles can you take, or how long in the cold, bare naked can you withstand. Brotherhood is about caring for one another, standing for each other and having each others back no matter what the cause, because brothers don't kill each other, they protect and enjoy in each other's company.
In memory of Horacio Castillo III (1995-2017)
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