By Bro. Ralph Johnson 10-GE-92
To: The Brothers of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. – Gamma Epsilon Chapter
From: Brother Ralph Anthony Johnson #10 GE 92 Born 3/13/92
To those brothers that came before me, thank you. Thank you for being men enough to carry on and pass down traditions so that the fruits of your labor will add to the glorious light that was turned on in 1911. To my peers, my beloved LBs, thanks for being a never ending source of inspiration and motivation. To my younger brothers, thank you for humbling yourselves enough to absorb and learn from those who’ve come before you. And thank you for being arrogant enough to use your own minds to find new and creative ways to enhance the wattage behind the light bulb of the Power Company so that our light continues to shine. Thank all of you for learning how to use enough discretion to enable our family to have new births for 7 consecutive years. As long as we’re doing it right we should be able to make OMEGA MEN forever.
I was going to write a poem but this requires a real representation, not just poetic prose that makes it seem as if everything is lovely because it ain’t and it never will be. That’s life, perfection is death or should I say afterlife. We all joined this fraternity because it’s in our hearts, and with the lifelong friendships we’ve made, we each know it was the right thing to do. Our life goals and aspirations maybe different but the truth is no matter what our personal endeavors, as long as we respect ourselves and our organization our actions will always be nobel. We all display some level of intelligence because we’ve made it this far though, at times, our thoughts are childish but, it’s that youthful expression that keeps us close to GOD. Through this fraternity we’ve each increased our friend pool tremendously. Some of my LBs were once potential enemies. Life often requires us to exercise some restraint or else tumble out of control. In this industry of living, enthusiasm will take you a long way. But when things go unplanned as they often do we must display the nerve that it takes to do our duty to uplift our people even when we don’t want to. We exercise our scholarship and know when to lend a helping hand or let our capable brother use their own ingenuity to overcome their situation.
Manhood Scholarship Me and Uplift.
I was but a boy when I came in but, through my studying and learning of self and overcoming of circumstances I elevated to the status of OMEGA MAN. Now that I’m in I know it takes us to preserve our people to lift up our soul.
Fraternally yours,
Brother Ralph A. Johnson