The Officers of a chapter feel the honor and responsibility of their respective offices when they pledge to carry on their work to the best of their ability. But what about the individual member?

Have you, an individual member of Beta Sigma Phi, thought how important you are in the work and plans of the Chapter?

No matter how faithful the officers are or how eager to do their best, they can do little if each member does not give the best that is in her to the Chapter.

We can think of Beta Sigma Phi as a beautiful golden chain of friendship and culture reaching around the world, with each member a link in the chain.

But there is an old adage: "No chain is stronger than its weakest link."

Gold is a wonderful metal; it becomes brighter, more shining with use, but it grows dull from lack of use. Are you, as a member, a shining link in your sorority or a dull one?

Do you sigh and make excuses when a job or topic is assigned to you? Do you sit back and let another member offer to do that extra job? That's being a dull link which weakens the chain of Beta Sigma Phi around the whole world!

You're too busy? You haven't time to do those extra things?

Have you ever taken time to notice that the busiest people are the ones who always find time to do that little extra job? They squeeze it in--and grow in character and loveliness, for there is a law in the universe that as we give out we receive "pressed down and running over."

If we are busy and must find time to do the extra chore, we learn to organize our work and time better and thereby gain something for ourselves. We get out of life and our sorority in proportion to what we put into it and this is bound to reflect in our personality as well as our Chapter's record!

Your Chapter president and her officers are out on a limb! They are in office and have to carry the Chapter, but the history of the year in each Chapter is written in sweetness of spirit and cooperation of each member.

How can YOU be a shining link?

Don't fuss that you have too much to do. Be ready to help as much as you can with the things that must be done without having to be begged or wheedled by the officers.

For example, if you know where information is to be found about a program topic or have read something of interest about it, tell the member who has that topic--help her with the hand of friendship and see how this lovely gesture will brighten your life. You'll find someone helping you when you need it.

If you are an extrovert and always have something to say in meeting about yourself and your life and about everything in general, use a softer more gracious approach. Try instead to bring out the views of a shy member who is timid about talking out what she knows or thinks--instead of always stealing the show yourself. You'll be surprised how much love and friendship will come back to you to polish up your shining link in the chain.

The wonderful thing about Beta Sigma Phi is that there is a special place for every single woman who joins, for each one of us is different and has something only we can give to make the sorority more beautiful and more perfect. By giving we gain for ourselves a beautiful gift and make our sorority brighter by adding our own shining link.

In meetings we have all felt a warmth and gratitude toward the sister who smiles and quietly says "I'll do it," when there is a routine task to be done. But do we ever think how that warmth of thought from each of us enriches the sister who offered?

All this brings to mind a lovely picture of that grand old master painter of long ago, Leonardo da Vinci.

He was asked to look at a lovely tapestry which was a real work of art. The master looked at it a long time and is reported to have said:

"It is lovely, beautiful in color, design and execution--but I don't see just the tapestry. I see shepherds in the hills who tended the sheep to make the wool. I see workers shearing the sheep and those who carded it. I see the folks who made it into thread, and the ones who dyed that thread, and the craftsmen who did the tedious job of threading the loom ready for the pattern. That tapestry is the work of the hearts and hands and minds of many nameless souls who did their work without thought of credit or of fame--but the whole has made a thing of beauty."

There is a deep lesson here for all of us.

Let's give the work of our hearts and minds and hands to make this sorority year the finest most shining year in the history of Beta Sigma Phi!

Let's look up and laugh and love and lift! We need this and the world needs us!