Oaths

Many people take an oath in their life time. Few take two oaths in their lifetime, and even fewer take more than two. I personally plan on taking three oaths by the time my life is complete. The first two, I have already taken. 


My first oath, was to the Roman Catholic Church saying that I affirmed all its teachings and was willing to take responsibility for my own faith. The next oath I just took last Friday, was an oath to Lambda Chi Alpha. The last oath I plan on taking, is that of fidelity to my wife. 


Although I have already taken more oaths than a lot of people will take in their life time, that does not make any oath more or less significance than the other. By definition, an oath is  is either a statement of fact or a promise calling upon something or someone that the oath maker considers sacred, usually God, as a witness to the binding nature of the promise or the truth of the statement of fact. To swear is to take an oath, to make a solemn vow. Because of this, both oaths i have taken, I took them very seriously and carefully considered what it I was doing before I took them. Unfortunately, in my opinion, i feel as if it is not possible to grasp the full significance of the oath you took until you actually take it. The reason for this I believe is because when most people go to swear an oath, they are generally with people who have already done it and are often times not fully aware of what is being said simply because it can be difficult to grasp everything. However, i feel that only after you take an oath and reflect on what exactly you have done your reaction is eiher OMG what have I done! or wow, I am really glad i did that. Fortunately for me i fall into the latter category. No matter what reaction you have, one thing is for certain. The oath that you take, whether it be to the Catholic church, to your fraternity or sorority, and even to your future spouse, binds you permanently before God (or whatever else you consider sacred)  to that thing and should not be taken lightly.