EDITORIAL - The price of brotherhood

It has happened yet again. Another young life has been lost to a concept that continues to mislead many; brotherhood.

This time it was a 19-year-old freshman Maritime student who was killed during a hazing ritual of a fraternity.

According to reports, Kenneth Alcedo was brought to a hospital in General Trias last Sunday by three individuals who initially claimed he was a victim of a hit-and-run incident. However, it was later learned that he had been part of a hazing ritual held in an open field area in Barangay Langkaan, Dasmariñas, near several subdivisions.

A neophyte of that fraternity has named 17 of 20 fraternity members suspected of Alcedo’s death

This isn’t the first time someone was killed in a hazing incident gone wrong. We only need to remember the cases of Horacio “Atio” Castillo, Ren Joseph Bayan, Ahldryn Bravante, John Matthew Salilig, and Ronnel Baguio, among others. We also suspect this won’t be the last.

We understand that there is pressure among young men to belong to a certain group, especially for those may find themselves suddenly in a new environment where they don’t know anyone, like a new neighborhood or a new school.

We also understand that being part of a group holds a certain allure, especially one with a certain reputation for toughness, whether this toughness is real or not.

But the one thing we will never understand is why some groups insist on hitting, beating, paddling, or hurting others as the price of admission into their “brotherhood”. This never makes any sense.

Some insist it’s “tradition”. And that this ritual toughens them up, or shows what they are desperate enough to do or to endure just to get in.

But the problem with this “tradition” is that it has the tendency to become more violent as it’s done to initiates through the years, because those who previously experienced violence now want to inflict even more pain onto others so that they won’t be disadvantaged. “Dili paalkanse” as the term goes.

And what do these “brothers” and “family” do when someone dies during a hazing ritual? They turn tail and run like cowards.

Unless and until young men realize that the price to be admitted into certain brotherhoods sometimes goes beyond what can be considered right and decent, senseless deaths like these will continue.