Siegfried Men on God Quad
How does one define manliness? For some people, manliness may be marked by the ability to rapidly grow some incredible facial hair. For others it may signify the strength of Hercules and the ability to lift heavy objects. Webster’s dictionary defines this term as the “traditional male quality of being brave and strong.” Contrary to these definitions, which call to mind the image of the Brawny paper towel man or a chivalrous prince, the Siegfried Hall’s definition of manliness is not a measure of facial hair, muscles or flannels. For Siegfried, masculinity, amongst other things, is defined by the ability to stand up to the weather, and bear some skin in the sub-zero temperatures of February.
Last Wednesday, for the eighth consecutive year, the residents of Siegfried Hall braced the South Bend cold, donning shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops for their annual “Day of Man.: While the name may give the impression of a day promoting solidarity amongst men and an excuse for boys to, well, be boys, the reason behind wearing shorts and t-shirts runs much deeper than a celebration of manliness. The boys dress in weather inappropriate clothing and risk frostbite in order to raise money for the South Bend Homeless Shelter. So all this shivering in shorts does contribute to a fantastic cause.
“The idea behind the fundraiser,” explained Siegfried’s President, sophomore Andrew Vista, “Is to stand in solidarity with the homeless, who don’t have the housing or clothes to keep them warm during the freezing winter months.” And this walk-a-mile (or walk-south-quad) in someone else’s shoes approach certainly gets the point across. If you walked around on campus on February 11th, you were sure to come across a cluster of Siegfried boys, with bare arms and legs, hustling across the quad to find some refuge in characteristically overheated rooms of Dbart or O’Shag.
Seeing these guys shiver out in the cold makes it hard to believe that wearing shorts and T-shirts each year isn’t mandatory, but a voluntary choice. “It’s a great way to show our support for the homeless, and each other,” said Andrew, “It’s one of the greatest service projects I’ve participated in, and it really brings the entire dorm together, to get involved for a good cause. We don’t force anyone to sign up, but each year the guys participate of their own accord, which generates a real sense of unity in the dorm.” This unity surpasses just the current residents of Siegfried, reaching to alumnus of the dorm who make donations each year, and for all we know, may wear short and t-shirts on this day as well.
Even the fact that the participants must sign a waiver in order to fundraise doesn’t deter anyone from signing their names. Given the recent bone chilling temperatures, SAO threatened to shutdown the fundraiser and have it postponed, if the temperatures continued to plummet. In a stroke of good luck, however, the day began at a balmy four degrees, just warm enough to safely freeze and suffer the cold without real risk of losing any limbs. And these single digit temperatures were welcomed with open, yet bare, arms.
“We’ve noticed that the colder it is, the more people donate,” continued Vista. “We had one kid collect $600 this year.” This negative correlation between temperatures and funds raise seems to hold true this year especially. The unbelievably cold temperatures, have lead to incredible donations, with up to $10,000 having been collected simply by wearing shorts and T-shirts. It’s incredible to think that such a simple gesture of “manliness” can generate such a positive response.
Some people say chivalry is dead, but if we examine the true meaning of chivalry, “the combination of ideal qualities of a knight, especially, courage, honor, justice, and readiness to help the weak,” in light of Siegfried’s latest fundraiser, I think that we can come to a new conclusion. Chivalry does exist, at least one day a year, on the Day of Man, a day dedicated to fighting homelessness. So kudos to Siegfried, and there bold decision to wear shorts and Tees in freezing temperatures. After all, how many people can say they raised a thousand dollars by simply wearing a T-shirt and Shorts?
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