Talking and walking

Before I was Accepted as an Entered Apprentice, the committee of future Brothers has asked me an important question, “Why are you interested in Masonry?”  That is a question that I had no problem in answering. 

In my twenties, I was dedicated to serving my country.  I spent eight years in the Marines, living overseas and dedicating my life to a higher cause.  There was order, structure and discipline, a band of brothers who came together for a common cause, working together as a team to accomplish a common goal.    

In my thirties, I was dedicated to my work.  I was focused on bettering myself by improving my work skills and my education.  I was working with a team of other individuals to accomplish a common goal.  A goal which I benefitted from if we succeeded. 

In my forties, I got a taste of serving my country again and I missed it.  I missed the brotherhood that the military provided to me.  The organization and discipline it provided.  It was a great year and a half of giving back to the troops by doing my civil service and contributing to the efforts of my nation.  But when that ended, I needed more.  I looked around and checked out the American Legion, the Knights of Columbus and the AF&AM. 

After doing some reading and personal reflection, I felt that Masonry was my choice as such a venerable and respected organization with rich history and culture.  A system of Morality, which meant lessons in discipline to subdue my passions.  An organization with structure and a clear chain of command.  An organization that allowed me to continue my civil service to give back to my community and build solid relationships with seriously like-minded individuals. 

So when I recently read the forum on what is missing from Masonry, I look back at what Masonry seemed to me, before I joined.  I am not saying that it is not what it sold itself to be.  It is very much that organization, but you have to look harder into it to find it.  So what is missing, most lodges have 50 to 100 plus men on the roles, so members don’t seem to be the problem.  Motivated men with great ideas on activities and fund raisers are of no short supply either.  Each lodge has several men that are willing to take the bull by the horns and hold on for the wild ride.  So what are we missing?

One thing I notice is, where are all those men on the rolls?  If you have 120 men on the roll call, and only 15 come out for a meeting or you can barely scrape up 10 guys to come out to an event, I can see what we are missing.  I know life is important, work, school, family, etc. are all the priority, but how hard is it to dedicate one, maybe two nights a month to your lodge, especially when you know that at least one of those nights is the same night every month and has been like that for years. 

Is it a lack of activity?  I can’t say that it is, there are at least 4 nights a month of activities to choose from, just from my Lodge to choose from (two meetings, a masonic education night and a fellowship night) .  For some that one night a month is one night a month, for seven different bodies…..which one to choose?  Decisions … Decisions.  I work, I go to school, I have a social life, not so much a family, but I manage to get out to at least one event a week and because I go to these events, I know that there are a lot of others like me.   So what are we missing? 

How do we motivate those good men on the rolls to get more involved with their lodges and to support the activities, like the Masons were able to do in the years past?  What did Masons to in the 1940s and 1950s that lured men into the lodges and made the predominant community and lodge members?  What magic did they have that made men want more?  What did they do to make men look forward to putting on a suit and attending Lodge or supporting a lodge event with their Wife or Lady?  That is what we are missing. 

The Scottish Rite, York Rite, Shrine, have all been around for a long time, so we know men supported all of those organizations and still made it out to support their blue lodges.  The men that come out now in support of all these things are not who we are concerning ourselves with, we know that they come out and we know that they support the cause.  It is those names on the roll call which we don’t see or those men that come out and get their degrees and don’t come back or maybe those men who start their degrees but don’t finish.    How to we work our magic on them?

We need to step back sometimes and look at ourselves from the outside.   Many talk a good talk, but do they walk that walk?  Do they practice the tenets of Masonry that they preach?  Do we concern ourselves with too much internal politics and allow that to taint our experiences?  Do we think with a forward momentum and embrace changes that can propel us to the 21^st century while preserving our rich history and venerated rituals or do we try too hard to cling to the past and refuse to move with Time.  Do we close ourselves into cliques within the clique and make insiders feel like outsiders with our unintentional behaviors?  Do we really get involved with our communities and out charities?  Do we work hard to educate our new brethren, not just in ritual but in the esoteric meanings of that ritual.  Do we add value to the membership of a man by truly taking a good man and making him better?   Do new Masons see that and recognize it?  We live in a society of instant gratification, that is evident in how we as Americans operate.  If we don’t see instant value in something or it isn’t instantly a value to our life, we lose interest in it and few have the personality to stick with it and make it or put into it in order to get something out of it.

So those that do support the cause, those that do come out, need to shine, to practice what we preach, to live In the light of Masonry so that we motivate others to do the same.  We can’t let petty differences or politics tarnish the gleam of Masonry that we want others to see.  We need to be what we sell to those who have interest.  We need to talk and walk the same path of light to lead those who seek guidance to the same glorious immortality.