Masonic Musings from ME!

Something for everyone here. The nay-sayers are just jealous….

Technorati Tags: dummies books, freemasonry, Hodapp, reading

Thanks to Amazon and the friendly UPS driver (three hours later than his usual delivery time), the weekend is complete! Through the first 70 pages and, for sure, anybody who’s ‘into’ conspiracy stuff will want to read this. A full report in a few days….

Technorati Tags: Freemasons, conspiracy, kennedy, gangs, weird stuff

“I’ve been reading blog postings again. I’ve decided that I’m going to give a piece of my mind to that guy who’s always berating everything.” The rehearsal that evening had gone exceptionally well and the officers and the two substitutes were all duly and truly prepared to present an excellent Fellowcraft Degree the following Tuesday night. Now they were gathered around a table at the local truck stop for a cup of coffee and, in some cases, a sandwich, before heading home.

“I know what you mean, Bill. I’ve been reading that blog too ever since you told me about it. If you gave that guy gold bars, he’d complain that they were too heavy. Who does he think he is, anyway?”

“He ought to be tossed out of Masonry, in my opinion. Just the other day he was blathering about how a certain Grand Lodge was doing their advertising. Of course, he didn’t have a clue as to their membership figures or how successful that advertising had been. I guess their way of doing things just didn’t appeal to him so he decided that it wouldn’t appeal to anyone. In fact, I’ve got a friend in that state who tells me that their campaigns are going ‘great guns’! And, like a lot of people, that blogger-guy will disparage their efforts but he doesn’t have any positive suggestions for doing it better. Just a bunch of negativism.” said a third member at the table.

“I think he just loves to write provocative things so that people will come to his website and he’ll get a few cents from the traffic going there. He’s making money on our prurient interests. Sad. He’s probably hoping to sell some useless herbal medicine too. I’ll bet there’s a great profit on that stuff.”

“So what does The Old Webmaster think about it?” said the Lodge’s Master, facing him with a grin from ear to ear. It wasn’t just the roast beef sandwich swathed in Russian dressing that he’d paused before devouring: he had actually used the sobriquet that so many in the lodge employed, but never to the Brother’s face. It was a term of true endearment and the Master was confident it would never be misinterpreted.

“I’m astonished that I can sit at a table with this many Masons and most of you know about blogs!” The Old Webmaster smiled broadly – and stopped to see if anyone had anything to add. They waited for his response.

“Well, here’s my take on it. Loneliness breeds all sorts of problems. Based on what he’s written to date, he sounds like a guy who joined Masonry thinking how much we’d all benefit by having him as a member. Needless to say, those who become members and immediately want to tell everyone how things ought to be run become unwelcome quite quickly – and they’re not at all understanding of the reasons for that. There have been others: Eliphas Levy, Gabriel Jogand-Pagès, better known as Léo Taxil, and more. I’ve never understood how someone who’s never been a member can, within the space of weeks or months become such an expert, particularly on one of the world’s oldest organizations. ” Heads nodded in agreement.

“His divorce not long afterwards played out online with his bizarre actions. He now apparently wants to prove his worth and perhaps even validate his manhood by regularly showcasing Masons as a bunch of jackasses at best. If only Freemasonry had listened to him, he could have straightened things out. The supreme irony, to me at least, is that he doesn’t have the courage of his convictions to quit the organization. He just seems to want to prove that he was right and that those who wouldn’t listen – and all the other Masons who haven’t paid him due deference – were wrong. Although most of those who are very active in online Freemasonry know perfectly well who he is, he likes to hide behind a pseudonym. Frankly, I see him as a pitifully lonely soul, spiritually empty – grasping for attention in the only way he has managed to find.” The Old Webmaster shook his head: slowly, sadly.

Every man stopped. Sipping stopped. Chewing stopped. Drumming fingers stopped. Every man simply stopped what he was doing to turn and listen. The Old Webmaster was speaking deliberately but without any malice whatsoever. No one at the table, however, had ever heard him speak so forcefully about an individual’s deficiencies before. Clearly, he’d thought this all through more than once. Even those who were not following the blog under discussion realized the weight of this indictment.

But the Old Webmaster said nothing more. The silence at the table became palpable. Finally the Master broke the uneasy calm. “So you think we should just ignore the guy and not respond at all? Haven’t you been the one who always preached never letting a lie stand?”

“There are exceptions to every rule.” the Old Webmaster replied in a voice that was almost inaudible in the cavernous restaurant. “Beyond that, though, the argument is what he dearly wants. I’m sure that you’ve heard the old expression about never getting into a urination contest with a skunk, right?”

Nervous smiles broke out all around. There were nods of agreement. It was clear: arguing with an individual like that would be a waste of time and energy AND it would give him exactly what he so desperately craved: attention.

“Can you get me a sandwich like his – to go?” asked The Old Webmaster as their waitress passed by, now in a seemingly different mood entirely. The doom and gloom had been lifted in the blink of an eye. Every man there enjoyed Freemasonry to the fullest. They also knew the good they were doing in both their own lives and in that of the community. It was time to cut out cursing the darkness and get back to lighting candles!

The Master broke into a broad grin. “And I was just about to make a comment to the rest of the Brethren about you being a good example for not acting impulsively….” Some smiles turned to outright laughter.

“As you know, Worshipful, I try to concentrate on the important things in life.” The Old Webmaster paused and then gazed at each of the men in turn, letting the impact of his words sink in. Then he turned back towards the Master. “Those fries smell REALLY good – and you owe me some for that crack you made about “Old”…..” He deftly reached across the table to the Master’s plate and snatched several fries, quickly moving them into his mouth. Smiles, knowing nods, and laughter continued. The Master moved his plate so that more could be ’stolen’ if desired.

A waitress standing at the other end of the room leaned against the wall to watch these men who were clearly enjoying each other’s company, far more than other customers. She too found herself smiling. Were they all related somehow? They seemed to talk and share just like brothers. It was so nice…. If only all of her male customers were such gentlemen, she mused.

Technorati Tags: Freemasons, freemasonry, lodge, leadership, complaining, The Old Webmaster

“I never realized that you were so involved in blogging.” said the new Entered Apprentice as they stood together in the evening dusk at the end of another great monthly chicken barbeque sponsored by the lodge. “Most men your age don’t even know what a blog is!”

The Old Webmaster gave him a look of mock scorn. “Is my beard REALLY that grey?” he asked.

“Well, you know what I mean. And it’s true. Most people over 30 don’t have a clue about these things. You’re really a trend-setter.”

“Perhaps I’m easily amused. I follow lots of different types of blogs and find much of interest there. Then again, I’m a ‘news junkie’ so blogs are a great way of getting a bit of additional information. While my parents often commented that I was vaccinated with a phonograph needle – a reference your generation probably doesn’t understand- I’ve always found great enjoyment in reading. Now having topical information delivered to my desktop, it’s easy to become caught in the tsunami of increasingly interconnected facts.”

“You must really lionize the Masonic blogs then.” said the young man.

“Actually I find them more depressing than anything almost anything else I read online – and for a multitude of reasons. So many of them are begun with great fanfare and then are just as quickly abandoned. For personal endeavors like a blog, it’s inevitable that some will move on to other things or that life may intervene but using a blog as an alternative to actually doing things in real life is what I find so very disconcerting.”

“Well, it’s a way of connecting…” the young man interjected, hoping to add to the discussion.

“I know that a lot of people these days think so – but surely you don’t…?” The question hung in the air as the new Mason actually thought through the question.

“I guess…” he began hesitatingly “…. I guess I do. I post comments to some of the blogs I read and other people respond to them sometimes. That’s connecting…. Sorta….” He stopped. The Old Webmaster knew his way around online as well as any 14 year old and wasn’t easily dazzled.

“Honestly, that’s no different that leaving book reviews on Amazon is it? Now since you mentioned how old I was, I should tell you that I was around when people first started in messaging. We had these big rocks that we’d chisel and then toss from one person to….”

The young man nearly doubled over in laughter. The Old Webmaster nodded, sagely and with a huge smile.

“But seriously: when the first Masons came online, we’d talk about ‘being Masons’ but soon we realized that there was nothing of substance to just talking. It was in the DOING that we found our calling. It wasn’t long before guys who hadn’t attended their lodge for years were taking officer positions and moving towards being Master. I still see that with some blogs and Masonic chat rooms today – but with others, it’s as if they’re stuck in a time warp. They can’t seem to leave their house yet they think that they’re doing something really meaningful.”

“But if they enjoy it….” The young Mason had seen the process too. Fellows who’d been hospitalized or had new families stopped blogging while others just seemed to drag on, becoming more and more jaundiced each day. Their tone was increasingly shrill and their postings were perpetually negative. Nothing ever seemed to please them – except, perhaps, enjoying the role of ’spoiler’. It was, he had to admit, hardly a Masonic virtue.

The Old Webmaster nodded his head and said softly. “I suspect some of them enjoy it because they have no other life. That’s the tragedy of the whole thing. The whole Masonic world is out there waiting for their involvement but they’d rather curse the darkness than light a candle.”

The two men stared at each other. The Old Webmaster’s voice became even softer. “I fear that a few of the most vocal of those who blog about Freemasonry are trying to fill their life with meaning by interacting with a computer screen. It’s not like the traditional country music: ‘my wife left me, my dog died, woe is me….’ It’s much more hateful and hate-filled even though they pat themselves on the back for their wonderful insight. Their negative attitude towards Freemasonry is cancerous and spreads to others similarly disaffected. Before too long, they’re all caterwauling together and feeding on each others’ negativity rather than getting off their butts and getting involved – like YOU did!”

The Old Webmaster burst into his characteristic broad grin. The young Mason just beamed. “I guess I did start down that path at first – but there’s SO much more. One of the things that you’ve taught me along the way is that there are both positive and negative ways to make change occur – and that the real reward is when one uses the positive route. I’d like to think that the couple of things I’ve been doing to help out the lodge since I’ve joined have been positive.”

“I can definitely assure you that they have been, my Brother. Let’s go upstairs and sit for a while. I’d like to talk to you about something the District Deputy asked me to consider the other evening. I think you might be the perfect person to take this project on.”

As they started up the stairs to the lodge’s storage room where comfortable chairs and a place to ‘kick back’ awaited, the young man thought about what his life might be like in another 30-40 years. He could almost see himself coaching and encouraging new Masons just as this gentle man was doing with him. He made a ball with his right fist and pulled his elbow towards his stomach: “YES” he screamed silently. The man who was walking in front of him was smiling broadly: he had known instinctively what this young man’s reaction would be from the day they’d first met!

Technorati Tags: Freemasons, freemasonry, lodge, leadership, The Old Webmaster