“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!
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