The Old Webmaster heard the footsteps coming purposefully up the stairs to the small storage room on the upper floor of the lodge building. He’d come up here today to escape the noise of the roofers fixing a problem at his house from a few months earlier. As usual, he’d checked his incoming e-mail and, based on its contents, he could make a good guess what any hotfooted visit would be about. He turned from his computer to watch the door and within a few moments, the flushed face of the Lodge’s Master appeared.
“Have you seen the newspaper today?” he said, catching his breath from the rapid ascent. “This is NOT good news.” Looking at the masthead of the page in the Master’s hand, The Old Webmaster knew this was about the news announcement of a possible financial problem – perhaps embezzlement – in a neighboring Grand Lodge. “This is AWFUL.” The Master was still catching his breath and his fluster was not simply from climbing the steep stairs.
“Sit down here. Read this blog – and then we’ll talk.” They exchanged chairs and the Master recognized the page graphics as something he’d seen before. He knew that The Old Webmaster was one of a very few Masons who regularly followed most Masonic blogs. Personally he felt such activity was a waste of time but in cases like this, it was interesting to see what was being said. He read the article through – and then read it slowly a second time. He turned to see his friend leaning against a nearby elderly filing cabinet, watching for his reaction.
“What on EARTH is he railing about?” the Master turned to face his friend while the desk chair gave its customary squeak of protest. The Old Webmaster settled in to the old and threadbare but eminently comfortable overstuffed chair which had served the lodge well for many decades.
“This seems to be the classic example of what you’ve said to me a dozen times: if you want to find ill-formed opinion and misleading information, read a Masonic blog or two. Do you have any idea what Grand Lodges have been hit with embezzlements lately?”
The Old Webmaster shook his head from side to side. “The article mentions a Mason from that same jurisdiction who is now in federal prison but he stole from lodges, churches, community clubs, and individuals. There was embezzlement northeast of there a couple of years earlier but again, it was a local lodge along with a number of other groups, mostly non-Masonic. Neither case involved Grand Lodge funds – but why let the facts get in the way of a good rant?”
“And we’re not the only ones who use volunteers to handle our funds, for cryin’ out loud.” responded the Master. “This just seems like a convenient situation on which to hang one’s personal agenda. Has he got some sort of gripe against Grand Lodges?”
“Some of the ‘back-story’ here is that the blogger is a Past Master in that very jurisdiction. His lodge even meets in the Grand Lodge building. Knowing that, you’ve got to wonder about his motivation as well as his apparent lack of knowledge of his former jurisdiction.” The Old Webmaster stopped there and stared towards the opposite wall. The Master could see there was more to it – but that was enough on personalities.
“And there are two other things that really bothered me about that blog” the Master said. “First is that it’s stupid to assume that problems are caused because we tend to use volunteers – or that those volunteers don’t know anything. Heck, the fellows I know at Grand Lodge who are involved in financial matters put their heart and soul into it. That there might be a bad apple slip through is no different than any other organization in our world. Look at the story on FEMA trailer fraud and embezzlement that’s also big in the paper today. Look at the housing crisis and the fraud that involved hundreds, thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of people, all paid and many with professional credentials. Earlier in the week there was a story about unaccounted-for funds millions with a group that runs schools. There was a story about fraud in the Medicare program as well as a New York City employee who embezzled nine million dollars intended to identify 9-11 victims. Late last year the former President of France plus twenty others including four of his Chiefs of Staff were placed under formal investigation for embezzlement.” He paused and shook his head yet again. “I try not to rationalize or to be an apologist for Freemasonry but we’re not unique and that has nothing to do with the fact that our members who do the yeoman’s portion of the work are volunteers. Other organizations – and even governments – with paid employees and paid outside professionals fall victim as well, sometimes more easily. This ‘Brother’ chooses to paint all Masons with a brush of incompetence and ignorance, though, without having even a small portion of the facts. Seems to me like there’s more going on than just righteous indignation….”
The Old Webmaster nodded in agreement. “The Red Cross is an interesting example also and there are dozens of cases every year involving theft from physicians’ offices – but often those who are blogging seem to have a VERY limited background on the issues about which they proselytize or they willfully neglect to address the issues objectively. Obviously everyone’s entitled to their opinion. I just find it disturbing that some of these people grasp at straws to make their points and push their own agenda which in this case seems to involve bashing Grand Lodges.”
“I think I’ll call the Finance Committee and the Treasurer. We should get together to review our own lodge procedures for ensuring financial integrity” said the Master.
“It is easy to become complacent when we’re dealing with friends and Brothers but we’ve also got a fiduciary duty to act responsibly. Due diligence can help minimize problems but it can never eliminate them totally – as FAR more than just a few Masons have found out over the years.”
“Want to grab lunch?” asked the Master. And off they went to the local sandwich shop as the screen saver turned the blog post to black.
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