Masonic Musings from ME!

“When I suggested we go to lunch, I should have realized that you’d be eating something which I’d envy. Not a very Masonic behavior, is it?” The Lodge’s Master grinned from ear to ear while eyeing the plate of his friend and mentor. “But you know, that brings up something else.” His voice was now far more serious. “I was poking around on the Internet the other night and came across a message from somebody who was supposedly a Mason. He’d written “…I love Freemasonry… and that is why I like to poke it and prod it and goad it….” You’ve often joked that you live online. Tell me: is this feeling common amongst Masons online? I can’t imagine any of our lodge members thinking like this but maybe I’m totally out of touch. You know I’m not online as much as you or some others.”

The Old Webmaster took his time chewing on his sandwich – as well as the question. He looked at the younger man intensely. He’d seen the same post when it was originally made a month earlier and he’d been troubled as well. He began deliberately. “You know as well as I do that not everyone is judicious when they write things. Messages are often quickly ‘tossed out’ without much – or any – thought, not realizing that others will see them years later. Many are written trying to make a point based on a thought they’d just had – and they express themselves poorly. In some cases, though, I can only assume that the individual has no idea how what they write will sound to others. The anonymity of the internet allows the writing of things that would NEVER be written if someone were looking over their shoulder. I saw that same post – and frankly, it reminded me of a typical rationalization for spousal abuse: the egregious behavior was done out of love….”

The Master stopped in mid-bite. He thought the post was stupid but he’d not considered this further implication. “I was troubled by it, certainly, but I didn’t take it quite that seriously. Is it possible that you’ve read too much into it?”

“Perhaps I did. Perhaps the individual just wanted to say they were ‘encouraging change’ but that isn’t what was written – and to me, it sounded much more ominous and challenging.” The Old Webmaster took another bite and chewed slowly. “And, if that’s the way I read it, was I the only one? What about non-Masons getting the impression that we encourage changes made by might and force – or threats? Will this be a subtle encouragement to other Masons that they should abandon our concept of ‘who can best work and best agree’? As I see it, it’s simply the same thing an abuser says. ‘I did it because I loved her.’ That ‘in your face’ attitude does appeal to a great many men who have not learned to subdue their passions but I know if you saw someone poking and prodding an animal, you’d immediately know they were wrong and you’d recognize it as abuse. Is it somehow different because it’s Freemasonry? Our organization is, after all, you and me and our lodge brothers and all other Masons. The person poking and prodding essentially says he enjoys putting a stick in our eye. But there’s more to it than that, in my opinion. Why keep yourself in a state of agitation, disappointment and jealousy when you can simply walk away to a happier and more productive life? Like the abuser, though, rather than saying ‘This isn’t working for me’ and moving on, he wants everyone to know just how relevant and important HE is. He charges on with his poking and prodding, convinced that his ‘challenges’ will make the object of his attention somehow better – at least for him.”

The Master shrugged slightly. What more was there to say? He agreed fully – and the analogy of the spousal abuser was spot-on. He remembered one of his neighbors several years ago saying exactly the same thing: beating his wife was done out of love. It made her ‘better’. He’d helped put the man in jail, at least for a short time.

The Old Webmaster leaned back in his chair. “It never ceases to amaze me when people who are unhappy with a given situation don’t just leave and get on with their lives. If this involved something like saving a neighborhood from gangs it’d be one thing but we’re talking about a ‘club’ of a sort where people should be of a like mind and get along. If you find you don’t fit in, you don’t waste a lot of time: you simply leave. Life’s too short to be constantly shoveling sand uphill. I guess we’ll always have the abusers with us though….”

The Old Webmaster popped the last of his sandwich into his mouth but its taste was now bitter on his tongue. So strange, he thought. Millions of men find friendship, fraternity, cooperation, comfort, and so much more as Masons while a small handful seem to want nothing more than to prove that they’re better than all the rest.

The Master could almost see the thoughts writ large on his friend’s forehead. “Our ritual addresses it well and you said it just a minute ago: ‘…who can best work and best agree’. We don’t need the abusers – of the system or its members. While poking and prodding seems to give them delight or makes them feel important, it’s totally inappropriate in my opinion.”

The Old Webmaster wiped his mouth and set down his napkin with a contended nod. “I guess the antidote to it all is to just keep on working together, productively and cooperatively. It’s what Freemasons have been doing for the past three centuries.”

“So are you going to pay for my allowing you to show how absolutely brilliant you are?” asked the Master with a wink.

“I think it’s only proper that I should pay for that privilege!” The Old Webmaster replied with a broad smile, taking the course of action he’d planned all along.

Technorati Tags: The Old Webmaster, freemasonry, Masonic, prodding, obstinacy, abuse

“I think we’ve got to effect some much needed change around here.” There had been some delicious snacks after the meeting, thanks to the Junior Warden’s wife and one might have expected him to be basking in the many nice comments he’d received, some Members even joking that she was clearly too good for him. He’d taken it all in the good-naturedly as it was intended but clearly all of that was secondary to what he’d had on his mind that evening. The Old Webmaster had been ready to head home but as he’d passed the kitchen door saying thanks, the Junior Warden asked him if he might stay a few minutes. Now they sat in the empty ‘downstairs’ of their lodge, sipping the last of the warm cocoa from thick Navy-style mugs.

“That’s a pretty broad statement.” replied The Old Webmaster. “You have something particular in mind or just everything in general?”

The Junior Warden stared into his mug. “I think Freemasonry needs to pull itself up by the bootstraps and be more than it is.” he replied after a short hesitation.

“That means, I guess, that you’ve got a pretty good handle on what Freemasonry is then. Tell me.” The Old Webmaster had learned long ago to never make assumptions about what others were thinking.

“Well, for one thing, we’re nothing but a group of old men having fish frys.”

The Old Webmaster chuckled slightly. “What else?” he asked.

“We’ve got to get more serious about ritual, we’ve got to make men wait longer for their degrees, we’ve got to raise the dues, we’ve got to….” While talking calmly, it was clear that the Junior Warden had a whole list of things that he felt were wrong.

The Old Webmaster raised his hands in supplication. “Wait! I don’t have my note pad. These are all the things wrong with FREEMASONRY?” He stared directly at the Junior Warden who hadn’t expected to be interrupted. It was so uncharacteristic of The Old Webmaster to do so.

“Well, it’s our lodge, it’s Freemasonry, it’s….” and his voice ground to a stop. He stared into his mug. “I’m just not happy at the way things are going, I guess.”

“Everything alright at home? At work?” The Junior Warden looked astonished. What did his wanting to make some changes have to do with that?

“I don’t see how that makes any difference frankly.” His tone was a bit too defensive, he realized after the words had been spoken. He looked across the table at The Old Webmaster who gazed back at him from crystal blue eyes that seemed to have seen everything at one time or another. There was a long silence.

“It’s been my experience – MY experience – ” The Old Webmaster repeated with emphasis “that those most eager to change everything about Freemasonry are often using it as a surrogate for changes they wish they could make – but can’t – in other parts of their life. I’m sure it will sound simplistic … or perhaps dismissive … or even demeaning, but you know me well enough to know that’s not the way it’s intended. I’m telling it to you straight, and I’ve seen it many times over: when somebody wants to change everything in Freemasonry, it’s not Freemasonry’s fault.”

“I can’t believe you – of all people – are satisfied with the status quo.” The tone was accusatory but not angry. After all, this man had gone out of his way to help and guide SO many of the lodge members including himself….

The Old Webmaster chuckled. “You know me better than that. No, what I am saying, though, is that Freemasonry has made its way along for better than three hundred years now. During that time there have certainly been changes. In fact, there have been LOTS of changes even though we like to pretend that nothing has changed. However, we as an organization have never seen the need for nor have we experienced overall upheaval of every facet of ourselves. We’ve been pretty good, all in all, about doing things step by step to see how they were going to work out. One of the problems with a revolution is that you can never put things back the way they were if it hasn’t worked as planned. The Humpty Dumpty concept….”

“Yeah, but we’re a Lodge of old men having fish frys….” the Junior Warden said plaintively.

“My Brother, YOU have done two of those for us during the past few months and we’re scheduled for a third before your term is over. The community – both the Masonic community and our town – love those meals and you’ve become well-known throughout the District as one of the best persons for organization as a result. Frankly, I was going to suggest that we try for a pig roast or a seafood chowder night or something a bit different but didn’t want to burden you.”

“Well, I’m not really sure I’ll have the time. Things have been pretty botched up at work. In fact, I may get laid off in the not too distant future. I’m not sure….” and as the words came out, he looked across the table remembering what The Old Webmaster had said barely two minutes earlier. He hung his head in embarrassment.

The Old Webmaster arose from his chair, and began moving towards the kitchen. As he passed beside the still seated Junior Warden, he put his hand on the young man’s back. “You’ll get through this – and we’ll get it sorted out. Concentrate on the positive things you can do now to prepare for an uncertain future. I’ll ask around to see if anyone knows of any openings for somebody with a heck of a lot to offer.”

The Junior Warden felt the hand on his back. It seemed like a shield – from a Brother who was going to look after him in good times and bad. This was the Brotherhood of Freemasonry. Yes, there were things that needed to be changed in the Lodge but somehow there didn’t seem to be quite so many anymore. And somehow he knew that no matter what happened in the coming months, he could rely on his Brothers in Masonry.

Technorati Tags: Freemasons, freemasonry, changing Freemasonry, The Old Webmaster

“I always enjoy these meetings. I feel like I’m growing as a person, learning new things about the world and about myself.” The lodge’s new Junior Steward had been standing just inside the door of the lodge after having arrived at the building early that evening to be sure everything was in order for the meal which would precede the meeting. He’d heard someone enter the building and was now facing a very familiar face.

“I hear a ‘but’ in there somewhere….” replied The Old Webmaster as he set the case containing his laptop computer on the table nearby so he could devote his full attention to the speaker.

“When I’m here, the things we are planning all seem just great. There are activities designed for just us men, there are lots of events where we bring our families, and we’re always doing one type of community project or another. Last week I realized that I’d done ten different community projects since joining the lodge and the things we’ve done really do seem to make a difference.”

“I’m still hearing that ‘but’ though.” said The Old Webmaster with a smile but with eyes furrowed. “What’s missing?”

“I was reading a blog post last week which talked about the many service projects members of a particular lodge were doing. I was astonished. They were involved with Malaria control in Africa, climate predictions around the world, mind modeling and more. Our lodge does a LOT of things but nothing on this scale. I was darn impressed.”

Even as he was speaking, The Old Webmaster’s face broadened into a sardonic grin as he shook his head slowly from side to side negatively.

“Do you remember that sign on the wall up in the storage room?” he asked.

The sign he referred to was both a history and life lesson. Carved back in the mid-1800s, it had hung on the wall of the lodge’s storage room in both its current and predecessor buildings. It had pointed to the back corner of the building where there was only a small window leading to the fire escape. It read “This Way to the Egress”. At some point every new member of the lodge would see it and ask – and they’d be told the story. Circus pioneer and showman P. T. Barnum had a combination zoo, museum, theater and freak show in New York in the 1840s. It was wildly successful. At one point Barnum observed that people were lingering too long inside his building, keeping other paying customers from entering. His solution was to post signs which read “This Way to the Egress”. Not knowing that “Egress” was another word for “Exit”, people followed those signs to what they assumed was yet another fascinating exhibit…and ended up outside.

One of Barnum’s star performers was Charles S. Stratton, also known as ‘General Tom Thumb’, billed as the world’s smallest man. Bro. Stratton was a Mason. In the 1870s he supposedly gave the sign as a gift to another Mason although it was not known if the sign was an actual one from the Barnum building or simply a sort of remembrance. That Mason had moved to their area and gave the sign to the lodge during a 50^th Anniversary celebration just after the turn of the century. It was part of the culture and fabric of the lodge and had served as a very unique reminder that Masons should practice the tenets of logic and rhetoric as inculcated in the Fellowcraft Degree.

The Junior Steward, like all members of the lodge knew the story well. “Are you saying that I’ve been hoodwinked?” he asked quickly.

“I’m afraid so.” replied The Old Webmaster with his gentle voice. “When you’ve been surfing the web I suspect you’ve seen references to something known as BOINC, haven’t you?”

“Actually, I remember going up to your ‘office’ upstairs just a few weeks ago and seeing your interesting screen saver. You explained it to me then. I haven’t installed BOINC on my computer just yet but I will soon. Looking for intelligent life in space seems like an interesting way to use a computer when it’s not doing anything else. But….”

The Old Webmaster interrupted, “Not only that, you can also be involved with Malaria control in Africa, climate predictions around the world, mind modeling and more.” He watched the Junior Steward’s face express first confusion, then understanding and then consternation. “BOINC is, you see, a software program that lets your computer participate in distributed computing projects – and there are dozens of them. I do the SETI project and have for several years now but hundreds of thousands of others run projects involving blood matching, finding cures for major human diseases and many more.”

“So you mean to tell me that their boasts of doing great works of service amount to nothing more than letting a piece of software run in the background when their computer isn’t doing anything else? How long did it take them to set the darn thing up? Five minutes? How much time do they need to spend tending it? From what you’ve told me, none at all. Yet they have the chutzpah to claim….”

The Old Webmaster uncharacteristically interrupted yet again. “Do you remember just a couple of weeks ago at our Officer’s Meeting I talked about some pseudo-Masonic organizations using the internet to make themselves seem legitimate? Well, that blog post you saw was from one of them.”

The Junior Steward just stared. After that talk he THOUGHT he was being more discriminating, but he really was taken in with this one. “It’s amazing to me that people who want to be seen as credible would stoop to such childishness.” He shook his head, rolling his eyes upwards. Then he stared directly at The Old Webmaster, a broad smile coming to his face. “By the next meeting, I’m going to have invested the necessary five minutes and I’ll be doing all of those laudable things too. In the meantime, I’ve been doing some REAL service work: wait until you hear my report at the meeting tonight about our assisting the community food pantry. I’ve got six Brothers who’ve made major time and money commitments already. It’s a heck of a lot more than letting a computer program run in the background, believe me.”

“I’m looking forward to it – and I heard that the Treasurer may have a contact that can move this along even further.” The Junior Steward’s eyes widened. ” Well, I’m going upstairs now and start my computer so it can spend the evening working on a ‘great project’ while I’m enjoying the friendship and fellowship of traditional Freemasonry!” The Old Webmaster said and off he went. He could be heard chuckling as he trudged up the long stairway to the dimly lit storage room on the upper floor. He flipped on the old light and, staring into the shadows in the back of the room, could see that famous sign still there. At least P. T. Barnum gave the folks a good show for their money, he mused. They even got a good laugh when they realized how they’d been conned. It was honest playfullness, he thought as he smiled. But his smile soon faded as thoughts turned to those who used Freemasonry’s name, reputation and tradition for their own self-aggrandizement….

Technorati Tags: The Old Webmaster, freemasonry, Masonic, sham, pseudo-masonry, barnum, obfuscation

“Got a few minutes?” The Master suspected he’d find The Old Webmaster working on something or another there in the small storage room on the top floor of the lodge.

“As long as it doesn’t involve another project…. I can see that look on your face – even though it’s pretty dimly lit up here.”

“Help me out on this and we’ll get you some higher wattage light bulbs!” The Master grinned broadly. “I’ve decided that our lodge needs a podcast. Can you help me? I don’t have a clue….”

“I’m curious, Worshipful: why do you want to have a podcast? To be honest, I’d have thought that if anyone had been clamoring for one they have asked me about it first – not that I’m jealous or anything….” He slapped his friend on the arm as the Master sat down in the straight chair beside the desk.

“Well, someone showed me this – geeze: I don’t know if it was a blog post or a discussion group message or what – but somebody was blathering on about how a Grand Master wasn’t doing his job properly because he wasn’t doing a podcast. Well, I thought that if he should be doing that then….” The Master was still trying to conceptualize the problem.

“There are several issues here, Worshipful. Let me address the most basic first: what is it that you’re going to be talking about? Do you want to provide education, lodge information, or something else? And who’s going to be your target audience? After all, you do get to talk with us in lodge on a pretty regular basis. Is there something more you need to say? While there are a number of folks who are enthralled by podcasting, for most it’s completely unknown. Frankly, to me it’s not even as pervasive as audio books. With those, there are some real adherents but if it weren’t for those who have difficulty seeing or who are need stuff to fill their daily commute and don’t want to listen to a public radio pledge break, there’d probably be a pretty small audio book market, not that it’s all that large to begin with. Don’t get me wrong: there are a couple of very good podcasts out there but sadly, like blogs, they tend to be or become very personal. You can get some very good information from some but in many others, it’s a total and complete waste of time. How will yours be different?”

The Master turned away and stared at the door. He really didn’t have a clue as to why he wanted to do this. It seemed awfully important when he’d read about the Grand Master who didn’t….

The Old Webmaster continued: “I don’t know of a single Grand Master who’s doing a podcast – and I’m pretty darn active online. Now if I posted that statement online tonight, someone would pop right up to point out that Grand Master X of a particular jurisdiction has created three podcasts. But so what: that’s like sending out three newsletters, in my opinion. It’s not enough to make an impact and if 99% of the Masonic world doesn’t know about it, what’s it worth? That’s not to say that everyone won’t be doing it in 10 years. It’s a great concept but heck: right now, precious few Grand Lodges even have a formalized means of sharing information quickly through their websites or a dedicated e-mail list. So I’d suggest that whoever it was writing a rant was doing nothing more than that: writing a rant.”

The Master looked absently up at the dim light on the wall. “Perhaps my time would be better spent doing things I know will have some value to the Craft….” His voice drifted off. Why did he come up with these crazy whims, he thought to himself.

The Old Webmaster chuckled. “From what I’ve seen in my online travels, some of those who rail the longest and loudest about the ‘evils’ of Grand Lodges have never done the basic work of running a lodge, much less anything more broad. Much like the military sometimes, they just have to gripe because they know they’re not in charge and probably won’t ever be. A complaint that a Grand Master isn’t podcasting is a ‘cheap shot’ at best. That notwithstanding, there’s a place for everything on the internet and, sadly, few Grand Lodges are capitalizing on the potential they have for free or very low cost advertising, information sharing and membership development. I think, though, what’s needed at a lodge level is quite a bit different than what you’d want/need for a Grand Lodge.”

“OK. So now I’ve got back the free time that would have gone into my podcast.” The Master grinned from ear to ear.

“If I may make a suggestion: I’m wondering if we shouldn’t be instituting an old-fashioned calling tree to check on our elderly members…. I think we could probably get about three times as many members into that sort of thing than listening to a podcast. And we’ve got an important lodge anniversary coming up in a couple of years: perhaps a couple of the guys could be talked into researching what was done at such celebrations at the lodge in years past.”

The Master looked up at the dim light that had been on the wall for probably the past 50 years. “So I wonder where they do conversions of whale oil lamps….”

They both smiled at each other, sharing the warm familiarity that is Freemasonry.

Technorati Tags: The Old Webmaster, freemasonry, Masonic, scholarships, podcasting