There are precious few Diarists in the world today. I work with one of them. She spends at least a half-hour every day writing her experiences and thoughts into a diary and has been doing so for all of her adult life, starting as a teen into her now mid-40s. When I first learned of this, I was positively awed: the dedication it took, the wonderful memories she had created for herself, the time committment, the great opportunity to learn and grow, and the sheer drudgery of it all. She has told me that no one reads it but herself and likely that’s true but each time I see her during the day, there’s that sparkling instant of thought that makes me wonder: will I be a subject of tonight’s entry? If I say something – anything – could it wind up in a spiral notebook and later become Exhibit One in some sort of administrative law court proceeding? Is this what she has come to believe is her secret weapon against the world or is she simply bored?
Blogs can invoke restiveness on a different plane. For the appointed/elected leadership of Freemasonry, it can be that same kind of angst I get whenever the thought of Joan’s diary passes – unsummoned – through the edges of my consciousness.
Years ago, when someone had something to say, their voice extended only about twice as far as their arm. Today, without the benefit of editorship for either grammar or content, they can be heard around the world. We humans seem to be ‘wired’ so things someone says are quickly forgotten but when it’s on the computer screen, there’s a far greater significance than they deserve. What’s particularly scary is – to return to the analogy of my local diarist – there’s no difference between a well-thought out essay and a case of verbal diarehha. When we appear at certain events, whether its an office meeting or a Little League game, the vast majority of us will have clothes and MINDS appropriate for the event. Not so when approaching the diary where a pique or joy or a minute before becomes a memory for the ages, written in haste or anger or as can be seen on many a blog, intoxication and visible to all.
Temperance seems to be the one cardinal virtue that those online seem to have the most difficulty controlling so it stands to reason that if blogging becomes an intregal part of the landscape (my guess is that it will be the ‘pet rock’ of these couple of years), you’ll learn of a few incidents whereby a Mason is called to task for his online behavior. What a couple of them will fail to acknowledge is that their online actions will have besmirched the reputation of the organization and – just as if they’d written a blog about their employer’s work policies or whatever – they will have to answer for it. When we read of Microsoft taking action against an employee for blogging about the appearance of some Apple computers on a loading dock, many will come to the defense of the individual: that mean ol’ company can’t control what an employee can say after all. But wake up and smell the coffee here: government decides when and if you can smoke cigarettes, insurance companies decide how much you’ll be forced to spend if you weigh too much for their liking, and your boss – whether you like it or not – decides the length of your workday and what your performance level will be during the course of it. In fact, some employers control even more of your life with rejection of promotions or continued employment if you do certain ‘prohibited’ things during your NON work time. Remember all of that if you read about the ‘evil censorship’ that was ostensibly imposed upon a single member or two of a multi-million member organization. You should know too that such actions are NEVER taken lightly – at least in the Masonic venue – and that in an organization where “harmony (is) the strength and support of all institutions, more especially this of ours”, any type of activity circumscribing the freedom of the individual is an anathema.
Oh, and just so we’re all on the same page: this is not to say that Masonic leadership in a given jurisdiction will be infallible. Everyone makes mistakes. Just because someone is given a leadership role – in Masonry, in government, in the military, in the workplace – is no reason to assume that they are or will be right in every decision they make. However, When bad decisions occur it seems to me that flogging a dead horse really isn’t going to accomplish very much. Those folks who feel they’ve been victimized in the workplace, for example, can recite a litany of grievances along with – sometimes – a checklist of steps they’d taken to mitigate things. While some achieve a high profile for the egregiousness of the acts against them, the vast majority of indignations seem to stem from personal ambitions unfulfilled and aspirations blocked. There also seems to be a common chord of ego that refuses to accept authority of any kind.
The morale? If you read a blog criticizing the institution of Freemasonry, look behind the curtain to find out more, particularly about the motivations of the author.
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