MWPGM Bailey, that was a neat essay. As a kid, I had to share a bedroom with my younger brother thru the winter. When it warmed up outside, I slept on our back porch in a sleeping bag. Guys in my neighborhood could drop by, and we could roam around and get in trouble (smoking cigarettes)?
This grew into Boy Scout weekend Camporees, a week at a BSA Camp in a tent, and my first Summer Job as a Dining Hall Steward at Girl Scout Camp Meadowlea in West Virginia (I had my own 4- person Wall Tent on a wooden platform, and a metal cot with a mattress and sleeping bag)! Ha!
My own Boy Scouting experiences were quite superb, and extremely valuable to me. I'm not sure if Scouting is today what it was when I was young, I presume that liability concerns have made it much more limited than what it was.
Plus parents in general no longer seem at all comfortable with letting their children roam, in the woods or otherwise.
I did though wear my old Boy Scout hat on this recent outing. Still fits, a felt Stetson, 'Smokey The Bear' style. I also recently acquired a really heavy wool Jac Shirt, much like the old red BSA one, but in a more subdued color. (There was no way my old Jac Shirt could have ever fit!)
I have faith our Grand Architect will not let His creation wither and die in plastic air-conditioned boxes. Whatever form our restoration will take, strong masonic principles will be at its core. Men will not forget how to live and enjoy the outdoor spaces of generations past because love of truth and wisdom is not contingent upon our world's current external and profane existence, but upon our soul's yearning for eternal light.
I often think that we collectively tend to swing from one end of the pendulum to the other. Locking ourselves in plastic boxes, no one ever without phone in hand. Addictions to vices on those phones. That's undoubtedly where so many are today, but perhaps it will swing back the other way as our wisdom about technology catches up with the technology itself.
Certainly Freemasonry can help with all of that, through its fundamental teachings about balance and equilibrium.
I think your right, as always. My 15 year old son has a bike and freedom to go basically anywhere in two towns on it. He regularly has friends meet him at the mall or high school to just hang out, outside. Yesterday both my son and daughter left the house and didnt come back for hours, playing unsupervised at the local spray park.
Im trying to give them that freedom I had as a kid. To live and learn, make decisions.
Im working on finding more outside activities for myself. But the key is being outside more.
I think you hit the nail exactly on the head here. We've got to give our children freedom, as we had. Too many parents are horrified by the thought of that now, and never allow their children outside of the control of an adult.
But, if children aren't allowed to make mistakes, how can they learn from those mistakes? And if they can't learn from little childhood mistakes, how can they become functional adults?
I completely understand what you mean. Particularly the day after participating in an outdoor degree up at the town of Quilcene. While this time was quite hot, and some brothers struggled in the heat, all did enjoy the event. The candidate was clear from Spokane, and he and three other Brothers from his Lodge (actually 4 if you include the Grand Marshal) made the 6 hour trip for the event. They were impressed and really enjoyed themselves, and told me the trip was totally worth it, including the candidate himself.
I live in a smaller town, as you know, and I work in a suburb of the 3rd largest city in Washington State. It’s true that University place is a clean city, with a good, competent police force, fairly low crime compared to its neighbors, and the people are friendly. That being said, it’s exactly what you’re talking about. Every lunch, I walk about 1 ¾ miles, sometimes 2. Get out and enjoy the fresh air. Sometimes Clint is baffled that in the winter time, I sometimes return to the office quite wet from the modest rain (I don’t walk in a downpour, yeah, I know, I’m a wimp!), but it’s worth it. I don’t want to spend the whole day in the quiet, climate controlled office. But as I do those walks, I’m walking by housing developments where there’s duplexes surrounded by tall fences, and the only access to the developments is a single gate that’s locked unless one of the residents opens it with a code, etc. and on a couple of those developments, there’s a prominent sign saying “Residents and guests only.” I actually feel thankful that I DON’T live in those houses and duplexes. The commute is a bear, but I’d rather do that than live in what is basically a locked-up compound, complete with an HOA with its own set of rigid rules as to what you can do with that you actually own. And you’re also right, with many of those houses wrapped with DuPont Tyvec house-wrap. I remember for years seeing new structures being constructed, being wrapped up with the white material with the big “Tyvec” logos all over them. Carpenters told me that the house wrap is there to make the house much more efficient than the older houses that wasted heat through the many imperfections in the siding, wallboard and “Pink Panther” insulation. Perhaps so, but as you say, now everything made in those houses, all the outgassing of the chemicals, isn’t wasted to the outside. It’s being inhaled by the residents of the house.
Interestingly, back 50 years ago and earlier, it cost roughly $500 to add A/C to your vehicle, back when an entry-level car was $2,500 to $3,300, depending on the era. It was quite expensive. In fact, if you were purchasing a pickup in the 1970’s, adding A/C was a little more expensive than adding 4 wheel drive! I was surprised about that.
During the summer months, I make an effort to be outdoors as much as possible. Growing tomatoes, working the compost pile, tinkering with motorcycles… speaking of which, few things get you really in touch with the outdoors than riding a motorcycle. A convertible does a decent job, particularly a vintage classic convertible, but like Glenn Geiss says, it’s “Wind Therapy.” Most motorcycles don’t have an “infotainment system” touch-screen, and none have climate control A/C, for obvious reasons. Heated seats? Lumbar support? Many call them “Murdercycles”, as the chances of being killed in an accident are notably greater than if you’re in a little jellybean crossover with the crumple zones and dozens of airbags. In those little blobs, you feel safe in your cocoon, but as we’ve seen on the news (and sometimes, in person,) if you get into a tussle with an 18-wheeler, not even the most modern, advanced safety features are going to save you. Pure safety is an illusion – the sophisticated devices in your new car make you safeR, not completely safe. “Yeah, but I’m safer than that old Crapbox you’re driving, or that damn motorcycle!” It’s all relative. You’re right. But at the same time, as I’m crossing several crosswalks on my lunch walk, the chances of me getting hit by a car is infinitely greater than if I stay in the office. You have to understand the risks and measure them to weigh the potential short-term risks versus your long-term overall well-being. Sure! If you’re doing your boring commute, yes, drive that newer car, but when you’re on your off-time, get out there and enjoy yourself!
I'm glad to know that the Degree went well at Quilcene! It is a really wonderful Lodge in a truly superb setting.
I suppose that everyone has much different ideas about what their ideal home looks like, but I'm with you, those gated, strong HOA housing developments aren't for me. I just figure that if one wants a home like that, he's better off saving the extra money and just living in an apartment. It is much the same, to my mind. Give me rural or urban, either way I'd be happy, but I don't want the hybrid of the two. Like I say though, everyone is different in what they find important in a home.
But yeah, I am 100% with you on the Tyvec and similar house wraps. When we cook, clean, paint, and just live, we are creating pollution within our homes. If the home is built so tight that the pollution within it can't escape, we are living in a toxic environment. We've got to have air flow for health.
My family owns quite a large farm, with many old and some new barns. The old barns (built in my great-grandfather's time) all were built with a great many windows. In my lifetime there has never been any glass in those windows, although they were built with glass. I remember asking my grandfather why that was when I was a kid. He explained that long ago it was felt that animals would be healthier in a warmer/drier environment, so people started putting glass windows into barns instead of leaving them open. But, in practice, it caused respiratory problems with the animals. We can learn from that I think.
We most certainly can. I remember reading somewhere about the situation with the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic. In one infirmary, there were so many patients coming in, there wasn’t any room for them in the building, so they had to set up tents outdoors to keep the extra patients and treat them. Over a few weeks, they started noticing that the patients who were outside were recovering faster than those who were inside the building, so they started moving those who were inside the building out into the tents and found their recovery rates started increasing. They never really figured out the biological logistics of why that’s the case, but it makes sense, as we have been outdoor creatures since the caveman times.
Agreed. Common sense dictates that we aren't evolved to be locked up in areas of tightly controlled airflow. Adding the forced air components of modern HVAC systems to that and it gets even worse.
MW Brother, I think you have hit the nail on the head here.
I think your assessments draw some unique parallels to the butterfly, blacksmithing, and stone working. These symbols have often been used often to describe the challenges and progression of men since time immemorial.
Without some form of outside catalyst we become less capable, less effective, and fail to rise to meet our purpose. Much like improperly tempered steel fails to meet its task, the untested butterfly remains flightless, or a poorly worked Ashler crumbles and falls, bringing down the structures that it is an integral part of.
I fear that if we fail to meet these challenges as they are intended, to strengthen and improve ourselves, the end result is not too far off from what we are witnessing unfold around us today, in and out of the Craft.
I have found that the “insurmountable” challenges I experienced in life often prepared me in unexpected ways. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, literally, spiritually, and metaphorically.
I think one of the most important challenges we face in today’s society is finding, pursuing, and offering meaningful struggles that provide purpose to our brief experience. Ensuring that the effort we make, and the suffering we endure, contains an outcome that will forever change and improve our lives, and these we are responsible to, for the better.
The Craft, and few other initiatory processes, retain and offer these lessons and challenges to those that would seek them. I think these crucibles are critical to forming and shaping the men who wish rise to the occasion, and beyond their circumstances.
I am reminded of a quote, “hard times create hard men, hard men create good times, good times create soft men, and soft men create hard times.” This is cyclical, and preventable, if we learn from the lessons of those that came before.
One of our Brothers and I had a very similar conversation last night. I’d really like to continue it at a fireside retreat sometime if you’re willing MW Brother. Great topic and discussion as always.
Thank you Brother. I think that you are exactly right, we need challenge and struggle in life if we are to thrive.
Heck, we need shared struggle in our Lodges from time to time. In my own experience I've watched strong bonds of Brotherhood be created among men of a Lodge when they were faced with a seemingly impossible task, and worked together to overcome it.
While these things are undoubtedly not fun while they are happening, they certainly make us stronger, as individuals, and if tackled by a group, as a group.
MWPGM Bailey, that was a neat essay. As a kid, I had to share a bedroom with my younger brother thru the winter. When it warmed up outside, I slept on our back porch in a sleeping bag. Guys in my neighborhood could drop by, and we could roam around and get in trouble (smoking cigarettes)?
This grew into Boy Scout weekend Camporees, a week at a BSA Camp in a tent, and my first Summer Job as a Dining Hall Steward at Girl Scout Camp Meadowlea in West Virginia (I had my own 4- person Wall Tent on a wooden platform, and a metal cot with a mattress and sleeping bag)! Ha!
My own Boy Scouting experiences were quite superb, and extremely valuable to me. I'm not sure if Scouting is today what it was when I was young, I presume that liability concerns have made it much more limited than what it was.
Plus parents in general no longer seem at all comfortable with letting their children roam, in the woods or otherwise.
I did though wear my old Boy Scout hat on this recent outing. Still fits, a felt Stetson, 'Smokey The Bear' style. I also recently acquired a really heavy wool Jac Shirt, much like the old red BSA one, but in a more subdued color. (There was no way my old Jac Shirt could have ever fit!)
I have faith our Grand Architect will not let His creation wither and die in plastic air-conditioned boxes. Whatever form our restoration will take, strong masonic principles will be at its core. Men will not forget how to live and enjoy the outdoor spaces of generations past because love of truth and wisdom is not contingent upon our world's current external and profane existence, but upon our soul's yearning for eternal light.
I often think that we collectively tend to swing from one end of the pendulum to the other. Locking ourselves in plastic boxes, no one ever without phone in hand. Addictions to vices on those phones. That's undoubtedly where so many are today, but perhaps it will swing back the other way as our wisdom about technology catches up with the technology itself.
Certainly Freemasonry can help with all of that, through its fundamental teachings about balance and equilibrium.
I think your right, as always. My 15 year old son has a bike and freedom to go basically anywhere in two towns on it. He regularly has friends meet him at the mall or high school to just hang out, outside. Yesterday both my son and daughter left the house and didnt come back for hours, playing unsupervised at the local spray park.
Im trying to give them that freedom I had as a kid. To live and learn, make decisions.
Im working on finding more outside activities for myself. But the key is being outside more.
I think you hit the nail exactly on the head here. We've got to give our children freedom, as we had. Too many parents are horrified by the thought of that now, and never allow their children outside of the control of an adult.
But, if children aren't allowed to make mistakes, how can they learn from those mistakes? And if they can't learn from little childhood mistakes, how can they become functional adults?
Roaming is, in my view, critical for kids.
I completely understand what you mean. Particularly the day after participating in an outdoor degree up at the town of Quilcene. While this time was quite hot, and some brothers struggled in the heat, all did enjoy the event. The candidate was clear from Spokane, and he and three other Brothers from his Lodge (actually 4 if you include the Grand Marshal) made the 6 hour trip for the event. They were impressed and really enjoyed themselves, and told me the trip was totally worth it, including the candidate himself.
I live in a smaller town, as you know, and I work in a suburb of the 3rd largest city in Washington State. It’s true that University place is a clean city, with a good, competent police force, fairly low crime compared to its neighbors, and the people are friendly. That being said, it’s exactly what you’re talking about. Every lunch, I walk about 1 ¾ miles, sometimes 2. Get out and enjoy the fresh air. Sometimes Clint is baffled that in the winter time, I sometimes return to the office quite wet from the modest rain (I don’t walk in a downpour, yeah, I know, I’m a wimp!), but it’s worth it. I don’t want to spend the whole day in the quiet, climate controlled office. But as I do those walks, I’m walking by housing developments where there’s duplexes surrounded by tall fences, and the only access to the developments is a single gate that’s locked unless one of the residents opens it with a code, etc. and on a couple of those developments, there’s a prominent sign saying “Residents and guests only.” I actually feel thankful that I DON’T live in those houses and duplexes. The commute is a bear, but I’d rather do that than live in what is basically a locked-up compound, complete with an HOA with its own set of rigid rules as to what you can do with that you actually own. And you’re also right, with many of those houses wrapped with DuPont Tyvec house-wrap. I remember for years seeing new structures being constructed, being wrapped up with the white material with the big “Tyvec” logos all over them. Carpenters told me that the house wrap is there to make the house much more efficient than the older houses that wasted heat through the many imperfections in the siding, wallboard and “Pink Panther” insulation. Perhaps so, but as you say, now everything made in those houses, all the outgassing of the chemicals, isn’t wasted to the outside. It’s being inhaled by the residents of the house.
Interestingly, back 50 years ago and earlier, it cost roughly $500 to add A/C to your vehicle, back when an entry-level car was $2,500 to $3,300, depending on the era. It was quite expensive. In fact, if you were purchasing a pickup in the 1970’s, adding A/C was a little more expensive than adding 4 wheel drive! I was surprised about that.
During the summer months, I make an effort to be outdoors as much as possible. Growing tomatoes, working the compost pile, tinkering with motorcycles… speaking of which, few things get you really in touch with the outdoors than riding a motorcycle. A convertible does a decent job, particularly a vintage classic convertible, but like Glenn Geiss says, it’s “Wind Therapy.” Most motorcycles don’t have an “infotainment system” touch-screen, and none have climate control A/C, for obvious reasons. Heated seats? Lumbar support? Many call them “Murdercycles”, as the chances of being killed in an accident are notably greater than if you’re in a little jellybean crossover with the crumple zones and dozens of airbags. In those little blobs, you feel safe in your cocoon, but as we’ve seen on the news (and sometimes, in person,) if you get into a tussle with an 18-wheeler, not even the most modern, advanced safety features are going to save you. Pure safety is an illusion – the sophisticated devices in your new car make you safeR, not completely safe. “Yeah, but I’m safer than that old Crapbox you’re driving, or that damn motorcycle!” It’s all relative. You’re right. But at the same time, as I’m crossing several crosswalks on my lunch walk, the chances of me getting hit by a car is infinitely greater than if I stay in the office. You have to understand the risks and measure them to weigh the potential short-term risks versus your long-term overall well-being. Sure! If you’re doing your boring commute, yes, drive that newer car, but when you’re on your off-time, get out there and enjoy yourself!
I'm glad to know that the Degree went well at Quilcene! It is a really wonderful Lodge in a truly superb setting.
I suppose that everyone has much different ideas about what their ideal home looks like, but I'm with you, those gated, strong HOA housing developments aren't for me. I just figure that if one wants a home like that, he's better off saving the extra money and just living in an apartment. It is much the same, to my mind. Give me rural or urban, either way I'd be happy, but I don't want the hybrid of the two. Like I say though, everyone is different in what they find important in a home.
But yeah, I am 100% with you on the Tyvec and similar house wraps. When we cook, clean, paint, and just live, we are creating pollution within our homes. If the home is built so tight that the pollution within it can't escape, we are living in a toxic environment. We've got to have air flow for health.
My family owns quite a large farm, with many old and some new barns. The old barns (built in my great-grandfather's time) all were built with a great many windows. In my lifetime there has never been any glass in those windows, although they were built with glass. I remember asking my grandfather why that was when I was a kid. He explained that long ago it was felt that animals would be healthier in a warmer/drier environment, so people started putting glass windows into barns instead of leaving them open. But, in practice, it caused respiratory problems with the animals. We can learn from that I think.
We most certainly can. I remember reading somewhere about the situation with the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic. In one infirmary, there were so many patients coming in, there wasn’t any room for them in the building, so they had to set up tents outdoors to keep the extra patients and treat them. Over a few weeks, they started noticing that the patients who were outside were recovering faster than those who were inside the building, so they started moving those who were inside the building out into the tents and found their recovery rates started increasing. They never really figured out the biological logistics of why that’s the case, but it makes sense, as we have been outdoor creatures since the caveman times.
Agreed. Common sense dictates that we aren't evolved to be locked up in areas of tightly controlled airflow. Adding the forced air components of modern HVAC systems to that and it gets even worse.
MW Brother, I think you have hit the nail on the head here.
I think your assessments draw some unique parallels to the butterfly, blacksmithing, and stone working. These symbols have often been used often to describe the challenges and progression of men since time immemorial.
Without some form of outside catalyst we become less capable, less effective, and fail to rise to meet our purpose. Much like improperly tempered steel fails to meet its task, the untested butterfly remains flightless, or a poorly worked Ashler crumbles and falls, bringing down the structures that it is an integral part of.
I fear that if we fail to meet these challenges as they are intended, to strengthen and improve ourselves, the end result is not too far off from what we are witnessing unfold around us today, in and out of the Craft.
I have found that the “insurmountable” challenges I experienced in life often prepared me in unexpected ways. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, literally, spiritually, and metaphorically.
I think one of the most important challenges we face in today’s society is finding, pursuing, and offering meaningful struggles that provide purpose to our brief experience. Ensuring that the effort we make, and the suffering we endure, contains an outcome that will forever change and improve our lives, and these we are responsible to, for the better.
The Craft, and few other initiatory processes, retain and offer these lessons and challenges to those that would seek them. I think these crucibles are critical to forming and shaping the men who wish rise to the occasion, and beyond their circumstances.
I am reminded of a quote, “hard times create hard men, hard men create good times, good times create soft men, and soft men create hard times.” This is cyclical, and preventable, if we learn from the lessons of those that came before.
One of our Brothers and I had a very similar conversation last night. I’d really like to continue it at a fireside retreat sometime if you’re willing MW Brother. Great topic and discussion as always.
Thank you Brother. I think that you are exactly right, we need challenge and struggle in life if we are to thrive.
Heck, we need shared struggle in our Lodges from time to time. In my own experience I've watched strong bonds of Brotherhood be created among men of a Lodge when they were faced with a seemingly impossible task, and worked together to overcome it.
While these things are undoubtedly not fun while they are happening, they certainly make us stronger, as individuals, and if tackled by a group, as a group.