A Quiet Sort Of Retirement

Ah, the joys of kicking back. And leaving before they throw you out.

When it comes to Freemasonry, I don’t want to be a ‘doer.’ Not anymore anyway.

Undoubtedly it is good to be a doer, and Freemasonry needs lots and lots of doers. But, I was a doer for a lot of years. It’s probably fair to say that I was an extreme doer.

But I’m just not interested in that anymore.

And I think that’s OK. What we need from Freemasonry changes as we change and grow. That’s why one’s perfect Lodge when he is thirty might not be his perfect Lodge when he’s fifty. We change, and our personal Masonic experience should change. Stagnation is death after all.

I want to go to Lodge, sit on the sidelines, and enjoy the fellowship, the Brotherly Love that our Gentle Craft promises. I figure that I’ve paid my dues in labor, so I need not feel guilty about kicking back for awhile.

I want to think about Freemasonry, and I want to write about Freemasonry. I want to pass my ideas about our Craft along to others, to people who are doers. People who can continue to improve Masonry.

Photo by Jaye Haych on Unsplash

And in the couple of years since I left the East, that has largely worked out OK for me.

They did make me Worshipful Master of Seattle’s Doric Lodge, the Lodge in the very Center of the Universe, but that didn’t make me into a doer. The very dedicated Masons of that Lodge take care of everything, they build and maintain a truly superb Lodge and just allow me to take the credit.

And they made me the President of the Temple Board here in my hometown. And that is work, it forces me to be doer, but I don’t really consider it Masonic work, so that’s OK.

I Chair a couple of Grand Lodge Committees, but that’s OK too. That Committee work keeps me connected to the broader Jurisdiction, which is important, but doesn’t put me too far into the doer camp.

For this year I’ve been honored to be selected as the Chairman of the Commission On Information For Recognition. That’s a Masonic body with a worldwide scope that does interesting and important work, and that has allowed me to meet wonderful Masons from around all over the earth. So, I put that one firmly in the doer category, but it’s a good thing.

I got to thinking about all of this the other day because we had a Grand Lodge event not too far from my home. I attended, but I left the jacket and tie at home. It’s the second time I’ve done that since leaving the East.

When he became Grand Master, my Deputy Grand Master stressed the importance of Masons taking the injunction ‘Know Thyself’ seriously.

So, I’ve been thinking about that these past days.

Why have I left the jacket and tie at home?

And I think that’s it. I don’t want to be a doer anymore. I’ve always been uncomfortable with over the top Masonic introductions, and I don’t want to be dragged up to the altar to be introduced. I don’t want to march into a Lodge room along with our sitting Grand Lodge Officers. Those things are rightly for the men who have come behind me, the men who are doing important things now. Leave me over on the sideline, let the men who deserve it now get the glory now. My time has rightly passed.

And I worry a heck of a lot about Past Master Syndrome. I don’t want to be one of those guys who have left the East in fact, but can’t move past a desire to run Masonry.

So, I guess that’s the thing.

My time has passed. I’m really pleased to give advice and my thoughts to all who are interested in hearing them. But I’m not interested in running things anymore.

Running things is best left to younger (in the Craft) men. As is the recognition.