Are Some Past Masters Just Done?
Have they reached all they had hoped to reach?
Last week I spent two days in my State’s beautiful Capitol Building.1
I’ve been hanging out in that building since I was a little kid, but on these two days I wasn’t really having much fun. I was there with my wife, on days when the place was almost abandoned, helping her move two very senior members of the House of Representatives out of their beautiful offices.
Neither had lost his election, both had just decided to not run again.
While moving around all the treasures that accumulate over two decades or more in elective office I started thinking about our Past Masters.
Our State Legislature is not like Congress. It doesn’t pay its members very well at all, and it requires (unless they happen to live nearby) significant disruption of their family routines. That same disruption impacts their vocation, unless they happen to be retired.
At least partly because of these things, a lot of Legislators don’t stay in office very long. Indeed these two Legislators were some of the very longest serving, and the length of time they spent in the Legislature doesn’t hold a candle to the average Congressman. Those DC folks seem wholly committed to leaving only if dragged out kicking and screaming!
But, I also wonder if a lot of Legislators don’t leave because they have accomplished all that they hoped to accomplish. Or realized that it is impossible to accomplish what they wanted to accomplish.
They may have set out to do something. To improve something. To make a difference in the place that they live.
They may have done just that.
They may have realized that whatever it was can’t be done.
Either way, maybe their quest has come to an end. So they don’t run again. They leave after a few short years.
And I wonder if it isn’t this way for our Past Masters as well.
We have all seen lots of men really committed to Freemasonry, working hard, spending a few years working their way to the East.
Then their term ends, and we never see them again.
I’ve talked about this with a number of Masons through the years, so I know that I’m not the only one who has noticed it.
But, I do wonder if that isn’t just it…
They worked hard because they wanted to change something, to improve something.
And they succeeded in doing so.
Or, they figured out that no matter what they tried, the Lodge wouldn’t accept whatever improvement they sought.
Either way, their quest in Lodge came to an end.
Leaving them with no reason to return.
Actually, it’s called the Legislative Building, but you get the idea.
I suppose it depends on each individual what their reasons are. I got burned out as treasurer. Slowly watching a bank account get smaller and smaller. Repeatedly suggesting needed reforms to raise dues or sell the building before we went broke. Ignored. Dues hadn't been raised since Nixon ended the gold standard. What is it about so many civic fraternities that they act as if inflation doesn't exist. On that note, if your bylaws don't accommodate for automatically raising the dues annually with the BLS CPI inflation rate then your organization will be held hostage by those members unwilling to invest in the fraternity. They will vote down any increase. Killing the lodge in the process.
I have wondered why there are so many examples of men "taking a break" immediately following their year in the East. Maybe they did not accomplish what they thought they would?
Then, there are the past masters who should be done. You know the type. They want to see the Lodge ran as they think it should be and don't let the next generation do what they think is prudent. This is where that wise council idea comes in.
I had an experience where I was volunteered to plan an event. My wife and I reached out to a certain past master to talk about it since he had planned these events in the past. Every single idea we brought up was shot down by this good brother. A short time later, someone told me that this past master told him that I an hard to work with.
The event went off without a hiccup, we had Brothers from around the entire jurisdiction in attendance. It was a great time!
Past master's are just that - past. They can be a great resource, but they can also hold a Lodge back by being change resistant.