Am I good luck, or bad luck?
I don’t know, but I’m starting to get nervous!
Should we start with the good, or the bad?
Let’s start with the good!
Robert Morris Lodge, in the megalopolis of Silver Creek, Washington hosts raffles for half a beef from time to time.
The thing is, I’m the guy who sells the winning tickets! History has shown that without a doubt, if you want to win, you’ve got to buy your ticket from me. Especially interesting, in my humble opinion, since I’m not even a member of the Lodge.
But, I sell a few tickets every year, and the winners seem to be drawn from the tickets I sell.
So, that’s the deal. If you want a ticket, and you want to win, you’ve got to buy it from me. Send me ten bucks, and I’ll send you a ticket.
But, you’ve got to be local, because you are going to have to pick up your half of a beef down Longview way. Amazon apparently doesn’t yet deliver cows.
So, that was the good.
On with the bad:
I’m starting to think that I may be jinxed.
At least when it comes to Masonic Temples. And water.
Shortly after I joined Doric Lodge not too long ago, there was a problem with a construction project up on the roof. And it rained. It didn’t just rain outside the building, it rained inside the building. We had our own waterfall, and lake!
It was bad. Really bad. But, it got rebuilt.
This morning, in my role as President of the Temple Corporation here in Centralia, I was supposed to meet my VP and a contractor down at our Masonic Temple, to discuss a future project we have in mind.
So, I mosey on down to the building, and I notice a building damage control truck parked outside. I head on up to the third floor in the elevator, and when I get up there I find all these dehumidifiers and fans making a racket. I wander back to the office and see that in addition to my VP, the Brother who manages the building is there, and another Brother who lives really close by.
They fill me in.
Very late last night, a pipe burst, way up on the third floor of our Temple.
The York Rite met last night, so we know that it had to have happened probably between ten or so when they left, and two-thirty or so when the flooding water shorted our fire system and the fire department came, shutting off the water instead of putting out flames.
So, that’s not good. I’m not sure how well the wood floors on any of the stories will survive, but there are interesting floor dryers in place to try and save them. A third floor bathroom will have to be rebuilt for sure. And our formal dining room on the second floor lost huge chunks of its ceiling, and one very large wall. We’ve got damage down in the fancy offices on the first floor as well. Leave it to my Lodge to soak a law firm.
Luckily, we’ve got good insurance, so it should all work out in the end.
But, that’s what I’ve decided today… If you want good beef, buy a raffle ticket from me. If you don’t want your Masonic Temple to flood, keep me the heck away from it!
In other news. I ran across this quote yesterday, and it really stuck in my mind:
“I’m still figuring out what this is and how to best use it in a collaborative way with an audience. It’s a strange thing, the writing life, especially now in the Internet Age of personal brands and social media with the constant need to keep up, stay on top of people’s feeds, and always be relevant.”
I guess that it stuck in my mind because I too am trying to figure it all out.
I’m trying to figure out how to use a couple of the tools I have here on Substack to better provide something valuable to all of you who are kind enough to read and participate with Emeth. Namely ‘Chat.’ I know that Chat can be of value, as a fairly private short communications space, but I haven’t hit on what I want to do with it.
I’m also trying to figure out what to do with Facebook. Posts no longer have any kind of meaningful reach on Facebook unless one pays to ‘Boost’ them. It used to be a truly superb communications tool for our Lodges, but it just isn’t anymore. I’m wondering if it is worth my time now. But the thing is, I really enjoy it, despite its enshitificaton.
And Twitter is really weighing on my mind. I find it a superb place to discover great commentary, but I find that when I use it, I get angry at the world. That isn’t a healthy thing at all. So, I’ve never overly used it, but I wonder if I should be using it period.
While all of that was swirling through my mind yesterday, I ran across this:
I think that this is really important. And, I think it’s true. Social media tends to make us less good people.
And as Freemasons, we are charged with becoming better people.
I hope you’ll read this essay.
It’s certainly impacted my own thoughts about my Facebook and Twitter use mentioned above.
Just then, as I was getting all weird with myself about my slight Facebook and Twitter addictions, I encountered this:
In the Fellowcraft’s Lecture, we wander around, go up some stairs, learn some things. I’ve got to admit, I find it rather dull. We get a word, and we are told how that word came to be. And if we read the bible enough to get the story, or join Eastern Star to get the other part of the story, well, we have to wonder about the barbarity celebrated in the Old Testament. Or at least I do.
But, after all of that, we enter a special chamber. And if the man delivering the work does it exceptionally well, it is, in my opinion one of the most powerful and impactful things in all of Freemasonry. Holy Smokes, that teaches something awfully important.
And that’s what I found with the Old Code linked above.
A similar story about how the great and the valuable can never die. Because of where it exists.
It’s a superb essay, not Masonic in and of itself, but certainly Masonic in tennor, and in the lesson it hopes to impart.
Give it a read this weekend, you won’t regret it.
There you go, that’s all my odd happenings for today.
Thank you for letting everyone know about My lodges raffle for a half an Angus beef.
It appears you were up all night. Wonderful stuff and I’ve had similar experiences with raffle winners. I read most of your writings in the program sections in our Lodge meetings as they are often much more relevant than the MSR bulletins. I really like the discussions and sharing we get from the brothers. Slowly but very surely we are making our Lodge meetings fun and productive. A fine PS: one of our newest brothers is a recently retired US Army major that is a fabulous pop music pianist.He usually plays everything from ear memory but says he can play from sheet music for sure.
Life is good Cameron, and the greatest thanks for your writings and insight.