I have hesitated writing anything at all about Covid because, for whatever reason, the illness was politicized from the very beginning, and reasonable discussion can’t be had. Seemingly nothing in recent memory has been more divisive in our society.
And today, I’m not going to tackle any of that.
I’m simply writing about our Masonic Lodges.
To me, it’s really simple.
If you aren’t feeling 100%, don’t come to Lodge.
I say that, not because I don’t want to see you active in our fellowship, but because coming to Lodge sick is neither good for your Brothers, nor yourself.
And this isn’t limited to Covid. It’s the flu, it’s colds, it’s anything communicable.
Please just stay home.
Doing so is good for your Brothers:
Even where I live, in extremely low density Lewis County, I am close with two Brothers who have extremely compromised lung function. One good respiratory infection could put them in the ground.
If we have even a cold, do we want to pass that along to a Brother in that situation?
If we don’t know for sure if we are sick, but suspect we might be, isn’t it better to protect that Brother by staying home?
Not only that though, doing so is also good for us:
Whatever it is that we might have, we don’t want to make our symptoms worse, and our recovery longer by not getting the extra rest that would help us to heal.
If we are sick and skip Lodge because of it, resting instead, we are probably going to feel better sooner. And that’s a good thing.
We do well to remember that there is no job in Lodge so important that it can’t be handled by someone else for a meeting.
Lastly, as I close, I’ve got to say that we have to listen to our own bodies.
I do not know what the Covid vaccine is, but I do know that it does not work like the Polio vaccine I received as a child does. It was easy when I was a kid. If we took the Polio vaccine, we ended up with a funny scar on our arm, but we could be assured that we wouldn’t get Polio. The Covid vaccine is different.
Last week I read a Tweet from Senator Bernie Sanders, announcing that he had contracted Covid. In the Tweet he also asserted that he was fully vaccinated and boosted against Covid.
(As an aside, do we still call these things Tweets now that Twitter is called X? Even though I get to X by going to twitter.com? I’m confused. But don’t call me a Boomer just ‘cause I struggle with this technology stuff, I’m a genuine Gen X’er darnit! Oh, jeesh, now I’ve done it, an X’er on X. I’d better get out of this aside before it goes any more horribly wrong, get myself back to the flu.)
Undeniably, lots and lots of people who are fully vaccinated and boosted against Covid contract Covid. Just like Senator Sanders did.
My point in bringing this up is that we have to pay attention to how we are feeling, not to whatever our vaccine record might say.
If we aren’t feeling well, we need to accept that and stay home. We can’t assume that we aren’t sick just because we got our Covid and flu shots.
By doing so, by skipping that meeting when we aren’t feeling 100%, we are protecting our Brothers, and we are probably quickening our own recovery.
We’ll see you in Lodge again when you’re feeling better.
It's simple moral decision - to do right - or to do wrong. It's morally wrong to go anywhere when you're ill and to infect others.
I believe that reasonable discussion *can* be had. That too is a moral decision to be made. I have my own thoughts on all of this, but will not put them on your blog. I am happy and willing to share them - in the Spirit of Brotherly love - privately, with anyone who wants to.
Men protect who and what they love. Full stop. That's just a feature of the masculine half of our species.
Stay home if you have so much as tickle in your throat or a sniffle. It's the right thing to do.
Right and wrong are pretty simple, really.
I was Master of my lodge when Covid began sweeping across the globe. In the beginning phase of Covid, the Grand Lodge in my jurisdiction gave the decision whether to meet in Stated Meetings to the individual lodges. As Master, I knew there were active members that would come to lodge when they weren’t feeling well, I had attended lodge/work when I wasn’t feeling my best. I was also aware of members that had underlying medical conditions and we had older, fragile members. As Master, I made the decision to suspend our meetings because I wasn’t willing to risk the health or lives of my Brothers. We cancel meetings for weather so as not to put Brothers at risk driving to lodge and home again so I am comfortable in my decision.