I imagine that most folks who read Emeth know that I’m one of those strange people who actually enjoys the scrum of politics, and who is good enough at it that I get paid to do it.
So, for the past couple of weeks, I’ve been gleefully engaged in a little war with the members of my City Council, trying to build some public pressure on them so that they clean up the park that surrounds my local Library.
So far, I’ve not had success, but success is just over the horizon because I’ve managed to raise the concern of our local school administration. Once they begin complaining about unsafe conditions for their students, positive change will come.
I bring all of this up, because after seeing my recent posts about it on Facebook, a Mason of my Lodge, a man who has been a Mason for 67 years now, offered me a suggestion.
His suggestion was that we scare up as many Masons from the City and its surrounding areas as possible, meet at the Lodge, then go together as a group to a City Council meeting. That once there we declare ourselves as the local Masonic Lodge and insist that the park be cleaned up so that our community’s children can visit the Library safely this summer.
Undoubtedly his plan, as outlined, would be effective.
What struck me, as he was explaining it, was that I’d never even considered anything of the sort before. It never occured to me that Masons and Lodges could or would do such a thing.
In my entire time as a Mason, we have been utterly and completely disengaged from the management and governance of our community. And this isn’t just limited to the community I live in now, it is, as far as I know, universal in this Jurisdiction.
I never even considered that things might be otherwise.
But the Brother let me know that it hadn’t always been that way. That there was a time in which Masons were more active in the civil, governmental, and managerial side of the communities in which our Lodges were held.
That we pointed out problems. That we demanded solutions. That we helped sometimes, or threw our weight around other times.
We certainly haven’t done that in the years I’ve been a Mason, not in any of the Lodges I’m a member of.
But should we?
Is the fact that we are not one of the reasons there is much less interest in Masonry now then there was 67 years ago when this Brother was Initiated?
These are questions that I think we do well to ponder. I’ve been doing that pondering for a week now. I don’t have the answers yet, but I think that coming up with the correct answers could have a meaningful impact on our Fraternity.
As for my specific issue, I won’t be organizing a trek to the City Council, for I know that the battle has already been won. The other side just hasn’t realized it yet.
But, I’ll remember the Brother’s suggestion the next time something goes haywire in our little City.
A huge Thank You to everyone who turned out for the Special Meeting of Little Falls Lodge No. 176 on Saturday. I truly appreciate your support, and I think that we will get that tiny Lodge back on a path to success!
I wrote a little something about Sticks. As it has absolutely nothing to do with Freemasonry, I didn’t want to post it here on Emeth. If you want to read my nonsense about Sticks, and the tradition of carrying them that we might well be better off re-creating, you can read that rambling essay here:
Spot on! More groups need to be involved to get leaders to do their jobs.
Or an alternative is to lead by example. Gather those same Masons as a work party and clean-up the park yourselves. There are too many groups who approach government and demand something to change. Masons can distinquish themselves from these groups by just doing what's right.