As a small qualifier, I’ve interacted with the homeless population for 30 years as a deputy/detective and my wife was the Executive Director of a homeless teen shelter. It was and is a non-profit organization that has had to scrimp for donations to keep its doors open. As an example of the regulations imposed by the state, is employees of the shelter are required to have a 4 year degree. There aren’t many people with a 4 year degree who want to work for minimum wage.
One issue (of many) that you didn’t mention is the mental health of the homeless population. The longer a person is homeless, the more their mental health deteriorates. I know some become homeless due to their own choices, but others find themselves homeless through forces beyond their control.
Last fall, having been retired for only 8 months, I suffered a TIA (pre-stroke). I was fortunate that it cleared up on its own and only had to spend one night in the hospital. Even with insurance (which is a topic for another time) it has tremendously effected us financially. I can share, as I’m certain other brothers have experienced, the added stress trying to pay additional medical bills on a fixed income. I share this because I just as easily could have been financially bankrupted and found ourselves in a different living arrangement. Those homeless that are there due to forces out of their control quickly lose their self-esteem and if they are employed, quite likely will become unemployed. Where do the homeless bathe or wash clothes? If they have a family, the stress of providing security for them becomes overwhelming and paranoia begins to set in. I believe it should be the government’s responsibility to care for its most vulnerable populations. I don’t believe throwing money at the problem is the answer either.
What can we do as Masons? There are already plenty of agencies involved so we don’t have to start something new. We all own suits we rarely, if ever wear. Could that suit help someone gain employment? Could we hand out pb&j sandwiches one day a week? It’s not going to fix the problem, nothing may, but it’s something.
>>"One issue (of many) that you didn’t mention is the mental health of the homeless >>population. The longer a person is homeless, the more their mental health deteriorates. I >>know some become homeless due to their own choices, but others find themselves >>homeless through forces beyond their control."
I do recognize how mental illness plays into all of this in many cases. I wasn't making an effort to point out all of the things that play into the problem, rather I used the example I did as an attempt to make the point that it is a complex problem, not easily reducible to the most obviously visible factor.
I think that your example about shelter employees being required to have so much education is another perfect example of things that make the problem worse, yet are not readily visible.
I also recognize that it is possible for someone to dig himself out of a situation like this. I know a fellow who did, and I see him often as he does odd jobs around the house for us, and has for a good many years now. But, I know, from watching him, and trying to help as I can (some small part financially by providing him with work, but more importantly, by helping to show him what steps to take) that it took a tremendous amount of effort, and there were many 'two steps forward one step back' kind of situations that he ran into along the way.
Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates don't live in seattle, they live in Medina.
When you mischaracterize an issue, then it's never going to be solved. Overwhelmingly, the "homeless" are not there due to rising rents and costs of home ownership. They are there due to drug and alcohol addictions and/or mental health issues. Most refuse treatment. Most don't want to live in shelters or free housing, because of all of the rules attached to them. They don't want jobs. They simply want their next fix.
Are home costs in seattle insane? Yeah, because of geography mostly. That is driving home ownership costs to crazy levels in the surrounding localities because no one can work and live in seattle, which increases traffic. It's somewhat unique. But are the two issues related. No, not really. Solving where to live is the same it was fifty years ago. Young kids, fresh out of high school and without parental support and no means to attend college got together with their friends and rented an apartment they all could afford. You worked your minimum wage job, learned a skill, and increased your income to a point where you could move out on your own. Now, it just may take a while longer. There are plenty of government handouts and assistance for working adults struggling to make ends meet.
But note, I said working adults.
Having to witness the utter filth and behavior of the so-called homeless first hand, I have zero sympathy for the plight they have freely chosen for themselves. Seeing them openly defecation and urinating downtown in the middle of the afternoon in front of everyone, open drug use, selling stolen items like some sort of street corner bazaar, EMT responding to yet another overdose, or worse, the results of an assault, mentally deranged accosting passerbys....it's horrific.
And this is all the fault of the courts, ruling that we can't force these animals into treatment, or to take prescribed medications, or to stop pitching tents on public property. And the elected officials coddle and enable this behavior, all based on what they call compassion, but it's anything but compassion. We spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year just in seattle alone, and the issue is just getting worse. It's not a spending problem. It's not a compassion problem. It's not a legalizing drug issue (which in itself is going to make things 10x worse).
So, as masons, without spending money, or giving compassion, there is nothing we can do, except to try and convince society that the best course of action is to force treatment on these individuals though tough love.
And we don't know real poverty in this country. No one here eats dirt and pebbles to get rid of the gnawing hunger pangs they live with.
Yes, forced treatment. The left continues to blame Reagan for the current mental health crisis, but it was the courts that caused the damage. The states have been woefully negligent in handling this issue, underfunding mental health facilities to a criminal scale. The drug addicts living on the streets need treatment, but we're denied the ability to get them the treatment they need because of their civil rights, regardless of how their civil rights impact everyone else. It's often said that in order for a junkie to want to seek treatment is when they hit rock bottom, but sometimes rock bottom is when they're dead. Because it is so difficult to involuntarily commit someone to a mental health program to treat their issues, the only avenue for the addicts is to be arrested and forced into it by the courts.
But the leaders of seattle refuse to arrest them, and even if cops do arrest them, the prosecutors refuse to take the case to court. There are documented cases of street people having 40+ arrests, and yet they still walk the streets. We are going to legalize possession, which closes that avenue even further. In short, while it may appear we're being kind and compassionate, we're simply dooming these people to a life of addiction and eventual death. And chances are, they're going to take others with them.
And yes, they are animals. The filth and squalor they live in, without regard to the rest of society, is sickening. They shit everywhere. They leave used needles everywhere. They piss themselves, puke in the gutters, and stink of a mixture of piss, vomit, shit and body odor. They leave trash everywhere they exist. They take up emergency room space by their behavior, denying adequate care for others.
The only real compassionate solution is to have the state create a treatment facility specifically designed to take them in, clean them up, get them life skills, get them off drugs, and help them become something less than a leech on society.
Does that make me heartless? On the contrary, I have more compassion for them because I want to help them, not enable their continued behavior. It's called tough love.
I understand I think where your perspective comes from.
Each Christmas Day, we spend with my Grandparents, both of whom are now in their mid 90's. It's a good day with the family, but with a pretty long drive afterwards. Traditionally we have had Christmas dinner on the farm, then we swing into downtown Seattle for a late dinner in a nice restaurant.
The last time we did that the area was filled with street folks, behaving badly. I was honestly concerned that if we were accosted I would not be able to physically protect my wife and daughters. (Should have been carrying, wasn't) It was not an enjoyable Christmas evening, it was a scary one.
We haven't returned.
So, I do think that I understand your perspective, and I recognize that I do not have to live, work, or recreate in that area.
I am also a firm believer in both prison and mental health treatment. I am a law and order guy, and I think it ridiculous that we are allowing our cities to be torn apart.
That said, I think that it is important to not dehumanize people with our language, even if they dehumanize themselves with their actions, because that has always been a first step towards societies embarking on evil programs. Also important Masonically, given our closing charge.
As for Seattle, I've been reminded a few times recently that these newsletters are now going out to people all over the country and around the world. We have an active commenter from India here now. While certainly true that Medina is the small municipality in which they live, it is a part of the Seattle metropolitan area, and as such a recognizable location that folks who don't live around here will likely know of. I stand by my use of Seattle, despite the fact that their homes are located outside of its city limits.
My comments are colored by Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the 21st Century and I underscore the fact that in a previous life teaching first-year econ students, that economics has a well-deserved moniker of “the dismal science.”
Piketty, a contemporary French economist argues there is a growing concentration of income in the hands of a small economic elite. He makes a powerful case that we’re on the way back to ‘patrimonial capitalism,’ in which the commanding heights of the economy are dominated not just by wealth, but also by inherited wealth, in which birth matters more than effort and talent.
Piketty says, we could see the reemergence of a world familiar to nineteenth-century Europeans; he cites the novels of Austen and Balzac. In this ‘patrimonial society,’ a small group of wealthy rentiers lives lavishly on the fruits of its inherited wealth, and the rest struggle to keep up. As a result, it’s counter-productive to pick on the likes of Gates or Bezos. They just happen to be a handful of people who were doing the right things at the right times that gave them rich rewards. How many of us would not do the same and not feel guilty about those left behind?
It is human nature that as power grows, so does the ego. Ego does nothing to solve societal challenges. Ego fuels upon itself. The Bible tells us the Grand Architect of the Universe must be greater and we must be less. In the parable about the Samarians, Jewish followers cannot fathom why Christ would spend time with a community despised as vile until they realize there are many commonalities that would bring them eventually together.
So it is in today’s global communities.
Until we return to a system that encourages and sponsors upward mobility, the chasm created between the have and have-nots will only grow unabated. Until we create leaders with a heart, nothing will be accomplished.
Our fraternity is counter to this cycle in that we encourage community support and sponsorship. But we must do more and to do more, we must bring new and younger members into our brotherhood. I have heard the average age of Masons in our grand jurisdiction is 65+ years. This does not auger well for developing a new generation of leaders who can make a difference.
Our problems and many and as discussed quite complex.
When we have not only a diversity of opinion but also a diversity of facts, finding common ground can be overwhelming and difficult which is why many seek the emotional and philosophical shelter of Masonry. Compounding the decline in our civilization are elected officials and regulators who are no longer embracing a key mandate of government, protecting our people, and encouraging upward momentum.
In Seattle, all you need to do is drive through the city (during daylight when it’s safer) and see the boarded-up storefronts and armed private security roaming vacant buildings and lobbies.
There are homeless encampments overrunning our local parks and school grounds and the government doesn’t appear to care. As a matter of fact, crime is generally legal in Seattle thanks to a socialist city government, which has given rise to the term “range-free criminals.” Police officers have been neutered and are not allowed to do anything without permission from a feckless city council.
Because Seattle is a population center, the spillover effects influence the well-being of suburban communities, especially in the South Sound.
Throughout modern history, Freemasonry has stood as a beacon of doing right and good in our communities. While there are no easy solutions, it’s incumbent on our fraternity to encourage responsible young people in our midst to take up the mantle of servant leadership. It used to be that public service was a higher calling, a noble profession from which our best and brightest aspired. It is time to do so again so we can have people in positions of influence to do what is right and best for our citizens and communities. This will not happen overnight. And it must demand patience. It has been said that in the face of impossible odds, people who love this country can change it.
Our closing charge sums up how we can be to influence a better society. “Be prudent, diligent, temperate and discreet. Remember that every human being has a claim upon your kind offices.”
I think that the risk that we become something like pre-revolutionary France is real. I don't think it is inevitable however, or at least I hope that it is not. One thing, we can do, and I think we don't do it enough, is ensure that competition remains vibrant. We don't have to buy every book from Amazon, putting all other booksellers out of business for example. Competition is a great good in society, but as consumers it is largely up to us to see to it that it exists.
It is correct that the average age of Masons in this Jurisdiction is very high. But, many of our Lodges are bringing in younger men, and some are figuring out how to meet the needs of those younger men, and retaining them. Yesterday for example, I participated in a Masonic funeral service. One of the Masons participating with me is in his 20's.
I think, and I hope, that as we learn to provide what these young men need out of Freemasonry, education, mentorship, fellowship, we will attract and retain them. I also think we need to never forget that we can create new Lodges. If an established Lodge doesn't provide these things, well, then we should be encouraging those younger, excited men to start their own.
I also think that Freemasonry can be a school of leadership. We can teach the men who enter our portals how to lead others. I don't think that our current educational materials do that effectively given that they are so tightly focused on the Lodge, but they could be expanded. Additionally, a Lodge could incorporate quality leadership training into its regular educational program. Tremendous resources exist that Lodges could purchase and use. Doing so would of course not only assist the Masons, and the Lodge, but the community as well.
RW Cameron: I appreciate your learned observations. Piketty has a newer tome out called Capital and Ideology. I have yet to read it, but he reportedly doubles down on the notion on the critique of contemporary politics as a root cause of civil difficulties and the expansion of wealth of the 1%. I offered that as a model of what can happen if we don't change our macro-cultural ways. Another model is the famous Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire. These are lessons that are being ignored and the wrong people are being put into positions of leadership that cause great harm to society. I applaud those lodges who are encouraging younger members. We must do more in this regard. My point in discussing the demographic gap is that older members have a wealth of knowledge they can use to coach and mentor younger people into the ways of servant leadership. We already have an advantage in closing this gap. It's our young people in Demolay, Rainbow, Jobies. And while I'm at it, let me step into an area that can be blasphemous. How about allowing women to create their own Blue Lodges? They already do it in the UK. OK, I'm going to duck and run because I know the buckshot is coming.
I may be ranging very far afield here, but I continue to think that we, as consumers have a great deal of power. It can be used for good or bad, and I think that when we use it to encourage monopoly (through our spending decisions) we are using it in a bad way.
I think that I can maybe illustrate this easiest, for it is very visible, in expat behavior in Puerto Vallarta Mexico.
Traditionally, Puerto Vallarta has had a mix of supermarkets sized about like ours, and corner stores, also about like ours. These provide a great many jobs for the Mexican people who live and work in the area.
Over the past decades, large number of American expats have moved to the area. This is of course very good for the local people, because those expats generally have far higher levels of disposable income than those who were born in the area. Expat spending in local, Mexican supermarkets and corner markets results in jobs, and when those are Mexican owned, profits being pumped back into the community.
Then Wall Mart and Costco come on the scene. Neither of which is a good corporate actor within Mexico.
Expats in large numbers move their spending to these two corporate giants. That puts local people out of work, and it pulls profits out of the local community.
Expats moved to the area because they prefered what it had to offer over what they had at home. Yet, in large numbers, as soon as they were able to do it, they began replicating their same, earlier, at home behaviors, and as a result will end up creating in their new home what they sought to escape by leaving.
One has to wonder if saving a nickle or even a couple of bucks on a can of coffee is worth the destruction that spending decision has on the place they claim to love so much as to want to intentionally spend their lives there, despite the obvious and not so obvious difficulties of doing so.
I am not an anti-corporate guy, but I think that we must be responsible consumers, and must recognize that our spending decisions have broad impacts within our communities. Not only in the city of Puerto Vallarta of course, but here at home as well.
As for the ladies, there is certainly nothing stopping a group of women from getting together to start a Lodge. It isn't large enough yet to be chartered as a Lodge, but I am aware of a mixed male and female group meeting regularly in Tacoma (pre-Covid) with the intention of eventually applying for a Charter from a mixed obedience.
I'm unaware of any female only group within Washington State, but I do know that there is a female only Lodge in the other Washington, and I sat in on a zoom presentation from the GM of a female only GL in California, that was organized by the Grand Lodge of California.
Doing a quick check on numbers there are about 21,000 people in our State who are homeless at any time, realizing there is a flux with people entering and exiting homelessness at any time. The State prison system has about 16000 adult prisoners. (this is all from a quick search on numbers, I will not swear to them). I found one report that estimated WA prison budget to be about $700 million. Given that with the homeless we are talking about whole families including children, then I can easily imagine a billion dollars annually, So, if we institutionalize the homeless, and assuming they cost about as much as criminals, then we are adding about $1B to the state tax burden. Of course they currently cost us money, so the added amount will be somewhat less. BUT if we assume mental health issues and serious drug use as being more prevalent in the population of the homeless, then it might be more. I don't know.
I have experienced all of the negative behaviors listed here, and understand the disgust. I have also experienced people who were hard working families and had a single event take them out financially. I have also experienced people who are now homeless solely due to mental illness, and no small number of them have been veterans who did not get the care they needed, and many of them have turned to drugs for relief. I do not believe there is a one size fits all reason for the homeless issue, and therefore there is no one size fits all solution.
I would love to sit here secure in the idea I know how to fix this, but I can't do that without ignoring the complexity of the problem and the fact that we are talking about human beings. Whatever is going on, it seems to be getting worse, and I would offer that the homeless camps we see today are the "canary in the mine." Somehow this problem is a side affect of how we are running our society, and it must be something that has changed, as its not been this bad since the depression.
What I think we need is data. We need to know who is homeless, why they are homeless and what keeps them from improving their station. That requires we spend money, and energy to discover what is going on, and to do it with out political bias.
>>"Whatever is going on, it seems to be getting worse, and I would offer that the homeless >>camps we see today are the "canary in the mine." Somehow this problem is a side affect of >>how we are running our society, and it must be something that has changed, as its not been >>this bad since the depression."
I think that this is right. We had, it seems reasonable to say anyway, the same percentage of mentally ill. We had people with serious drug addictions, and all the other things we commonly think of as causing homelessness.
Yet it is not staying the same. It is very rapidly growing worse. At a time that for a great many, affluence is growing.
Don't get me started on permits, overregulation, and land use limitations.
Yep. It has reached a completely ridiculous level.
Understood.
As a small qualifier, I’ve interacted with the homeless population for 30 years as a deputy/detective and my wife was the Executive Director of a homeless teen shelter. It was and is a non-profit organization that has had to scrimp for donations to keep its doors open. As an example of the regulations imposed by the state, is employees of the shelter are required to have a 4 year degree. There aren’t many people with a 4 year degree who want to work for minimum wage.
One issue (of many) that you didn’t mention is the mental health of the homeless population. The longer a person is homeless, the more their mental health deteriorates. I know some become homeless due to their own choices, but others find themselves homeless through forces beyond their control.
Last fall, having been retired for only 8 months, I suffered a TIA (pre-stroke). I was fortunate that it cleared up on its own and only had to spend one night in the hospital. Even with insurance (which is a topic for another time) it has tremendously effected us financially. I can share, as I’m certain other brothers have experienced, the added stress trying to pay additional medical bills on a fixed income. I share this because I just as easily could have been financially bankrupted and found ourselves in a different living arrangement. Those homeless that are there due to forces out of their control quickly lose their self-esteem and if they are employed, quite likely will become unemployed. Where do the homeless bathe or wash clothes? If they have a family, the stress of providing security for them becomes overwhelming and paranoia begins to set in. I believe it should be the government’s responsibility to care for its most vulnerable populations. I don’t believe throwing money at the problem is the answer either.
What can we do as Masons? There are already plenty of agencies involved so we don’t have to start something new. We all own suits we rarely, if ever wear. Could that suit help someone gain employment? Could we hand out pb&j sandwiches one day a week? It’s not going to fix the problem, nothing may, but it’s something.
>>"One issue (of many) that you didn’t mention is the mental health of the homeless >>population. The longer a person is homeless, the more their mental health deteriorates. I >>know some become homeless due to their own choices, but others find themselves >>homeless through forces beyond their control."
I do recognize how mental illness plays into all of this in many cases. I wasn't making an effort to point out all of the things that play into the problem, rather I used the example I did as an attempt to make the point that it is a complex problem, not easily reducible to the most obviously visible factor.
I think that your example about shelter employees being required to have so much education is another perfect example of things that make the problem worse, yet are not readily visible.
I also recognize that it is possible for someone to dig himself out of a situation like this. I know a fellow who did, and I see him often as he does odd jobs around the house for us, and has for a good many years now. But, I know, from watching him, and trying to help as I can (some small part financially by providing him with work, but more importantly, by helping to show him what steps to take) that it took a tremendous amount of effort, and there were many 'two steps forward one step back' kind of situations that he ran into along the way.
There are a lot of assertions in this post.
Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates don't live in seattle, they live in Medina.
When you mischaracterize an issue, then it's never going to be solved. Overwhelmingly, the "homeless" are not there due to rising rents and costs of home ownership. They are there due to drug and alcohol addictions and/or mental health issues. Most refuse treatment. Most don't want to live in shelters or free housing, because of all of the rules attached to them. They don't want jobs. They simply want their next fix.
Are home costs in seattle insane? Yeah, because of geography mostly. That is driving home ownership costs to crazy levels in the surrounding localities because no one can work and live in seattle, which increases traffic. It's somewhat unique. But are the two issues related. No, not really. Solving where to live is the same it was fifty years ago. Young kids, fresh out of high school and without parental support and no means to attend college got together with their friends and rented an apartment they all could afford. You worked your minimum wage job, learned a skill, and increased your income to a point where you could move out on your own. Now, it just may take a while longer. There are plenty of government handouts and assistance for working adults struggling to make ends meet.
But note, I said working adults.
Having to witness the utter filth and behavior of the so-called homeless first hand, I have zero sympathy for the plight they have freely chosen for themselves. Seeing them openly defecation and urinating downtown in the middle of the afternoon in front of everyone, open drug use, selling stolen items like some sort of street corner bazaar, EMT responding to yet another overdose, or worse, the results of an assault, mentally deranged accosting passerbys....it's horrific.
And this is all the fault of the courts, ruling that we can't force these animals into treatment, or to take prescribed medications, or to stop pitching tents on public property. And the elected officials coddle and enable this behavior, all based on what they call compassion, but it's anything but compassion. We spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year just in seattle alone, and the issue is just getting worse. It's not a spending problem. It's not a compassion problem. It's not a legalizing drug issue (which in itself is going to make things 10x worse).
So, as masons, without spending money, or giving compassion, there is nothing we can do, except to try and convince society that the best course of action is to force treatment on these individuals though tough love.
And we don't know real poverty in this country. No one here eats dirt and pebbles to get rid of the gnawing hunger pangs they live with.
WB, I think you’re a bit off the reservation. Forced treatment on animals?
OK, I'll respond to this.
Yes, forced treatment. The left continues to blame Reagan for the current mental health crisis, but it was the courts that caused the damage. The states have been woefully negligent in handling this issue, underfunding mental health facilities to a criminal scale. The drug addicts living on the streets need treatment, but we're denied the ability to get them the treatment they need because of their civil rights, regardless of how their civil rights impact everyone else. It's often said that in order for a junkie to want to seek treatment is when they hit rock bottom, but sometimes rock bottom is when they're dead. Because it is so difficult to involuntarily commit someone to a mental health program to treat their issues, the only avenue for the addicts is to be arrested and forced into it by the courts.
But the leaders of seattle refuse to arrest them, and even if cops do arrest them, the prosecutors refuse to take the case to court. There are documented cases of street people having 40+ arrests, and yet they still walk the streets. We are going to legalize possession, which closes that avenue even further. In short, while it may appear we're being kind and compassionate, we're simply dooming these people to a life of addiction and eventual death. And chances are, they're going to take others with them.
And yes, they are animals. The filth and squalor they live in, without regard to the rest of society, is sickening. They shit everywhere. They leave used needles everywhere. They piss themselves, puke in the gutters, and stink of a mixture of piss, vomit, shit and body odor. They leave trash everywhere they exist. They take up emergency room space by their behavior, denying adequate care for others.
The only real compassionate solution is to have the state create a treatment facility specifically designed to take them in, clean them up, get them life skills, get them off drugs, and help them become something less than a leech on society.
Does that make me heartless? On the contrary, I have more compassion for them because I want to help them, not enable their continued behavior. It's called tough love.
I understand I think where your perspective comes from.
Each Christmas Day, we spend with my Grandparents, both of whom are now in their mid 90's. It's a good day with the family, but with a pretty long drive afterwards. Traditionally we have had Christmas dinner on the farm, then we swing into downtown Seattle for a late dinner in a nice restaurant.
The last time we did that the area was filled with street folks, behaving badly. I was honestly concerned that if we were accosted I would not be able to physically protect my wife and daughters. (Should have been carrying, wasn't) It was not an enjoyable Christmas evening, it was a scary one.
We haven't returned.
So, I do think that I understand your perspective, and I recognize that I do not have to live, work, or recreate in that area.
I am also a firm believer in both prison and mental health treatment. I am a law and order guy, and I think it ridiculous that we are allowing our cities to be torn apart.
That said, I think that it is important to not dehumanize people with our language, even if they dehumanize themselves with their actions, because that has always been a first step towards societies embarking on evil programs. Also important Masonically, given our closing charge.
As for Seattle, I've been reminded a few times recently that these newsletters are now going out to people all over the country and around the world. We have an active commenter from India here now. While certainly true that Medina is the small municipality in which they live, it is a part of the Seattle metropolitan area, and as such a recognizable location that folks who don't live around here will likely know of. I stand by my use of Seattle, despite the fact that their homes are located outside of its city limits.
My comments are colored by Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the 21st Century and I underscore the fact that in a previous life teaching first-year econ students, that economics has a well-deserved moniker of “the dismal science.”
Piketty, a contemporary French economist argues there is a growing concentration of income in the hands of a small economic elite. He makes a powerful case that we’re on the way back to ‘patrimonial capitalism,’ in which the commanding heights of the economy are dominated not just by wealth, but also by inherited wealth, in which birth matters more than effort and talent.
Piketty says, we could see the reemergence of a world familiar to nineteenth-century Europeans; he cites the novels of Austen and Balzac. In this ‘patrimonial society,’ a small group of wealthy rentiers lives lavishly on the fruits of its inherited wealth, and the rest struggle to keep up. As a result, it’s counter-productive to pick on the likes of Gates or Bezos. They just happen to be a handful of people who were doing the right things at the right times that gave them rich rewards. How many of us would not do the same and not feel guilty about those left behind?
It is human nature that as power grows, so does the ego. Ego does nothing to solve societal challenges. Ego fuels upon itself. The Bible tells us the Grand Architect of the Universe must be greater and we must be less. In the parable about the Samarians, Jewish followers cannot fathom why Christ would spend time with a community despised as vile until they realize there are many commonalities that would bring them eventually together.
So it is in today’s global communities.
Until we return to a system that encourages and sponsors upward mobility, the chasm created between the have and have-nots will only grow unabated. Until we create leaders with a heart, nothing will be accomplished.
Our fraternity is counter to this cycle in that we encourage community support and sponsorship. But we must do more and to do more, we must bring new and younger members into our brotherhood. I have heard the average age of Masons in our grand jurisdiction is 65+ years. This does not auger well for developing a new generation of leaders who can make a difference.
Our problems and many and as discussed quite complex.
When we have not only a diversity of opinion but also a diversity of facts, finding common ground can be overwhelming and difficult which is why many seek the emotional and philosophical shelter of Masonry. Compounding the decline in our civilization are elected officials and regulators who are no longer embracing a key mandate of government, protecting our people, and encouraging upward momentum.
In Seattle, all you need to do is drive through the city (during daylight when it’s safer) and see the boarded-up storefronts and armed private security roaming vacant buildings and lobbies.
There are homeless encampments overrunning our local parks and school grounds and the government doesn’t appear to care. As a matter of fact, crime is generally legal in Seattle thanks to a socialist city government, which has given rise to the term “range-free criminals.” Police officers have been neutered and are not allowed to do anything without permission from a feckless city council.
Because Seattle is a population center, the spillover effects influence the well-being of suburban communities, especially in the South Sound.
Throughout modern history, Freemasonry has stood as a beacon of doing right and good in our communities. While there are no easy solutions, it’s incumbent on our fraternity to encourage responsible young people in our midst to take up the mantle of servant leadership. It used to be that public service was a higher calling, a noble profession from which our best and brightest aspired. It is time to do so again so we can have people in positions of influence to do what is right and best for our citizens and communities. This will not happen overnight. And it must demand patience. It has been said that in the face of impossible odds, people who love this country can change it.
Our closing charge sums up how we can be to influence a better society. “Be prudent, diligent, temperate and discreet. Remember that every human being has a claim upon your kind offices.”
The alternative is a devolution into anarchy.
I think that the risk that we become something like pre-revolutionary France is real. I don't think it is inevitable however, or at least I hope that it is not. One thing, we can do, and I think we don't do it enough, is ensure that competition remains vibrant. We don't have to buy every book from Amazon, putting all other booksellers out of business for example. Competition is a great good in society, but as consumers it is largely up to us to see to it that it exists.
It is correct that the average age of Masons in this Jurisdiction is very high. But, many of our Lodges are bringing in younger men, and some are figuring out how to meet the needs of those younger men, and retaining them. Yesterday for example, I participated in a Masonic funeral service. One of the Masons participating with me is in his 20's.
I think, and I hope, that as we learn to provide what these young men need out of Freemasonry, education, mentorship, fellowship, we will attract and retain them. I also think we need to never forget that we can create new Lodges. If an established Lodge doesn't provide these things, well, then we should be encouraging those younger, excited men to start their own.
I also think that Freemasonry can be a school of leadership. We can teach the men who enter our portals how to lead others. I don't think that our current educational materials do that effectively given that they are so tightly focused on the Lodge, but they could be expanded. Additionally, a Lodge could incorporate quality leadership training into its regular educational program. Tremendous resources exist that Lodges could purchase and use. Doing so would of course not only assist the Masons, and the Lodge, but the community as well.
RW Cameron: I appreciate your learned observations. Piketty has a newer tome out called Capital and Ideology. I have yet to read it, but he reportedly doubles down on the notion on the critique of contemporary politics as a root cause of civil difficulties and the expansion of wealth of the 1%. I offered that as a model of what can happen if we don't change our macro-cultural ways. Another model is the famous Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire. These are lessons that are being ignored and the wrong people are being put into positions of leadership that cause great harm to society. I applaud those lodges who are encouraging younger members. We must do more in this regard. My point in discussing the demographic gap is that older members have a wealth of knowledge they can use to coach and mentor younger people into the ways of servant leadership. We already have an advantage in closing this gap. It's our young people in Demolay, Rainbow, Jobies. And while I'm at it, let me step into an area that can be blasphemous. How about allowing women to create their own Blue Lodges? They already do it in the UK. OK, I'm going to duck and run because I know the buckshot is coming.
I may be ranging very far afield here, but I continue to think that we, as consumers have a great deal of power. It can be used for good or bad, and I think that when we use it to encourage monopoly (through our spending decisions) we are using it in a bad way.
I think that I can maybe illustrate this easiest, for it is very visible, in expat behavior in Puerto Vallarta Mexico.
Traditionally, Puerto Vallarta has had a mix of supermarkets sized about like ours, and corner stores, also about like ours. These provide a great many jobs for the Mexican people who live and work in the area.
Over the past decades, large number of American expats have moved to the area. This is of course very good for the local people, because those expats generally have far higher levels of disposable income than those who were born in the area. Expat spending in local, Mexican supermarkets and corner markets results in jobs, and when those are Mexican owned, profits being pumped back into the community.
Then Wall Mart and Costco come on the scene. Neither of which is a good corporate actor within Mexico.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-walmart-fcpa/walmart-to-pay-282-million-to-settle-seven-year-global-corruption-probe-idUSKCN1TL27J
https://corpwatch.org/article/mexico-resolution-calls-costco-cultural-crimes
Expats in large numbers move their spending to these two corporate giants. That puts local people out of work, and it pulls profits out of the local community.
Expats moved to the area because they prefered what it had to offer over what they had at home. Yet, in large numbers, as soon as they were able to do it, they began replicating their same, earlier, at home behaviors, and as a result will end up creating in their new home what they sought to escape by leaving.
One has to wonder if saving a nickle or even a couple of bucks on a can of coffee is worth the destruction that spending decision has on the place they claim to love so much as to want to intentionally spend their lives there, despite the obvious and not so obvious difficulties of doing so.
I am not an anti-corporate guy, but I think that we must be responsible consumers, and must recognize that our spending decisions have broad impacts within our communities. Not only in the city of Puerto Vallarta of course, but here at home as well.
As for the ladies, there is certainly nothing stopping a group of women from getting together to start a Lodge. It isn't large enough yet to be chartered as a Lodge, but I am aware of a mixed male and female group meeting regularly in Tacoma (pre-Covid) with the intention of eventually applying for a Charter from a mixed obedience.
I'm unaware of any female only group within Washington State, but I do know that there is a female only Lodge in the other Washington, and I sat in on a zoom presentation from the GM of a female only GL in California, that was organized by the Grand Lodge of California.
So, I don't think it impossible by any means.
Doing a quick check on numbers there are about 21,000 people in our State who are homeless at any time, realizing there is a flux with people entering and exiting homelessness at any time. The State prison system has about 16000 adult prisoners. (this is all from a quick search on numbers, I will not swear to them). I found one report that estimated WA prison budget to be about $700 million. Given that with the homeless we are talking about whole families including children, then I can easily imagine a billion dollars annually, So, if we institutionalize the homeless, and assuming they cost about as much as criminals, then we are adding about $1B to the state tax burden. Of course they currently cost us money, so the added amount will be somewhat less. BUT if we assume mental health issues and serious drug use as being more prevalent in the population of the homeless, then it might be more. I don't know.
I have experienced all of the negative behaviors listed here, and understand the disgust. I have also experienced people who were hard working families and had a single event take them out financially. I have also experienced people who are now homeless solely due to mental illness, and no small number of them have been veterans who did not get the care they needed, and many of them have turned to drugs for relief. I do not believe there is a one size fits all reason for the homeless issue, and therefore there is no one size fits all solution.
I would love to sit here secure in the idea I know how to fix this, but I can't do that without ignoring the complexity of the problem and the fact that we are talking about human beings. Whatever is going on, it seems to be getting worse, and I would offer that the homeless camps we see today are the "canary in the mine." Somehow this problem is a side affect of how we are running our society, and it must be something that has changed, as its not been this bad since the depression.
What I think we need is data. We need to know who is homeless, why they are homeless and what keeps them from improving their station. That requires we spend money, and energy to discover what is going on, and to do it with out political bias.
Thats my opinion.
>>"Whatever is going on, it seems to be getting worse, and I would offer that the homeless >>camps we see today are the "canary in the mine." Somehow this problem is a side affect of >>how we are running our society, and it must be something that has changed, as its not been >>this bad since the depression."
I think that this is right. We had, it seems reasonable to say anyway, the same percentage of mentally ill. We had people with serious drug addictions, and all the other things we commonly think of as causing homelessness.
Yet it is not staying the same. It is very rapidly growing worse. At a time that for a great many, affluence is growing.