Sunday Search: Getting Involved

I have always been a firm proponent of getting involved. I don’t simply join something to be a member. At the same time, I also believe that if you want to learn you have to be active and pursue that knowledge to the best of your ability. This is the mentality that I had when I joined Rotary, when I submitted my petition to my Masonic lodge, and when I first submitted my application to join the Sons of the American Revolution. This past week I continued to live up to those personal expectations when I left the office a little early so that I could make it to my chapter’s executive committee meeting.

I simply don’t understand how many people can join an organization and not have any understanding of how it works. This was the best opportunity for me to get involved right away and try to educate myself regarding the process that are in place, how the chapter works, and what the plans are for the future. By the end of the evening, the meeting had well exceeded my expectations and I now feel confident that I will have a fairly broad base of knowledge regarding the organization in the very near future… more than what I learned from the fire hose on Monday night.  

Additionally, my fellow compatriots were eager to educate me and help me to get involved right away. With so many positions open in the coming year, and now with a better understanding of the requirements for each, I volunteered to step in where needed (and so long as they are comfortable with me in that particular office). After all, we all have an understanding of the importance of our heritage and family history and by putting ourselves out there and being a part of something greater than ourselves, we add our own intricacies to that history.

Of course, given the nature of this organization in particular, it is even more important for me to be involved. We served to honor the memories of our ancestors and we must continue to be involved in uncovering as much as we can about their lives and do our best to discover other patriots in our family tree so that we can honor them in the same way. I guess you could say that I am already involved and this is only the most recent means by which I can continue to unravel some of the mysteries in our genealogical story.

Committees And Headlines

At the beginning of the year the lodge basically conducted an overhaul of the building committee with some help from the District Deputy Grand Master. More than anything else, it was done as a means to both streamline the process and add some additional transparency to the decisions being made and options explored. It is an undertaking to say the least and I am grateful to the brothers that are making this happen and getting things in line for the improvements that need to be made to the building.

This past week was the first meeting of this relaunched committee and given the fact that I haven’t heard anything over the past few days, I am glad that this process is under way. But, this new endeavor brings to light an important lesson for the lodge as a whole. Each and every one of us needs to be involved on some level. Some will be officers, committee members, and mentors while others need to be involved by just showing up. It all begins with the stated and extra meetings of course but we also need brothers to be present at committee meetings such as the one that was just held.

And we also need to take things a step further and simply communicate with one another. The lodge needs to communicate with members and members should talk with one another. Not just about the business at hand but also enjoy the company and fellowship offered to you by your brothers. We are a fraternal family and we should take a vested interest in our fellow brothers, help them, work with them (inside the lodge and professionally), support them always, and, when needed, protect one another.

The recently thwarted attack in Milwaukee is something of which we should all be aware. A radical Muslim man was planning on attacking the Humphrey Scottish Rite Masonic Center believing that he would be doing G-d’s work. And the sad thing is that there are many in this world that believe that they would be doing G-d’s work should they cause harm to freemasonry. While not as extreme as this recent threat, there are many groups, predominantly “Christian”, that wish to see the demise of freemasonry. It is odd to me not just because of the venomous nature of their words and planned actions but because we, as brothers, welcome all faiths with the common bond of a belief in a Supreme Being, a belief in G-d.

But, rest assured, there is more light in a single lodge than darkness in this world spewing hate in our direction. And, for me, I can promise that I will defend my faith, my family, my fraternity, and myself against such evil not with violence but by continuing to make good men better including myself. By supporting one another, the lodge, our fraternity, and the community as a whole we can ensure our success and that the light of freemasonry remains bright in this word. This is how we win. 

It All Begins With A Discussion

Since I had to leave the lodge earlier than expected last Thursday I was unable to sit down and get to know a petitioner that I had arranged to meet with during dinner. Thankfully things have since calmed down and the evening worked in everyone’s schedule so I was able to set aside the time last night and finally have a great conversation with our new petitioner. This is the first step, the most important step in my opinion, which is too often overlooked which is a shame because for me it is the most enjoyable part of the process. There is nothing like seeing that fascination and anticipation in the eyes of a candidate.

That was only the first of many productive conversation that I was able to have last night with various brothers as attendance at this particular fellowship was the highest that it has been in some time and a welcome sight for sure. Once the candidate was on his way, I soon transitioned to coordinating a few items with the Worshipful Master. There are a number of additional items that need to be included in the notice and some paperwork that needs to be prepared for the next meeting that I really don’t want to fall behind on. Ten minutes of productive dialogue is sometimes all it take to ensure that projects will be done on time.

And while it was great to meet with a candidate and have a petition in hand to read at the next stated meeting, I was greeted with an additional surprise when a seconded completed petition was discovered in my folder. However, this one came with a few questions and so my next conversation was with the first line signer of the petition. There are a few questions that still remain but there is a plan in place to address any and all concerns that I have moving forward so while there may be an additional step in the process it is a rather simple solution.

My final interjections for the evening was with a few of the other brothers who had convened to discuss the upcoming building committee meeting. There are a lot of projects that need to be undertaken both immediately as well as a few years from now and the list that was reviewed reflected exactly that dilemma. It will actually be interesting to see how this upcoming meeting is run as the roles overlap significantly with some of the other responsibilities of other brothers in the lodge namely the Trustees. I am hoping that this can be resolved quickly so that each can move in the right direction… the same positive direction that the membership is moving in.

So, while I may have missed the stated meeting last week and there are undoubtedly a number of things that I am still missing, I managed to get up to speed on just about everything that needed to be taken care of this week. It won’t be long now before the next meeting is upon us and then it will be back to the monthly routine. In the meantime, I am sure that there will be plenty of discussions, debates, and projects started. It is going to be a busy year but the good kind of bust this time around.