The concept of receiving something for nothing is typical of American culture today. On any given day, our mailboxes provide pre-approved credit cards with a low, teaser rate or offers of free Internet access. At night, the long-distance companies incessantly badger us with sales calls, offering a new per-minute rate that seems to drop with each new offer. And when was the last time a bank advertised a checking account that wasn't free?

Our capitalistic economy dictates that companies continually grow and expand by tapping into new markets of consumers, ready to spend their money freely. The barrage of sales pitches and free offers are merely marketing efforts directed at finding those consumers and enticing them to spend. The theory behind the tactics is so fundamentally a part of the culture and society we live in that, after a while, we begin not to appreciate anything of value, but to expect it—free. This expectation appears to be spilling over to Masonry itself.

Debates currently rage over whether or not to end prerequisite membership in the Scottish Rite or York Rite to become eligible for Shrine membership. Blue Lodges wrestle with whether or not to perform all three Degrees at once without the benefit of a candidate learning the lectures. Others deliberate over eliminating Blue Lodge memberships altogether as a prerequisite to membership in any Appendant Body.

Each is entitled to his own opinion in these debates, and compelling arguments exist on all sides, but the very nature of the arguments themselves is bottom-line oriented. They are not debates over the true ideals and morality contained in Masonry, but conjecture on statistical results—namely membership numbers. I'm sure that very few are pleased about our severe declines in the membership of the Masonic Bodies, and I offer no advice on which direction is the best way to travel to remedy the situation. However, I have learned that the teaser rate on my credit card expires; my telephone bill is within a few dollars either way, whichever long-distance company I am currently with; and the bank always invents a new service charge to compensate for my "free" checking account.

In other words, businesses have learned to coax individuals into spending more with the decoy of an offer to spend less. The individuals lured by the offers have actually given up more of their money and value in the end. So it is with the lure of effortless Masonic membership. By skipping many meaningful Degrees, lessons, and lectures along the way, in the final tally our true value has been diminished.

R. Nick Remy was raised a Master Mason in September 1998 in Blocher Lodge No. 247, Booneville, Arkansas, and became a Scottish Rite Mason in October 1998, receiving his Degrees by communication in the Western Arkansas Consistory of Ft. Smith, Arkansas. He is a member of the Amrita Grotto of Ft. Smith; the Ft. Smith Shrine Club of Scimitar Temple; and Booneville Chapter No. 110 R.A.M. in Booneville. A member of the Booneville Rotary Club, he works for his family's L.P. gas business in Booneville, and his wife of three years, Jennifer, is a Licensed Practical Nurse for an eye clinic in Ft. Smith, Arkansas. We are pleased to note Bro. Remy's newest son, Robert Nicholas, was born on May 19, 2000.