The old Past Master, a District Deputy Grand Lecturer, was James Castle "J.C." Brown, 32°, Valley of Charlotte, North Carolina. He taught me to confer the Entered Apprentice Degree. He was a great coach and a good friend who helped me understand the importance of excellence in ritual work and, along the way, stressed the importance of being very selective in evaluating men who petitioned for the Degrees.

This has been an exciting year for me as Grand Master, and I've learned a lot from this unique experience. Most of all, I've learned what I always suspected—that there are many, many fine men in our Fraternity. There are top-notch Masons in every Lodge across North Carolina, Masons who give time and effort to their Lodges and support our many charities, including the Masonic Home for Children at Oxford and the Masonic and Eastern Star Home in Greensboro. They are active in their houses of worship, their communities, and their Lodges. They are an example of what good men should be. They understand and practice the philosophical truths found in Masonry.

I shook the hand of many of these Masons this year. They invariably had a smile on their face, a sense of excitement about our great Fraternity, and humility regardless of their position in the Fraternity or their community. They were good men and true—tolerant, full of love and respect for their fellowman, and ready to overlook the shortcomings of others. Thank God we have these men who make up the core of our organization. They fill leadership roles, cook our meals, work at our fund-raisers, do the yard work at the Lodge, visit the widows and those who are ill, coach our candidates, encourage us when we're down, and give us role models to fashion ourselves after.

I've met some other men this year, too—members but not Masons. It's not hard to pick them out. They attend few if any meetings. They give little of themselves or their means to Masonic charities. They invariably have a frown or pained expression on their faces. They never encourage, but do discourage. They invest little time in their families, house of worship, or community. They are concerned primarily with themselves. They ignore the sick, the needy, their fellow Masons. They believe it better to receive than to give. They have little or no idea what Masonry is all about. They have no conception of tolerance and hold bitter, deep hatred for some of their fellowmen. Thank goodness these members are in the minority, but there are many, more than I ever imagined.

Every Lodge has members who don't belong in its fold. In this period of declining membership, we almost become giddy with the prospect of a petition for membership being submitted. I fear we sometimes rush to the conclusion that this petitioner is a good man who wants to be a better man. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Some Lodges have taken seriously the provisions of the Masonic code concerning prospective members. They are very selective, and the investigation committee does a thorough investigation, never shortcutting the process. That's the way it is supposed to happen. We want to start with good men and help them become better men. Masonic Lodges are not reformatories. We don't want to start with bad men and attempt to make them good.

We need more Masons, not more members. To accomplish this we need to be diligent in our investigation of prospective candidates for Masonry. My dad used to say that he'd rather have one ten-dollar-an-hour man than three three-dollar-an-hour men. It was his way of pointing out that quality is much more important than quantity. It's that way in our Fraternity. The Masons we have will outwork any number of members. Their quality as men makes the difference.