C. Fred Kleinknecht, 33°
Sovereign Grand Commander

May is a special time here in Washington, D.C. The city is filled with public gardens, and May brings more colors and patterns than one can imagine. Spring flowers gentle the urban environment and contrast with the official Washington architecture which can sometimes overwhelm. There are lessons in equilibrium here as profound as any taught in the Rite.

But, beautiful and satisfying as they are, the public gardens are not my favorites. Stroll down the streets around the House of the Temple, located in a largely residential section of the capital, and you see small, private gardens on every hand. In addition, there is the Temple’s own beautifully landscaped garden and the land behind the Temple, the annual use of which we donate as a community outreach to our nearby residents. In small, attractive plots, many of the Temple’s neighbors nurture herbs, vegetables, and flowers.

Houses are narrow here, usually the width of two modest rooms, and buildings often touch each other, so there are no side yards. But each house usually has a small, carefully tended front garden. Most incorporate walls or rock formations where every nook and cranny is planted. If the great public gardens and monuments of Washington, D.C., teach a lesson of equilibrium, these small private gardens reflect an even more important lesson of Masonry: fraternalism.

We are, after all, a fraternity. We call each other “Brother,” and that word should not be lightly spoken. If we forget fraternalism, the special care we give each other, there is little point in whatever else we may do. We may fund great charitable enterprises, but if we fail to treat each other as Brothers, our charity is hollow. We may study the great philosophies of the ages as represented in our ritual, but if we fail the test of friendship, we have accomplished little.

What does it mean to be fraternal, to treat a Brother as a Brother? It means we take the time and trouble to care. It means we are at least as concerned about his welfare as we are of our own. A selfish Mason is a contradiction in terms. If we treat a Brother as if he were just another man on the street, we have missed the point of Masonry.

It takes time and effort to plant and tend the private gardens of the homes around the House of the Temple. But the homeowners give their gardens daily attention in order to create beauty in their lives and the lives of others. It also takes daily time and effort to be fraternal. It means writing a note of congratulation or of sympathy to a Brother when life rewards his efforts or strikes him with sorrow. It means caring how he feels and doing your best to make those feelings pleasant. Fraternalism is like those rock gardens where beauty is the result of attention and determination.

If we lose fraternalism, we will lose Freemasonry. I fear there is risk of that. The pressure of modern life is against fraternalism—even though surveys tell us that fraternalism is one of the greatest needs and desires of men today. But life moves faster and faster. There are more and more demands on our time. It’s easy to postpone the act of fraternal kindness until another day—which never comes. We tend to rely on government programs to take care of the needs of others. But government can never meet emotional needs, and having these needs met is essential to a happy and productive life.

Look for personal ways to be a Brother, the small gestures and words of kindness which make so big a difference. Little things count. That has always been the “secret” of Freemasonry. If we practice fraternalism, Freemasonry will grow. No building, no matter how magnificent, is as permanent and powerful as an act of fraternalism. With determination, we can make fraternalism—and the Scottish Rite—grow in every nook and cranny.