Robert G. Davis, 33°
PO Box 70, Guthrie, Oklahoma, 73044–0070
bobg@nstar.net
Freemasonry is a means for thoughtfully reexamining the concept of worth in today's society and determining what truly makes someone a hero.
Take any man who comes to mind. Then ask yourself this question: "What is he worth?"
Do we mean what he is worth as a father? As a member of the community? As a member of the Freemasonry or some other organization? Or would we measure his worth as a business partner, a friend, and a human being? Probably, most people asking "What is he worth?" have only one thing in mind, "How much money does he have?"
We live in a materialistic world. Worth is quantified by the type of car a person drives, what country club he belongs to, what type of house he lives in. It sometimes seems our greatest task in life is to outdo our neighbor in appearances. How can we help not wondering or worrying about what we have, where we live, what we wear, or what kind of car we drive? After all, commercialism is bred into us at a very young age. More Americans today own television sets than have indoor plumbing, and the average pre-schooler watches more than 27 hours of TV a week. The typical teenager spends 1.8 hours per week reading, 5.6 hours on homework, and 21 hours each week watching television. He or she will spend all of five minutes talking with Dad (if he is at home) and a whopping 20 minutes with Mom. And that's primarily during meals and while watching TV.
When you consider that we watch an average of 13 hours of commercials each week, trying to sell us everything from designer underwear to CDs and hamburgers, it's no wonder that we think of worth in terms of dollars and things. Disturbingly, recent findings show TV has a greater influence on children than parents, teachers, and religious leaders combined.
The culture of America has lost a proper understanding of and perspective on worth. Commercialism has altered our value system as individuals and as a society. What we need are some different kinds of heroes than what we see on television and in the movies. Maybe we could use a regular dose of nightly news specials about extraordinary examples of human caring and sacrifice. Maybe we should honor those who truly see self-fulfillment as self-denial, or perhaps hand out a few laurels when we recognize our best citizens are those who devote their lives to improving the status of others.
And while we are suggesting such sweeping changes to our collective definition of heroes, maybe we should also introduce Masonry to the world as a vehicle for a thoughtful reexamination of the concept of worth. After all, what the world needs are individuals who make a positive difference in the lives of others. Isn't that the central idea in Masonry, that through the development of our own understanding of unselfishness we are able to utilize our insight, initiative, and effort to make a difference for good in the world?
But whether or not Masonry makes any difference in the big picture, whether or not the Fraternity is seen as relevant and necessary in our culture, whether or not the Craft communicates its message of brotherly love and right thinking to the world—all this depends on us as Masons. Not "Brother George," but me and you in how we live our own lives, in the kind of example we set, in the contribution we make to the lives of others and, most importantly, in how we understand that the teachings of Masonry can directly impact how we live and what we think. Attaining that understanding is our most significant challenge as Masons today.
If we want to make men better men, we must believe that that will really happen when men become Masons. If we want to bring brotherhood to the world, we have to believe brotherly love will be experienced and understood by everyone who enters the Fraternity. If we want the world to be a better place while we are traveling through it, we have to believe we can make a difference in it. If we want people to know Masonry has great value today, we have to believe it is relevant in our own hearts and can be as real in theirs.
Masonry must be more than just ritual. Masonry is a combination of meaning and action that comes from an understanding of our ritual. It is not the words which are important; it is their meanings. Yet we too often teach only the words in Lodge or Temple, and then we expect men to go out in the world and explain what Masonry is. That is the same thing as asking someone with no sense of patriotism to explain the "Pledge of Allegiance." He may be able to recite it, but he cannot communicate by words or actions its true meaning.
Men must come out of the Lodge with the knowledge to explain Masonry as it relates to our society today. It is estimated that less than 8% of the nearly two million Masons in America ever mention Masonry in a conversation outside of Lodge or Temple. The world hasn't heard from us in so long, it is no longer interested or listening. Until we begin to rethink how we connect the value of Masonry to our own time and how we teach Freemasonry to our Brothers in ways relevant to today, we can have little hope that the majority of our members will ever understand Freemasonry or talk about it with non-Masons.
That has been our Craft's greatest loss in this century, and it is a loss we must stop now by redefining what a true hero is. This means reforming, in a non-commercial sense, our concepts of worth as individuals, as Masons, and as Americans.