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Paying My Dues
I paid my 2007 Scottish Rite dues the other day. By the simple fact of renewing my membership for another year, I affirmed several truths important to me.
First, I believe in the Scottish Rite and its vital message for men in this century. We live in a world where the nightly news brings tidings of war, bloodshed, violence, and greed. We have become desensitized to the panorama of man’s inhumanity to man. When I read my newspaper or tune to the twenty-four hour cable news outlets, I see yet another horror story of a vile and repugnant act by someone somewhere, and I wonder if perhaps the whole world has gone off-balance and destruction is sure.
I paid my dues the other day because Masonry transcends the turmoil and noise of the world.
Masonry says there is a better way to live, a nobler path to follow, and a higher cause to be served. From the time the would-be Apprentice first knocks at the door of his lodge to the point when he is deemed a Master of the Royal Secret in the Thirty-Second Degree, the path his feet tread continuously turn him toward that nobler path, toward Light. It is a Light that shines in every man if he would but seek it, a Light that illuminates the depths of his soul as he contemplates the mysteries of the ages. This is the work that we are about—the giving of Light to a darkened world.
I paid my dues the other day because I believe in our mission.
Second, I believe in the great philanthropic mission of the Scottish Rite and all Masonic charities. Have you ever seen the tears spilling from the eyes of a mom or dad as they tell yet again how they first heard “I love you, Mommy” from the lips of their child as a result of Scottish Rite language therapy? Have you ever met a youngster too busy reading to stop and talk, and that it was only possible because he overcame the debilitating effects of dyslexia? Or a child benefiting from Shriners Hospital care? Or vision repaired through the generosity of our York Rite brothers? Or seen the pride on the face of the college graduate as she crosses the stage to claim her diploma on graduation day as a result of a Scottish Rite scholarship?
I paid my dues the other day so the work might continue.
In Masonry we find something bigger than ourselves. It’s easy for me to take a somewhat provincial view of the Craft and to not look beyond my Blue Lodge, my Scottish Rite Valley, my Temple, Chapter, Council, or Commandery. And yet, I know us to be a worldwide Fraternity of men united by obligations assumed and pledged to a common brotherhood. I think of those places, large and small, ornate and plain, where I have gathered about an open Bible as the Craft resumed its labor. Places such as Brazil, Denmark, Spain, Australia, France, Canada, and Mexico and the many places in the United States come quickly to mind. I see the faces of men—my brothers—who stretch forth their hands in fraternity and brotherhood. Moreover, I think of the many thousands of men that I shall never meet but who nonetheless are my brothers. I have learned of Masonry as a fraternity not limited by national boundaries, political persuasion, or religious ideology.
I paid my dues the other day and am proud to be accepted as a member in such a brotherhood.
My Scottish Rite Valley, perhaps, is nothing special, indistinguishable from the many other Valleys in the Southern Jurisdiction. But to me, it’s very special. It’s home. It’s my starting point. The building where I became a Master of the Royal Secret in the Scottish Rite so many years ago is the same place where I was raised as a Master Mason. And that tall gangly kid over there? Well, that’s me a few years earlier when I joined DeMolay as a fourteen-year old in that same place. I can see the faces of many men who were there all along the way, many of whom now bless me only in spirit. Here I found men who believed in me and who still do. Wise and good men who were willing to show me how to live, what makes a man, and how to choose wisely in matters great and small. I knocked three times upon a closed door, and the men who answered have been with me ever since. And it’s my singular honor to be with them.
Oh yes, I paid my dues the other day. What are you going to do?
