Apologies for the missing week. I started a new position with the Commonwealth of Virginia two weeks ago and it has been a firehose of meetings and information as I dive into a project that looked simple when offered, the reality is….well, I’m sure those of you who have or do work for state-level agencies can imagine.
I want to share a real-world example of what I mean when I say we need to do a much better job at caring for our distressed Brothers and fellow Knights, as well as their wives, widows, and orphans. Over the past couple of weeks, I was able to practice what I preach. I hope you will find this inspirational enough to seek out ways to do likewise.
About 46 years ago, while attending prep school in Indiana, I met a young lady back home while on vacation. Pam and I started dating through my senior (her junior) year of high school and for a while while I was starting college. As young love often does, we stopped dating and over time lost touch with one another. However, while we were dating, she and her brothers became good friends with my sister and I.
Fast forward 40-some years and the miracles of Facebook. I was able to reconnect with Pam’s brother, Glenn, who in the time since we first met just happened to have become a Mason, too. It didn’t take long to reconnect with Pam, whom I learned was happily married with kids and grandkids, too (and that is a good thing). Glenn was, and still is, dealing with health issues, and in time moved into a skilled care facility in Georgia, not far from his sister in Tennesee. That’s where our story comes into play.
I recently saw a Facebook post by Pam that her brother Glenn’s iPad died and he needed a new one in order to have access to audio books, email, and such. It was especially important to him because in addition to having lost a leg, he had lost his vision recently.
I talked with Pam and got some basic information from her regarding Glenn’s physical location, home Lodge, and some other basics. I then contacted a dear brother from Georgia with whom I went to high school and just happened to install his lodge officers one year he was Master. Since Jim was in Georgia and had a lot of connections, I asked him to help me connect Glenn with a local lodge for some short-term help while I tracked down his home lodges in Tennesee and Illinois. While Jim was working on that, I was lucky and reached his home lodge secretary in Illinois. They knew Glenn was in residential care and had lost a leg, but didn’t know about his vision issues. Within a couple of hours, the secretary had spoken with Pam, updated the Lodge on Glenn’s needs, and had a new iPad on order and being shipped to him directly.
Meanwhile, Glenn’s Tennesee lodge brothers, being near the Georgia-Tennesee line, jumped into action and made sure a few brothers were set to visit Glenn on a rotating basis, just because they wanted to keep his spirits up and let them know they cared about him, too.
I let my brother Jim know we had the iPad covered, but if the lodge near Glenn had any brothers in that home or nearby, I’m sure he’d appreciate a visit. Now, Jim’s tending to that issue.
My Fratres, this is what we as Freemasons should be doing all the time. We are called to care for all, recommended more especially to the household of the faithful. As Templars, our charity and care is to extend ever further–to the widow, maiden, and orphan. In this case, a simple Facebook post resulted in not only help getting to a brother in need, but both of his lodges getting an update on him, his sister being contacted (thus establishing a connection with a family member), and a group of brothers making sure Glenn was not totally alone in his current situation, just as he was not alone as a poor, blind candidate for the mysteries of our Fraternity.
I hope this experience inspires you, too, to step up and take a step to help a brother in need as well. Of all the players in this situation, I knew but 3 of them-Glenn, Pam, and Jim. But, I now have contacts with brothers in at least 2 other lodges and have been part of helping them, and others, practice what we teach and vow to do.
As your next Deputy Grand Master, I can assure you that I will do everything possible to make this experience become the norm in our Order, so that we can continue to do the work for which we were founded and called, and by that work people see the work of God in the world and bring glory to Him.
I appreciate your time and would also appreciate your support and vote to be the next Deputy Grand Master when we gather in Conclave in August 2024.