Friends in Masonry

Its funny who you think your friends are, dont you think? Masonry is very much like your regular life, you have good friends and bad guys who you love to gossip about, but what I have learnt through masonry is a better tolerance of people and their whims, faults and foibles. Compared to before masonry, my tolerance would have been a zero, I would have told them exactly how I felt and excluded them from my life, now I still say how I felt but underneath there is an attempt at understanding the differences and making an effort to understand for the benefit of everyone so that harmony reigns in the lodge. It might seem like I argue with everyone and people that know me, would agree I can argue for England, but you must all have noticed a difference. My problem is Im pretty black and white, there shouldn’t be shades of grey to a decision it is right or wrong and live or die by the decision. If you make a considered opinion, it is wrong to back away from it. I guess this is what we would call lodge politics and I am not very good at it. In fact, Im happy being out of it, as you get higher up the lodge, the politics involved will be more interesting. 

So our lodge is pretty unusual in that the ages seem to be bridged very well, and people have an interest in others, there doesnt seem to be any bitterness, of course there are squabbles, that happens in every lodge where people want to express an opinion. I learnt early that it was impossible to please every person, especially at the festive board there is always someone who greatly resents the decisions.

Friends in masonry are made through the ritual and time spent together but the greatest time of all is at the official festive boards. Or, the meal after the meeting. Self development is extended here as you gradually learn to do toasts and present to many people. Toasts are taken and, honestly sometimes ruin a good meal, much like when you are the best man at a wedding, you never get to enjoy the food because of worrying about the speech after.

No matter what happens in life you can be pretty certain that the people you befriend in masonry will rush to be there throughout your difficult times in life and for the rest of your life. I liken this to the piece “Footsteps in the Sand” which was my mum’s favourite piece to affirm her faith. Those masons will be there helping to carry you through the bad times. The truly remarkable thing is, that even the people who are not close friends are still there to be helped and we do! That is a brotherhood that has stood the test of time and why I love it.