Freemasonry on Good Morning America




"Good Morning America" did a piece on Freemasonry yesterday morning. You can view the video by following this link. The story featured members of the Supreme Council of the 33rd degree Scottish Rite in Washington D.C.

If you ignored the scary music, lurid images, and over the top teasers that GMA ran, the story itself was well balanced and presented the Fraternity in a very positive light. I was especially impressed with how well the two brothers spoke.

My favorite part was when the brother refused to allow the commentator to paint declining membership in the Fraternity as if it were caused by our adherence to tradition. He pointed out, quite clearly, that membership is declining nationwide in all service organizations, period. Apparently the average American has plenty of time to watch 'American Idol' or take their children to fifty soccer matches or swim team practices but can't bring themselves to give a few hours a month back to their community. Do these kids really 'want' to wait five hours or more on a Saturday so they can 'compete' for five minutes in the swimming pool? Maybe you could just take your child to the swimming pool, you know, for fun? It seems to me that half of the time parents are spending enrolling their children in a dozen competitive activities is more for the parent than the child.

Maybe you can just play catch with your own kid, or go bowling together, fly a kite, play disc golf, putt-putt, go-karts, or any of dozens of other activities they would absolutely love to share with their father. Maybe you can even join the 'Big Brothers - Big Sisters' program and share some of that quality time with a young person who doesn't have a father around to spend time with them?

Everyone 'has time' for service organizations. It's just how you choose to use your time; it is a value judgement. You have important decisions to make in regards to how you devote your time, engery, and resources. Something tells me you could miss an episode of 'American Idol', be involved in a service organization, and realize that you didn't 'miss' anything but, rather, gained something much more valuable in your life.

Comments

Widow's Son said…
It's sad that Freemasonry was painted as just another "service organization."
9:14 PM
John W. Ratcliff said…
Hmmm...I don't think they painted it as just a service organization. There were two interviews and in the first one all of the commentary was about how Masonry makes good men better through the rituals.

In the second interview the commentator was trying to say that Masonry was losing membership because it is too archaic for these modern times. The brother defended it by pointing out there was declining membership in all service organizations.

I don't think it's an either or thing, it's definitely both. If you are a Mason and are not carrying the teachings on out into the rest of the community then I think you have really missed a major point.
11:00 PM
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