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Utilize the teachings of Freemasonry to unlock the greatness within each of us I have you now all right welcome back to on the level podcast thank you for having me brother today we have a very very special guest you’ve heard him once before uh you heard him when he was
In you were installed master of your Lodge I think is when we had you on yes no Grand Lodge that Grand Lodge that’s right we were both masters of our lodges I think at the time uh this is Timothy worshipful Timothy Fon welcome back Timothy good to have you well thank
Thank you worshiper Burns right really happy about that which means you’ll have all the titles soon brother uh yeah TR AR to learn that that twetter word the best I can but uh the secret word of a Master Mason you know the long lost word yeah yeah I’ll do it
Yeah yeah hey T turns into yeah yeah you have a new title right I mean you uh you’re now yeah what’s your new title I am the personal rep for the executive officer for District 5 in deay which encompasses District 23 of mic District wise the districts are a little different so who
Do you report to Jody the executive officer yep Jody Jody Maguire the executive officer mire that’s worful Jody Maguire actually we’re gonna go there yeah wor he was the master of Hillsboro L right number 25 what an awesome Lodge man it’s a great lodge I mean that’s what freem lodges look like
Yeah I agree if we could all get the faux finish done and make the whole place look like a temple like that everywhere that would be awesome do yourself a favor and go uh Google Hillsboro lodge number 25 that’s in Florida and you will see a a two-story Lodge that has the dining
Actually three stories I think the dining hall is downstairs and the main floor like a foyer kind of a deal and upstairs they have the billiard Hall and the actual Lodge itself uh another layer I think it’s got a second story on the on the lodge level there’s like rafter seatings up
There I can’t get over the offices they have there the worful master actually has an office the secretary actually has an office it’s not just a closet in the back of the lodge that you hide away in yeah my Lodge has it’s the secretary’s office the Master’s office
Is where the secretary puts the scrap like there’s no right for the master to sit in there and do anything right I mean not that I don’t know I didn’t really need one when I was I mean I had to sign stuff for the secretary you know
But it all goes back to the secretary so it’s like I didn’t really need a anything like that my my routine was I’d get there early I’d go in the secretary’s office what do you need me to sign sign sign sign and then I never
Step foot in there again for the rest of the night yeah um in our law just where we keep a lot of things like uh before we started putting them in the play case like ritual books and uh catechism instru in uh the mentor manuals and all
That kind of stuff so I would have to go in there for that uh but with exception of that yeah a couple of things I got to sign and that’s it you uh well I have to say you’re the first person that has been a repeat guest on the podcast we’ve
Never ever had somebody on a second time as a guest yeah why well I mean I’ll answer that because there’s a very good reason for it you are one of the best examples I know of what a Mason should be uh I don’t know about that but I
Appreciate the cou that’s for me to say and you to take it okay take it just take it uh because I observe I’m an observer um I’m somebody who grew up like the only Mo male in the household and you know we moved around all the time so I really develop people
Watching skills and it’s one of the skills that served me well in masonry because because I could pretty quickly identify who is what um with some rare exceptions I might have been wrong because I wanted something I wanted somebody to be something maybe they weren’t that you saw you wanted to see
Something in them that just wasn’t there yeah that that I’m not gonna say that didn’t happen but oh by and large um it served me really well and and you were somebody that I watched from afar for a while we didn’t really have a whole lot
Of dealings with each other until we got close to being Masters together the very end of our senior Warden year like uh and honestly though but even then it was only you know conversations a couple of times or whatever not it’s not like we were calling each other or
Anything until pretty much right after we were installed I guess yeah and then we had like a year where we LED our district really you and I led our district let’s be honest I mean no one wants to say that out loud and I’m not saying it to be cocky it’s just what
Happened we we really rallied um the other Masters together and even our members together uh you convinced me to come to the uh esoteric nights that that you were already doing in your I convinced you to host it even I mean it wasn’t very hard to convince you though
It was like Hey we’re doing this thing and you’re were like oh I wanted to do that well why don’t we both do it it was like yeah why not you guys had the better the better formula for the night and I just had you know people that were
Actually showing up to it we just needed to come together so we could build it even more I think is what the thing was we just took ideas from each other and made it what it is actually we just had one Saturday it wasn’t super well attended but we probably had I don’t
Know 10 or 11 Brothers there it was we had a great conversation was awesome like to most people that would be awesome attendance to have 10 or 11 guys show up just to talk about masonry on an off night not at a lodge that’s right we
Got spoiled by last year because we had 28 guys coming that’s where we grew into man like right yeah and I knew this one was wasn’t going to be the same as what we ended it at because it’s the first one of the year we got to get everybody
Back used to doing it we already have the second one planned um I know a couple people have conflicts but you know it was the only day that worked in March um for most of us I guess but no man it actually it was really really good we actually used your topic that
You brought up which was officers um Lodge officers duties except for it didn’t get a whole lot into that it more delved into um I told you you wouldn’t to be an officer or not to be an officer you know what I mean what the The Perks
Of Being of getting in the officer line getting involved that way versus not and uh it was good so those of you in District 23 March 30th we’re having the next exoteric discussion I encourage you to come out at some point I’ll I’ll convince him to record these sessions
And we’ll put them online for other people to see probably heavily edited because there’s drinking and uh I mean I’ve seen we wouldn’t do that we had one where uh one of the younger guys who wasn’t as experienced that having some cocktails was oh my
Gosh a little messy uh by the end of the night and if that was on video he would not approve no yeah so you know you got to be careful about that kind of stuff but even that but at the same time if you’re going to do that if you’re going to get
A little out of hand there was not a better Environ for that to have happened nobody was going to let that guy drive home and nobody was going to let him get himself in any kind of situation where he would have been a danger to himself
Or somebody else nope um he might have emotionally scarred one of my dogs for life but other than that he did spend quite a bit of time on the floor with he dog me actually wasn’t on the floor it was in the grass backyard was healthy they were just
Playing but you know right right no it was fun I’m glad he had a good time glad he had a good time he did I drove him home that night and we stopped to get I had had a Tesla I have a Tesla so I stopped to charge real quick because I
Wasn’t going to make it home and I turned around and and there he was about to pee uh he was trying to like hide it so he was like but I’m like bro bro stop stop stop do not pee on the electrical machine how about you go right over
There he was like oh thank you so much like no that’s the last thing we need death by Tesla urin so but we have a great time you know um and if it ever got off course we managed to get ourselves back on track it was I really missed those uh those meetings
And I’m gonna make it back for more dude everybody was like what Chris isn’t coming like no he’s not gonna make it everybody was like are you serious yeah no not so much man I was leaning on you I was looking forward to just having you run the damn
Thing yeah I’m tired of things man I’m just here running a podcast now in my in my uh little Studio it’s awesome you know I wanted to have you back as the first repeat guest because like I said you Tred to slip out of this
One but I’m not going to let you you were uh I observed you and you were really a great Masid um in my eyes and that was before he became the master and it looked like you were doing everything for the right reason to meet from the
Outside looking in and then once we started working together I got the clear picture that you are the real deal you are an actual like what it Mayon supposed to be um and you’re really trying hard to help other people and uh you know we had crazy years because we
Were trying to help everybody that we could I know you traveled to other districts to do degrees um that year and I was traveling to other districts repeatedly for various things um we really tried to just show what leadership should look like it’s it’s true servant leadership is what we tried
To I think Express in our year and uh and and that you’re stronger together right well my biggest thing was 90% of the job is showing up if you could just show up and actually be involved that’s I mean that that’s more than what most of the Masons do yeah you
Know if you say you’re going to have an event go to it you know if there’s an event in the district that you want you keep saying you want to go support things well go go do it that’s I I told the guys behind me like this isn’t like
Any other chair you’ve had where you can just show up for the meeting and and then go home this is like going to be a essentially a full-time job for you uh you should be at all the degrees you should be at all the mastermation association meetings you should attend
Every installation you can get to you should try to go to other degrees in your District if you can and bring as many guys as you can with you this is a full-time job this is not a joke to be the master of a lot uh and I don’t know
How effective I was and drilling that into them but one can hope that something got through uh we are we actually I created little docs to give it to so they can distribute it around year after year of what to expect and uh how to prepare because everyone L more
Organized right like but how no one ever told me how they were just like you got to get ready you got to make your plans and I’m like what what does that even mean and then the biggest thing I got was uh your installation plan for your put money aside for your installation
You gotta and that’s like pretty much most of the advice I got from the Past Masters about installation for those that aren’t Masons or haven’t been in the officer line uh the master at least in our district the master the who’s about to be installed plans his own
Installation uh it’s like planning your own wedding I guess sort of yeah so you got to figure out like the food and you got to figure out the music and is somebody gonna sing the natural L like you got to figure all this stuff out and uh coordinate with God knows how many
People to get it done you know there’s probably there’s got to be 20 guys easy that are involved in an installation from the officers being installed to the Past Masters that are sitting in their chairs to the installing officer and the Marshall like there there probably good 20 guys easy
Yeah yeah right about 20 it’s no joke and my biggest concern was the food yeah yeah well that was the biggest thing for me you don’t want people to not you know have a good time right right and if you’re gonna you know expect people to
Show up to an event like that for a couple hours um the least you can do is speed them in my opinion right you know yeah they’re gonna sit through your boring installation at least you can right right yeah I mean and you make it
As little as uh I guess as less boring as possible but um I mean at the end of the day we were at each other’s installations you were at mine and I was yeah we got uh we got pinned as illuminatti at yours oh my God that’s
Right I shared uh I I was I shared photos from my installation and there was a nice candid photo somebody took of me and Tim having a just a private chat after the installation just I don’t know who took it but it was a pretty good
Photo of us just chatting and uh it couldn’t have been like a month later I saw an ad for the Illuminati and it had used our photo as if we are the Illuminati and I was like I just thought that was hilarious everyone was so upset
They were like you got to get him to take it down this and that I’m like this is great what are you talking about proves how much BS this is this whole Illuminati thing is a bunch of BS they don’t even do anything they’re just stealing pictures from the internet and
Making it look like they’re doing stuff it’s man how many messages do you get from the Illuminati I can’t tell you how many I’ve got from from crazy wacka do saying you know join for the cause or whatever it’s yeah it’s crazy seems to be all about getting rich all the
Messaging I get is like get rich you know yeah earn more money God I don’t know but you know here you are second time and now you’re the personal representative uh in in zone five district five for deole yeah District Five for deole and uh we’ve never on
This show talked about any kind of a pendant body or outside organ organization other than traditional blue Lodge masonry I mean we’ve mentioned Scottish W and York right stuff but we’ve never really in Motor Corp I think last time I was on we talked little bit
About Motor Corp but you know yeah that was just a wormhole we got down somehow or another like a rabbit Trail maybe we for five minutes but this is the first time I thought you know you’re the guy now um in our area uh for Deo and so I
Thought it’d be great because I um wasn’t in deole myself um I was not a leader in deole for about 10 minutes I was the chapter adviser of a chapter but U I didn’t get a whole lot of experience um so you know I’ve done research and I thought it’d be
Great to have you on because a lot of people listen to the show that aren’t Masons um and so I always try to keep that in mind and even people that are masons a lot of new guys probably don’t know about deole people that were raised with like within the first 12 months
They have never even they may not even know their Lodge has a Deo chat uh so I thought it would be worthwhile to have a chat with you about deole specifically it’s a great subject to be honest I mean I am a senior deay I can
You talk enough to be one of about your background in deay like how it impacted your Masonic career um I was eight years old when I was introduced to deay my older brother started a uh well was a charter member of Lake Suter chapter in Eustace Florida
Um and I was I mean back then I thought it was so cool with the gavel and The Capes and all the candies going on and off and I thought it was all cool um so I showed up to everything I was at every fundraiser they had every cleanup they
Had I mean anything I could be at I I was I almost actually joined early when I was 11 a couple of months because there was a conclave and my birthday was in like you know two months after conclave and they almost just let me just go ahead and join that conclave but
Then it didn’t enough happen so what is conclave conclave is basically it’s a Convention of um that deay puts on once a year it’s basically it’s a week long well five day long event where the boys just have a good time they there’s Sports competitions there’s ritual competitions there are delegate sessions
Where the young men vote on their own legislation for what uh you know what they want to do and and uh who they want to to run their uh who who they want to be officers and and things and some of that’s changed over the years too some
Of it boys have a little less say the executive officer now appoints certain things just because of some things didn’t work out so they had to change around um but also uh yeah I mean it’s a pretty cool just to have five days in a hotel room with your buddies throughout
The state that was like the best memories I had in dbla was was a conclave because you know even when you weren’t in the competition and stuff you’re still spending a you know a week just about at a nice hotel with you know a bunch of teenagers that you get along
With hopefully you know so who pays for that so the chapters pay for it so they have to fundraise for it throughout the year so that you know because it’s it’s not cheap either it’s close to 400 bucks a kid 350 a kid depends on how many kids
Are in a room wow but uh it’s pretty expensive so if the chapter doesn’t do a good job at fundraising well then you know each member is out of pocket or they have to look for a spons sponsorship or or otherwise like that which um I know Venice Lodge helps out
Usually helps send a couple of guys every year to go to conclave um different events yeah I know that uh your Lodge Dennis lodge number 301 as as long as I’ve been in masonry has always been like a pillar of the deole community uh you have a very popular chapter
There well we’re all in restructure right now uh I love the Allen Patterson chapter I like the I love our namesake it’s it’s great um he started Drew Drew warmington and Larry Bernard branched off of Sarasota chapter to come down and start a new chapter in Venice and they
Chose the the name c Allen Patterson after the uh past master of Venice that was the founding senior Warden of of Venice Lodge and the founding worshipful master of Englewood Lodge the io of C Allen Patterson would be to be the encompassing areas that uh like Port Charlotte Englewood uh Venice and have
The boys all come there and then eventually break off from there and maybe start a chapter in uh Port Charlotte or Englewood or you or pagora or or whatever and it just hasn’t got there yet but we’re in a restructure now we’ve got um probably got about five
Boys that are actively showing up uh all the time and then we’ve got like 20 on the books but so right now it’s uh we’re working to plan some more fun events to get the guys more active and and hopefully eventually build the chapter back up where it needs to be so
Deole is I mean big picture it’s basically an organ a Youth Organization for boys uh that are aged 12 to 21 12 to 21 yep and um the only requirement they have similar to masonry is that they believe in a higher power correct right right you have to believe in a
Higher power or that there is I have heard the argument of um agnostic being perfectly fine as long as you believe that there is something there you don’t necessarily have to know what it is but um there has to be something you know guiding you to be a better not an
Atheist basically no not an atheist agnostic I would say yeah but atheist no basically you have to have something to hold you accountable for an obligation so are women allowed to join or girls allowed to join dle uh no so years ago they had a sorority program um that was well
Received for a little bit and it died off shortly thereafter uh but no um we have a sweetheart program which if a if a chapter has a charter they’re eligible to have a sweetheart which is basically a female liaison helps them with you know planning fun events or planning a
Charity or whatever you know whatever the chapter needs and they get a they usually get a nice Tiara and a sash um you know something you know uh seen Patterson’s has a actual a cape for the uh sweetheart you know their costumes are the best I mean the deay costumes
Are these black robes it’s like what I thought the night Templar costumes would look like but then I found out no you look like a confederate soldier wearing a captain crunch hat and I was like no no that is not what I thought Deo was
Going to look like then I saw uh then I saw the deole I mean I’m I’m talking not deole I’m talking about the you know the night the Templars the night Templar right York right in the consist I believe uh because I was really interested in that that’s why I joined
The York ride I wanted to get involved and then they you know they showed it up and I was like what are you wearing no not for me but then I saw too oh I heard it’s like a grand to put that costume together oh man it’s bad
Yeah it to me it looks like a Confederate outfit basically with like a you know it’s got a chipo isn’t that what it’s called a chipo or something like that got a nice big white Mohawk it’s real fluffy um right so I saw D mole and they’re wearing what I thought that an
Actual night Templar would wear it’s like robes you look pretty pretty badass I got to say and they’re black black and you got right they’re black now oh they weren’t always black no there used to actually be different colors for every position oh every position had its own
Color at one point in time and then I want to say like early 2000s a little after either before I joined or after I joined we had both when I was when I was in but I don’t know when at what point they actually like quit using them um
Because we would still use them on and off but yeah I can’t remember all the colors but yeah every every office had a different color or most of offices have had a different color and then eventually they just came out with all the everybody had a black
One now are you familiar with how deol started in the beginning uh yeah I mean a little bit I have never read hey Dad I’ve never you know I haven’t dived deep into it I’ve been told a million times to be honest with you but history was
Never one of my strong suits I know the important parts and oh I’m sure you do well I I think it’s fascinating pulled it up um and I thought I’d I’d read it real quick the history so in 1919 19190 well employed as the social services director for the Scottish right
Bodies in Kansas City Missouri Frank Sherman land hired a teenager by the name of Lewis Gordon lower to perform odd jobs around the building as the two became friends layan found out that Low’s father had died a short time before and that the Young man missed having the guidance of a father
So lower had um other friends whose fathers were not in the home whether from divorce or abandonment or death and um and that these young men would also like to have an adult mail that they could go to for guidance basically so he said I tell you what why don’t you
Invite some of your friends to the Scottish right building and we’ll talk about starting a club within a few days low brought eight of his friends to a meeting and the nine men agreed that the idea of a club was a good one and soon the order of deole was born within 3
Years chapters have been established in 39 of the 48 states then 48 states and the District of Columbia and it’s now worldwide they changed their name at deol International fascinating to me that it started from a Mason who saw a kid who needed a dad figure and said go get some
Of your friends we’re going to start a Club so the influence of masonry in De is got to be profound well I yeah I mean it goes without saying we it’s it’s our they’re our sponsoring body um you don’t necessarily have to have a blue Lodge
Sponsor you but I mean it’s the most common that you’ll find is a blue Lodge sponsoring yeah or a Mason of some type whether it’s if it’s a shrine or a Scottish right club or or what have you you don’t have to have a you don’t have
To necessarily be sponsored by by a blue Lodge to have a DEA chapter though you don’t no okay no there’s actually uh I want to say at one point in Georgia a friend of mine is the executive officer there now uh Mark Griffith he was an adviser whenever uh
In Florida when I was coming up um he I think at one point in time he was talking to a Prince Hall Shrine Club or something like that if I’m not mistaken I it because it doesn’t matter it’s not an official Masonic body right the deay Weir
We are an official dependent body yes but we don’t have to use yeah yeah we are um I’m as far as I know if we’re not that’s news to me you probably are um I’m what I’m showing is uh if you’re watching the video you’re looking at the
Uh this is basically the logo for deole the shield um yeah and the crown appearing in the self- adopted heraldic arms which is the emblem of the order contains 10 rubies you can see them around the crown each representing one of the original nine members and the organization’s
Founder Frank s l yep Frank and they used to be all pearls it says the rues were originally portrayed as pearls as each founding member died the Pearl representing him was changed to a ruby yep so there you go if you ever wonder there was still a couple of
Pearls on there when I got initiated really oh 1919 I guess they were kids so yeah yeah no there was still a couple whenever I was in the last one just died I want to say in 2014 or something like that I could be wrong on that I’m I’m
Not sure I know it was it wasn’t super long ago so you got you got the Knight the swords you got the the what were rubies what were Pearl now rubies to represent those founding members that created D MO um there there’s actually a uh presentation about this it’s called The
Shield talk yes about that about the logo it goes all in in depth into it that I’m hoping we will have one of the young men uh in our district learn to start presenting to the different lodges there’s a couple of uh different presentations that deay has like that
The ceremony Al light the flower talk The Shield talk uh nigh hood has one called The Rose talk I believe uh there there there’s several of them basically it just tells you what the organization is about what we stand for and their different speeches you know focusing on
Different aspects of it so that I guess that begs the question of what does de stand for um in my research I found uh Deo has seven cardinal virtues um they’re taught as the basic ideals of I guess being a demo is to being a man being a person just they’re
Just being a man they are the standards of which you are to base your life as a de away yes they are filo love reverence for sacred things courtesy comradeship Fidelity cleanness and patriotism yes exactly if you use those seven things and you actually use the teachings that
We have for them you will I mean inevitably be a good person a better person a better man a better leader just like me to make exactly exactly so it makes sense we see Freemasonry in the tenants of deol Al a little different like filo love is something that you don’t really
Hear a lot of uh in in Western thought like most eastern um religion is based on filal love like it’s all about don’t dishonor your family and you you bringing shame to the family literally you’ll kill yourself for for doing that because right reverence for for your
Family but you don’t hear it much here in the west and it’s your first one feel your love which is pretty very first very first one man you you wouldn’t be here without your parents you know um and just that by itself earns some respect now I mean you’re going to have
Those people that you know maybe their mom wasn’t in their life maybe their dad wasn’t in their life whatever else and I’m not going to say that you still gotta you know treat them with the same respect as anything else that’s your battle to to fight not mine but uh if
You do have parents that are there for you and brought you into this world and help you know help you survive then you owe them the at the very least respect respect right but there’s another kind of filal love which is you know we have an Almighty parent and so you you could
Roll God into that right like your love for God and respect and reverence for God too is part of that feel your love right then you have reverence for sacred things W yes that sounds cool reverence for reverence for all that is sacred a young man crossing the threshold of demolay
For the First Time must Prof profess as a deep and Abiding Faith in one living and true God without the steadfast faith and the grace of our heavenly father our toil would be for nothing that’s part of the ceremony of light that I was talking about yeah so basically you
Need it’s it’s promoting having a spiritual belief and and following following a code in that in that sense now you know it’s I think the most common is probably Christianity but we are worldwide so I mean there’s there’s there’s demolay of of all different religions you know that’s aw it’s
Basically just promoting that promoting you know what you believe here again we see masonry because that’s a very basic tenant of masonry got to believe in higher power but we don’t care what path you take to get there uh courtesy I like that this is kind of an oldfashioned concept that a
Man should be courteous kind respect and philan anthropy all kind of rolling into courtesy and uh I mean I I didn’t have a father growing up which is was worked to my benefit because I Ed like television uh people that I saw as my role model for a man and obviously
That’s not real but I I learn to open door for women to like you know be the last one in to lift things and carry things for people especially women um and so I ingrained that in my children my boys uh and I’m I’m so happy to see
That this is part of the tenants or or the cardinal virtues of deole is it’s essential man just a little bit well I almost almost said it the wrong way just a little bit of of caring just caring about another individual and you know putting somebody else above yourself
Every once in a while you know yeah holding the door for that guy at racetrack that’s going into the gas station or whatever just little little things like that go along way then you got you know comrad ship comrad ship that’s the biggest well I mean it’s the
One that that has put the most focus on because we are a fraternity so any fraternity is going to promote Brotherhood uh having a sense of belonging with each other and and keeping each other accountable for things and uh different things like that so that’s why they put an emphasis on it
Being in the center of the seven because you know Millions yeah because of that camaraderie it should be should hold each other accountable and help each other every chance you get and the uh explanation I’m looking at says being a faithful friend not only in good times
But also in hard times which is something which critically which also means which also means telling a friend when he’s messing up right you know it’s not just being there for him when he asks you for help it’s not just being there uh you know to to whisper Wise
Counsil It’s to tell them hey dude you know what are you doing right dud this isn’t gonna end well if you keep doing this man right I mean that’s something you do for people you care about nobody likes to have difficult conversations but care about somebody
It’s worth your time to try to help them um and that’s also important in masonry uh and it’s we talk about Whispering wise counil in the ear of an aing brother I don’t know how many people do that these days but you know I’m glad see that they’re starting with
Kids well um a lot of people missed that part of whisper wise counsil in the ear instead of to stand an open meeting and say it in front of all the brothers whatever is on their mind sometimes hey you did that wrong exactly okay oh God here we go you
Know and then you’ve got Fidelity Fidelity yes Fidelity I mean doing what you say you’re going to do uh if you if if you hold a promise to somebody keep it you know um whether it be the you know promise to God a promise to to your
Friend to your parents whatever it is I mean just say do what you say you’re going to do essentially Fidelity and so even the the namesake for the organization de it comes from the man Jac mle who is the grand the last Grandmaster of the Knights Templar um the last one the last
One because the kns Templar were disbanded sometime around 13113 um we did a whole section on the kns Templar go watch the episode because it’s there you go it’s awesome there you go I love the whole idea of the Templars what they stood for what they did in
Society that people have no concept of how important they were to our ideas of banking and oh my that that’s yeah we could be on that topic forever we could be on that forever in a day when brigin would routinely rob you
And you had to get from A to B on a long trip you could leave your really expensive crap with people and pick it up when you got there like well that’s that’s essentially what a bank is here’s my cash I’m gonna go pull it out of the
ATM when I get to Monaco uh on my vacation and I don’t want to bring my cash with me well there you go the Templars were doing it in the 1300s um right and sure they didn’t have a keypad or a pin code uh you had to
Actually use a secret word or a secret handshake to identify yourself right right right so now we get to like how the Templars are infiltrating masonry uh because we have secret words and secret handshakes that we use to identify well on top of the fact that I mean these are
All rumors and speculation but when it was disbanded you know all of those Knights had to do something so there’s talk about them going into into different workman’s guilds like maybe brick masons maybe one my favorites is that they uh they had a huge naval fleet that was
Never recovered oh i’ I’ve heard this yes I mean it’s there’s a lot of evidence that they actually went to the Caribbean and yep and that the uh Pirates of the Caribbean are actually the descendants of the original Templars that disand I have heard that yes makes
Sense right they have a codee that they live by the the pirate code and all this stuff I mean they would obviously not have had the capacity to teach them to continue to be Templars but Generations later you would have had people that still live by some kind of a code
Because they would definitely pass that down but I digress Fidelity we’re talking about jacqu de mole died he he died uh basically upholding his pledge to his brothers yep I mean it was offered all of the riches that he could imagine was was tried was was you know offered power
Beyond his imagination and just no I no give them up no right kill me if you got to I’m not doing that no he died he had actually I believe um given some kind of a statement that he had done bad that they were bad um and upon you know thinking about it
Um when he came out and he was supposed to say all this stuff publicly recanted and said no this is a bunch of BS we never did anything wrong we’re here for God and you know this is a bunch of you got you all you suck you suck you suck
I’ll see you in hell and uh then he let be burned at the steak um sticking to his well it wasn’t necessarily that he came out with a statement and then recanted it was that somebody said he said this and he’s like no I didn’t if you had document saying that they’re
Purged like there’s no way that didn’t happen and you know they burned them at the stake for it I mean these these Templars are being tortured for years it’s not like you spent a couple days in the cell they were torturing you for years to try to get you to say what just
Just to die just admit something so we’ll kill you you know and uh when you get tortured beyond that point you’d say anything to just make it stop right that’s what happened to most of those guys they they were tortured to the point that they would rather go
Against their order just to die than continue to be tortured right I couldn’t imagine being in that situation man to be honest with you I mean yeah we’d all love to say that we would be jacqu deay and stand up on your principles like that but I don’t
Know no I don’t know if I can tell you that not like getting burned at the Stak is an easy way to go no holy crap dude can you imagine and that’s after like seven years of torture they did to him before he was burned at the St yeah no
In his home country in France burned him at the St and the public was around to watch so wow that’s Fidelity then you have cleanliness yeah okay here we go yeah not only the bodily cleanness right cleanness of every thought word and deed you know to actually you know think
About things and not necessarily to use the foul language or or uh you know all the dirty stuff that we all try our best to stay away from but some of us don’t do a great job of it you know as long as you’re trying that’s all that matters nobody’s perfect
Right we call this Purity in masonry they call cleanliness in deole but I think it’s kind of the same thing right yeah same thing same thing being pure of heart pure motivations coming at things from a good uh purpose and uh we wear white to symbolize purity in Freemasonry
Whites you know white glove treatment we’ve all heard it like associated with cleanliness um and finally patriotism a love for your country yep willingness to defend your country and your Homeland um including public spaces places schools asylums orphanages hospitals supporting people in need that’s all part of being a patriot right
Sure um and just living a good life in behalf of of your country you know um just being a better person because you’re an American or because you’re you know whatever uh you’re yeah insert country here you know because essentially you being a better person is helpful to your country
It is work for your country you know what I mean yeah you’re representing but so in deay for years it’s always the question you know the question that you just you quiz the de play with or or whoever with if you had to get rid of
One candle or one one virtue what would it be and most of the time people’s answer is patriotism at the end of it because you know they think about it just meaning America or whatever else when really all seven of them are important but if you Encompass all the
Rest of them seven kind of just well seven will happen anyway yes you know yeah that makes sense but it doesn’t end with those seven virtues you’ve got uh deay defends three fundamental freedoms you’ve got you I can’t I can’t quote them off the top of my head we
Didn’t prep this you nailed those other ones I was like wow I didn’t expect you to know that as much I better know those the the sevener talked about it every single meeting every yeah it’s it’s yeah you better know the seven right the three fundamental freedoms that Deo defends are religious freedom
That’s represented by any holy book independent okay now I know what you’re talking about all right yes civil Freedom yes and intellectual intellectual Liberties yes yes and civil that kind of you know there are three Ruffians in the uh Master Mason degree um and allegedly yeah uh there’s three Ruffians
Selling cigars uh I can tell you that there you go by the way I got some people that want to try those I need to get with Sean or somebody it’s getting relaunched we’ve got we’ve got new uh wow this is really sidetracking now we got new I’m sorry there new formulas uh
And new wraps so actually it’s improved and cheaper we’re lowering the cost and increasing the quality so it’s gonna be good awesome little something for everybody uh I still haven’t tried the original ones I mean I I haven’t either I’m not a cigar smoker so I could tell
You but the people that know this stuff say that it’s it’s gotten better so I can’t wait we’re in the process of relaunching that soon stay tuned uh but you know we in masonry we have people that try to take away three three times uh something important
To you and when you go through the mentoring after the degree they kind of talk about how they’re what they’re this really represents is they’re trying to take away your freedoms in different aspect Okay so you’ve got someone that’s trying to attack your ability to speak which is
Like a a civil Freedom you’ve got um uh someone that’s attacking your groin which is your family and and you know that’s the seed of your religious freedom and then you’ve got someone that’s attacking um your mind which is your intellectual Freedom if you think about it those Ruffians are
Tying directly into this when I see this I see the Ruffians hm I’ve never thought about that you know but there’s a good chance that the guys that putting together the ritual did I mean it was written by by Scottish Wright Masons makes sense and then you’ve got
Uh an ethical code composed of the following statements de serves God a deay honors all Womanhood I like that one honors all Womanhood like yes this is important stuff to teach young men that women aren’t your play things they’re to be honored and respected you know right as people Deo loves and
Honors his parents a deay is honest a deay is loyal to ideals and Friends a Demay practices honest toil so you’re not going to be a gambler as a deole when you grow up you’re going to be earning an honest living something that’s legal and
Respected uh deay his word is as good as his bond a deay is courteous D is at all times gentlemen a Dem is clean in mind and body a Dem stands unswervingly for the public schools a Deo always Bears the reputation of good and law-abiding citizen and a Dem by precept and example
Must preserve the highest standards to which has he has pledged himself man I uh I sure could have used that when I was a young guy somebody teaching me these values uh you know we get them I got from television in a roundabout way but uh that uh PBS I guess was
Pretty good for for some of that yeah depending on which shows you were watching Sesame Street uh Mr Mr Mr Rogers Neighborhood you know they were kind of teaching some of this stuff to kids but I don’t know they don’t get that today kids are really growing up on
Like YouTube stars and Instagram people and uh it’s far far from this what they’re learning so so yeah unfortunately but you know what you know never say never don’t give up hope one of those things I kind of see how important this is now more than ever
That kids have a place where they can go to learn like to be honest and good and respectful kind but not only that like de is kind of giving them opportunities to learn leadership right like oh yeah absolutely so that’s kind of the for me that’s the point right um You you get
Guy and cuz if you’re just coming there for a boring meeting and going home then you know what what what’s the point so like right now we’re in restructure we’re not even I’m not even worried about ritual in most of the chapters in our district right now I want you
Getting the guys together planning a fun event and go do it meaning not you plan an event and tell the boys to come to it no you get with the young men that you have say hey what do you want to do okay well what do we need to do this okay
First you need what you’re doing okay then you got to facilitate the place okay is there a scheduling do we need to find a time to to do this you know do how much is it going to cost to do this okay how are you coming up with the
Money for this or are you expecting all the chapter members to pay their way you know all those things you’re helping the young men put those together and then run the event and then also communicate to all the members and whatever else so what I like to tell people is first you
Put somebody on a committee so a committee is is making this plan to to plan this event okay and now you’re you’re a voice on this committee So eventually after you’ve been in a committee for so much well why don’t you try heading up this committee next time
Okay and then once you’ve headed up a committee and you you know you’re you’re responsible for you know facilitating the meetings and figuring out everybody’s ideas and putting it on paper and giving a report at the meeting okay eventually after you’ve done that so much now now go into a leadership
Role in the chapter become a counselor you know because now you know how to do different things you just have to put them all together wow kind of thing that’s and in in my opinion that’s how you build the Future Leaders and that’s how deay can build the future there’s so
Much that goes into what you just described from like planning financially for something to managing personalities on teams to right dealing with um failure because if you let those kids do that stuff eventually something’s not going to work out and it’s going to be a show and that failure is something they’re going
To learn from yeah as I am like I said I was only limited in my involvement in the Sarasota chapter I was for a few months um but what I saw was parents wanting to do all those things you just said the kid should do um and right
That’s the problem that seemed to me like it was creating uh it was kind of like the opposite of what is supposed to be happening where what are the kids learning If the parents are doing all that stuff it’s just daycare at that point right like exactly right that that’s not what deay
Is for yeah we’re not just here to watch your kids for you for for a little while um that’s that’s just not what we do don’t get me wrong we’re happy to but we’re going to have a purpose for it you know yeah imagine that a place where
Your kid can go and try something out and try to be a Le and potentially fail and still get support after the failure to to show him that you can you can basically learn from your failures and it makes you stronger smarter and better the next
Time you do the thing that you failed at those are crazy important life lessons crazy important life lessons uh right and if if they don’t let the kids do that stuff they’re never going to learn those lessons yeah no it’s is that a right now it’s hard because only had like I said
Limited exposure in dle and I saw that as a problem in just a couple months I was exposed to it is this a big problem in dle do you would you say uh yeah I mean it’s we saw it whenever I was a kid you know uh advisors overstepping but there’s a fine
Line it’s not like there I mean there is a handbook but so I can’t say there’s not a hand there’s not a handbook telling you how to do this there there is but it’s it it leaves something to be desired in it I guess you know it
Doesn’t it doesn’t take into account the personal things with this because problem is you have so much you’re competing with now when I was a kid you had Boy Scouts Sports and deay at least in in my what for what I knew about really now with uh with the
Internet they kids today have so many different options of what they can do to spend their time yeah um sitting in a meeting learning about leadership it’s usually not on top of their list right which to your point when you were saying about advertising to the parents of the
Of the young men that’s why it’s so important because of course you’re not gonna you know a kid just wants to go on fortnite or whatever in the heck they’re doing now that’s all they want to do then yeah leave me alone I don’t want to
Go sit in a room with a bunch of guys telling me I’m a 40 better myself I’m about to be in in tomorrow I’ll be a 49-year-old man and if you left me to my own devices I’d be sitting in a pile of my own feces with within a couple months
Like we as men need to be pushed outside our comfort zones and especially even for kids uh because they have to learn at an early age they learn a lot faster when they’re young than an old guy like me uh to change now is going to be crazy
Hard but when I was 12 or 13 I was like clay you could have shaped me into a a great man uh if you took the time uh and and these kids have the potential to be great men they just need to be molded but the key
I think the key problem is you have to have examples As Leaders yeah if you have poor examples As Leaders how could they how are they ever going to get those lessons I mean you know this is another thing to to teach to hit back on the worful master
And just showing up yeah the things yeah I so now if somebody can steal this idea and run with it I’m happy if you do uh I wanted to make an award for for Masons called the past worshipful master meritorious service award because Deo has a what’s called a past Master
Counselor meritorious service award basically you have to follow a strict guidelines on how to run your year it make sure you observe all obligatory days that you have you get you have to make sure that you all you and your officers know your parts from memory to
Do all the ritual work um you have to yeah get so many people in there there’s a whole criteria for it and then at the end of it you can say I got my PMC MSA I had a good term I would say year but it’s six months um so I wanted to
Develop an award like that but have it Masonic youth base where the worshipful master has to attend x amount of masonic youth functions during his year has to show up to their installations has to go whatever else and be that face of masonry to the young men yeah that’s
What I want to do I I’m not I’m not a lawyer I don’t I don’t speak legales and legislation writing is not my forte but uh if somebody else wants to do that and you know I’m I’m happy to have a worshipful at the end to add a
Worshipful to the bottom of the legislation for yeah yeah well I’ll I’ll definitely if you like I can include your email uh on the podcast and if people want to reach out to you to help out with that they can sure yeah I vmaster 23 at gmail there go now I’m G
To get a bazillion emails that’ be great hail hail the light Illuminati you’re gonna get all those now right it’s got Master it oh man right oh yeah dang it but you know dang it I think that when you look at DM now it’s 1919 so they’ve been
Around for a long time now and yep we just had our Centennial couple years ago I the way I got exposed to deml was through a man named Rusty Russell Glend Denny um great man who was kind of somebody that became a I don’t want to say a mentor because
He would probably not like that he he never mentored me but he was somebody that I watched closely and tried to like impress in masonry I don’t know what you call that uh an influence an influence influence me yeah yeah yeah and uh he
Was huge in De and uh one day oh yeah he sent me a video of him interviewing somebody for the um International Hall of Fame U and d mle and so I was watching him interview this famous person when he was a young man he was
Probably in his 20s when he was doing this interview which is crazy to see Rusty at his 20 I knew was a seveny old man you know I was expecting to see it like a dinosaur walking behind him or something when I watch the video Yeah Jurassic Park theme plays in the background
So I mean I went down a rapbit hole you have Walt Disney you have he was part of the original chapter actually yeah Bill Clinton you got so many famous people that are in the international Hall of Fame from sports stars to actors I mean I’m not going to name them all the
Undertaker was a Demay actually and he turned down the uh Hall of Fame really yeah yeah he was he was approached for the Hall of Fame and he said because he did not base his wrestling career on how a Demay should yeah should be he didn’t
Feel he he didn’t he didn’t want his his his picture in that Hall of Fame for that he didn’t he didn’t think he was the he was the guy which I mean honestly there’s argument says that that’s an even better reason for him to be there
But that’s very uh shivil Rick of him to try to take road because most people if they’re offered any kind of opportunity to be in any kind of lasting thing to have their name in it they jump at it right so that means he learned the lessons I think of
Deole that’s impressive I didn’t know that there’s a couple astronauts on here there’s several politicians on the list Pete Rose famous baseball player uh Air Force captains philanthropist businessmen like these are impressive names that were part of this organization and people always ask they think the uh Bill Clinton was a
Freemason but he wasn’t he was a de he was not he wasn’t de though yeah he was not a Freemason though which you know I guess you could say I think maybe being a deay is more impressive than being a Freemason because to get those lessons
In your youth is probably going to make you a better man than coming into it in your 30s and 40s and trying to learn how to be a better man when I was coming up it was a thing to put on your resume if you were a past master counselor or
Anything like that you know it was something that um I was told anyway that that meant something um and I mean today as long as you word it right it does mean something if you think about it and you actually go into to detail while you’re filling out your resume what all
You did what your duties were you know it’s a lot it could look good for you it is a lot you’re really a leader in your youth so um this is how I I I saw you doing some ritual work I asked you to help me with some ritual work you said
Yes with way short notice happened more than once let’s be honest and uh I was like I don’t know what’s up with this guy but he’s some kind of savant and they said no no he was a deole uh like it’s known in Freemasonry if you were a
Deole you’re probably gonna be a decent ritualist as a Mason is that fair to say right yes and no so I grew up with a ton of brothers that hated ritual and they knew their part for you know opening and closing if they had a part in in
Initiation they knew that and that was it uh but in just like in masonry there are brothers that you know it it either comes naturally to or it’s just that something that they work toward to get good at or either way uh in my case I kind of had a natural
Thing to it and then also it was I I thought it was cool I like doing it it was one so for me it was something I worked at okay but uh no not all deay are ritualists but they have a an unfair Advantage you will say because they’ve
Had to memorize something since they were you know a kid I mean even de’s obligation I’m pretty sure is longer than the Master Mason really obligation wow I’m pretty sure it is and I have to memorize that yep oh yeah they’re they have a question and answer similar to what lodge has um
But most of theirs is the obligation we were where as ours is a lot of things also there’s an obligation in it theirs is there’s a couple of questions and then there’s an obligation you know do they do a proficiency like Mason yes they do okay so now I’m not learned up
On all of the rules like uh as I should be at the moment but when I was in you had to be proficient in order to vote uh in the lodge in the chapter you had to be proficient to compete in any competition at conclaves or Min
Conclaves via be it sport or ritual otherwise whatever it didn’t matter you had to be proficient to do anything basically um now I think it’s a little more laxed I think you still have to be proficient to compete either that or uh be working on your proficiency currently
Something like that um there used to be a proficiency jbu that we had at conclaves that you could take in Li of being proficient you just had to go sit through the class to help you learn your obligations and stuff uh then you could still compete but um I think it’s a
Little more laxed now just because of you know we’re all hurting for membership at this point so if we can get Five Guys Like I said and just get them to start learning some stuff we’ll let any of them have a vote because it’s what they want to do it’s their
Organization not mine you know just because I think that they need to do this might not be right it’s their organization I’m just here to guide right and if I tell them no I better have a good reason right you know if you
Tell it as a as a CH as a deay adviser if you tell a kid no there has to be a reason you know you can’t just say no because you didn’t want to deal with that right now no there has to be a reason you know so a while back yeah no
Go ahead go ahead a while back we had a deal with um one of the chapters wanted to get PayPal up like wanted to be able to have an electronic form of uh getting money in you know fundraising wise um and one of the advisers was initially and said no
And I stepped in and I was like why is it a no like why because our bank won’t do that well we need to figure out what the problem is with that because any Bank should be able to do this um and eventually they were able to get it and
Whatever else but the the big thing is you know there sure there’s a reason that he said no because well that bank was telling us that we can’t do that okay that’s a legitimate reason why you can’t do but it’s still a problem that we need to
Solve that problem and it’s you know we’re in the 21st century you know PayPal is a thing why are we with this Bank yeah move to another bank that will let us do this you know it’s very Progressive thinking you’ve got there uh I hope de moves quicker than lodges
Because that would be about a year and a half change to get them to move banks at a blue oh this didn’t happen overnight this was over months of time you know this is just a fast forward I’ve been around for a little bit but yeah how old are you
Now I am 29 I’ll be 30 in September my God that’s crazy I mean I know you’re young yes sir but uh I don’t know I don’t know I guess we we talk so much I never really think about the age difference but we do have pretty big age
It’s a bit of a gap yeah bit of I didn’t realize that I didn’t realize how old you were I figured you were in your early 40s or late 30s yeah no man I’m going to be 50 soon it’s crazy yeah I see that you’re about to be 30 I see that what
So it’s like um you know you don’t have to be like a president of a huge multinational organization to be a leader um you just got to be a good person right and like trying to live the tenants of this stuff because these kids need examples so and if you’re listening also
And you’re like oh I’m not I’m not on the level to be leading kids it’s like wait but are you because no one’s expecting you to be like a political leader or a Bill Clinton like you don’t have to be that to get involved in Deo
What you have to be is somebody who wants to help the youth become better um to grow into being better men that’s really all they’re asking of you right as an adult to be involved in the Deo right they just want you to good with kids and like support them and like
Teach them these values right right yeah and help them along where they need it now um and also knowing that being a leader doesn’t mean do everything yourself quite the opposite actually you know um everybody needs help doing not if you try to do everything yourself in anything whether it be Lodge deay
Whether it be a sports team whatever it is you you’re GNA burn yourself out now you might you might succeed at it for a little bit but eventually it’s going to come to a head yeah and then how do you repeat that like what happens when
You’re gone like right it needs to be you got to create a coalition of people and it needs to be a leader creates systems that can be passed down and replicated by other people not themselves right I mean I’m a firm believer that one guy shouldn’t be in
Charge or one person shouldn’t be in charge forever it needs to you know so if you have an advisory Council and you have you know you have leadership in your advisory Council that needs to change every few years you know just to get a new set of a new set of IDE
Out you know or whatever uh be a chapter dad or advisory chairman or advisory Council chairman whatever um some people some chapters don’t have the luxury because you know chairman has to be a Master Mason and maybe they only have one Master Mason that’s an advisor so
That guy is stuck being the chairman forever because well nobody else nobody else can do it you know that kind of thing but in most cases like uh now it’s when I no a little bit before I joined only men could be chapter dads or chapter advisor the official chapter
Adviser the the liaison between the young men and the advisory council is the chapter dad or chapter advisor now now it can either be a man or a woman doesn’t have to be a Master Mason doesn’t you know whatever else and I’ve known some great women that were awesome
Chapter advisers and I’ve known some guys that really suck that so me too me too uh of them were close to me uh I saw it firsthand even though I wasn’t terribly involved I did I did see some problems um and and you whenever I see problems I assume that it’s not
Local that it’s probably stuff that you know that’s that’s like the first lesson I had in masonry all the negative things I saw I thought oh it’s just this Lodge or just this guy nah like every district has a lodge like that every Lodge has a
Guy like that you know what I mean these are systemic things it’s just a person problem that’s just the type of personality you have seems to always come down to being people as the problem right right so we need to be very careful about who we put in a
Leadership role with children um because if they see adults arguing with each other over what food’s going to be at an event or they shouldn’t even be having that argument right that’s the stuff the kid should be deciding but they do argue over things like that they do right like
That’s what the kids see and are going to take as an example of acceptable behavior so you you really do need to check I mean that should be like at at the that should be the entrance of every entryway into a lodge leave your ego here don’t bring it with
You right yeah I no well as soon as it stops becoming about the young men you’re wrong like as as soon as it stops becoming about them you’re wrong you’re whatever it is that you’re trying to accomplish stop because if it’s not for them then you’re wasting your time yeah
You know um and you’re not going to do any good you’re going to do more harm than anything um and I have seen unfortunately in deay at the chapter level all the way up to the state level where there are certain people that um maybe they didn’t get that notoriety in
Blue Lodge but they could get it at De and we have to stop that we have to do a better job at guarding the west gate as we say as Masons but you know for our advisers um we always need adult old lady just came in with the
Kiddos so you know F they go so let’s talk a little bit about you now everybody knows generally what deay is now we did a pretty good job there I think explaining it to people it’s there’s a lot more to it for sure that we could go into but that dude I yeah
That’s a good like you know 45 minutes is a good synopsis of this is what it is about sure this is what we stand for this is what you know and biggest question is how do we help how do we how do we keep going forward and I think
With the right people in place we can do that and we’re starting to get a a a good sense of that I think we’re in our district anyway of getting the right people for the right job I mean honestly as a marketing guy I see so many ways to
Grow the membership that no one um I guess I really haven’t tried that hard to talk about it but I could see I mean we could blow de lay up with just a little bit of effort um let’s do it it’s like you know you miss the part that
People don’t like to hear a little bit of effort like you’re gonna have to I’m not scared I know you’re not scared that’s why you’re in a position of leadership and you probably are the person I should talk to about my ideas because you could actually get them implemented in more
Than one certainly try you can definitely whisper wise counsel into people’s ears uh right I can I can tester people I’m pretty good at that try to influence them in a positive way but I do see this is needed um uh I think the parents would jump at the
Opportunity to have their kids be part of an organization like this if they knew about it they just don’t know about it um and I think the kids um once you get them in will want their friends to be part of it too once they see what it
Really is and they kind of get the bigger picture so I think the the the first hump is to get the parents to understand that this is a pretty lowcost way to get their kids a very high quality experience and $60 onetime membership fee depending on your chapter could be
More but for the most part like our chapter is 100 bucks but you get stuff out of it before that but it’s lifetime memberse you don’t have to pay to be a member at all after that the only thing else that’ll come out of your pocket is
Whatever the boys don’t fundraise for it so if they don’t fundraise for it and they want to go to conclave well you’re the chapter doesn’t have the money for it they want to go I mean you know one of those things if you better you got to
Figure out a way but that’s why we you know try to tell these guys fundraise uh when I was in if we wanted to do something we had to fundraise for it um I walked up every single stair in the uh UCF Arena multiple times as a kid
Selling peanuts at The Shrine Circus because it was one of our biggest fundraisers I shucked corn at a zelwood at at zelwood for those zelwood Corn Festival every year because we needed to do we wanted to go do things so we had to do things to make money for that and
That’s part of the experience I think is actually having it’s not all fun in games sometimes you got to work that’s you’re teaching responsibility and like how to actually get something done because right that’s going to be the case throughout your whole life you’re always going to need money to do the
Things you want to do and it might require some hard work to get it and then you know I was there are so many communities where kids just don’t have opportunities opportunities to like really be in a position of leadership within their own peers they just don’t
Would never have it even in Sarasota there’s a community that I wanted to hit aggressively because I know it’s full of kids that would with an opportunity to learn public speaking skills and um organization and Leadership skills it would be a a game changer for their future life um and you’re talking about
$50 in Sarasota chapter $60 in Venice it sounds like life it’s 100 in Venice 100 sorry 100 but that’s for life from 12 to 21 that’s the only investment it’s going to cost you to get all these lessons and experiences I there’s just nothing comparable out
There uh for kid that can offer that kind of quality for that price sorry doesn’t um there there are other organizations don’t get me wrong like uh Boy Scouts of America is an organization and they do a lot as well uh they were founded by Masons also that’s another
Organization I when I was a kid it was always said boy scouts teaches you how to survive in you know outdoor environment and in the wilderness although that’s not 100% true they also have core values too that help help with your day-to-day whereas de is going to
More prepare you for a business life um and in just life in general right which I think it’s kind of sort of that’s a watered down version of explaining it uh because D can be whatever you make it you know they can teach whatever you know whatever subject the boys need to
Learn about um I’ve seen it I’m on social media a lot so I see a lot of deay chapters doing like well like like you did you did a uh a fundraiser that involved paintball and uh right like shoot an adult and get you know heyy
Here’s for x amount of dollars you can shoot Tim or you can shoot Chris and uh the kids do it and that’s a fundraiser that’s fun uh but they got to organize it and they got to promote it and then they gotta you know get people to show
Up and have food you organized the one that I went to or there was two things going on I believe there was a a chili competition or some kind of food competition Mac and mac and cheese comp mac and cheese I actually didn’t have anything to do with that I showed up
Um I was I was a Target I did not but credit where credit is due the boys had that uh put that that all together um and the advisers helped it along I had a I took a backseat um for the last couple of years with the chapter uh because I
Had some stuff and I still have stuff going on you family LifeWise that I had to deal with that had to take predent um but man it it’s it’s I was really really glad to see that event was a success you know the boys showed up they
Worked it they I think they made a good little bit of a little bit of money at that event I’m not sure the exact numbers um and it was uh Bob gon’s wife that won it too and that was cool and you know and we got to eat really good
Uh mac and cheese and then we got shot with paintballs but you know yeah Bob gon’s uh is a Mason from Englewood Lodge Englewood number 360 uh and I believe he’s like senior Deacon or Junior Ward something like that Junior Ward Bob’s Junior W now gotta go
To his installation uh because Bob is in our district that I see is being a leader um not just in his lodge but also in the district a really good example no right he’s yeah right he’s a business owner too I mean you know just he seems
Like a very solid person uh and is I always in masonry try to surround myself with people that I felt were solid people so he was one of the guys that I try to bring in to my circle someone that I could you know talk to about
Things um right and to survive the year I had when I was Master I needed that I needed you and Bob and Barry Hart and you know Tom don’t get it twisted I needed you too shoot I called you several times for different things for one thing or another you know it went
We’re kind of like all in it together you know we’re all moving the same direction we’re all trying to get the same kind of stuff done we just happen to be in positions of leadership in our little patch of dirt at the same time which was fortuitous for us because we
Worked together really well it was no problem I never felt a I’m I’m still so proud of of what we accomplished last and uh we had like a healthy rivalry and then there are unhealthy rivalries where it’s like you start to teach people that those people are bad
And these people are good I’m talking about young guys coming up and then lines um and some of that had happened in our district I mean I was part of it I saw it and again that’s like not anything unique to us it happens in every District there’s always lodges
Like that um happens in more than one group I mean it’s not just you know you can go in any group it’s because yeah men and people our egos and our little pics and quals and things we could caught in uh as you’ll learn in life as anybody will learn in
Life people suck you know suck and no one wants to admit but we suck too you know yeah yeah me included we all suck you know Su that’s what I was kind of getting at because you you’ve been a leader in a lodge now
You’re a leader in in a a wider area for another organization and your leadership is going to continue into the future you will certainly be um leading in Freemasonry for a long time and in different capacities are you would you I need to start learning the the the
Two-letter word a little bit better uh but yeah probably I’ll probably always have a job doing something you will I hope I hope you will um if anyone is listening and you’re in the St of Florida he gave his email address contact this F because he would be a
Great leader in anything in the fraternity uh he might tell you know if he’s smart but uh I think he’d be great at it so please contact him but you would you consider yourself a perfect man or or or some kind of example in your personal life for someone to hold
Up like I don’t for myself nope I’m well aware of my issues and I I’ve got several no there’s a lot of reasons why you shouldn’t emulate me like we’re not perfect people here but the thing is is like we’re trying and this is what masonry and it sounds
Like what deay is about which is you got to be trying if you’re not trying do your best yeah just do your best and and and get outside your comfort zone do things that are hard for you to do that you don’t want to do sometimes and we’ve
Both done a lot of that service right that’s what servant leadership is really it’s like you know if if I could have done everything I wanted to do I would have had a much easier year uh yeah I just said no this is how it’s going to
Go shut up sit down enjoy the ride but it wasn’t like it was much you can’t run a lodge like that we’ve seen that in the district how you cannot run a lodge like that because that this is a volunteer organization it just does not work that way correct you know and
Some people had to learn that the hard way you know there are people that I saw not make it through their entire year as a master of a lodge because their Lodge essentially revolted against that because of the leadership or lack of leadership that they tried to instill um
And you know that’s that’s again that goes back to the culture of the lodge because how does somebody get to be master and not know that that’s not going to work and the only way is if you’re in a culture that keeps that kind of thinking going
It doesn’t happen just one person like this is a that’s probably been a problem for generations of officers in that Lodge for that person um to get to that place but you can always write that you can always turn it around all it takes is some guys that want to move in
A positive direction and they can do it like you said d d is whatever the kids wanted to be and honestly a lodge is like that a lodge is whatever the people running it want it to be and the brothers that show up want it to be it could be
Anything and you can change it anytime all you got to do is stand up and use your voice and be the change you want to see that’s right and be the change that you want to see if you want to see something do it
You know yeah um if you want if you want to see Mason’s meeting outside of Lodge and having a couple of cigars and some some beverages with each other well do it plan it you know have it have at it if you want to you know grab a bunch of
Kids and go bowling on a Saturday well figure out how you’re going to pay for it and go do it you know um it’s pretty simple when you think about it really is yeah you just have to make the decision to do it like you said
So tell me a little I mean we we got probably like four minutes left here I’m already 30 oh do we have we been going for a minut an hour and 30 almost and uh I only asked for for an hour of Tim’s time so I’m like uh way past now what he
Gave us oh you’re good I still got 20 minutes until I got to leave for Lodge all I got to do is throw a tie on so I’m good you got to go to Lodge for uh entered fenice degree tonight I believe I’m sitting on the sidelines I
Think yeah that’s funny that you think that I am I think I’m either sitting on the sidelines or I might be a conductor but I think there’s only two candidates I I don’t know so there’s a chance there’s a chance I could be conducting but I think I’m on the sidelines text me
And let me know what chair they put you in when you get there I’m really curious now no no no they’ve had several practices they did a good job on this one I I think it’s going to be a candlelight degree they got dispensation
So they can uh you know do all that so they better have all the shairs filled I would think that would be you know step one so uh you’re 29 you’re you’re you’re past master of a lot you’re now in a leadership role in d
What what do you what do you do for fun what are your hobbies like how do you like uh because it’s a lot of pressure Freemasonry can be a second job when you take it as seriously as you do so like how do you decompress what do you do for
Fun believe it or not um it’s it’s a I I got so much stuff going on that sometimes Demay is what I need because it makes me focus on something else and get my mind off of what I got going on with all the other
Crap you know so it’s like like I said last year last year was a rough year for me personally Lodge was the only thing right that I had going so it was a nice Escape for me masonry even though it is a job it’s a nice Escape for me uh but I
Play pool every Wednesday I have a pool table in my house I actually play every day just about I play on a league uh every Wednesday occasionally I get together with some friends and run Dungeons and Dragons um that kind of thing actually the picture right there
Was from a campaign I was in I was uh a character in at a brother Aaron Rowan he’s the senior no he’s the junior Steward of uh Venice Lodge okay he ran a Sunday game and that was I think I was in that campaign for two years wow and
Uh yeah so he had those made for all of the uh all of the players in them that’s so cool um I’m just so happy toar um because I’m old and I wasn’t even the original generation that played Dungeons and Dragons like I was playing no second
And third Edition rules by the time I was playing like you know that started in the 70s I think when I was born uh and it just makes me so happy to see that it’s still going on that that people still get together and Dungeons
And Dragons is no joke okay you got to learn a lot to be effective at Dungeons and Dragons there’s a lot of rule well I mean sure you can show up and role play haha but if you want to be a good player you need to know what a constitution
Check is you need to know you know there’s a lot of things you got but it’s it’s fun too I mean it depends on your table there’s different Dynamics for every table it is you know if you want to go and play competitive D and yes you
Need to know all that yeah but if you just want to have a good time on a Friday night with a bunch of your friends and goof around and maybe kill a couple of goblins or kill a dragon or something or save a damsel you know I actually had nights where you didn’t
Kill anything where we you know they played different types of uh poker using Dice and it was all roleplay kind of session stuff I mean it’s it’s whatever you want it to be you know um so it doesn’t you don’t necessarily have to know all the rules it’s my job as a DM
To know the core rules and know how how things are supposed to work and help the characters that uh maybe because you know I get a lot of new people s people have never played before help them you know I need you to make a constitution savings BR where that go to Constitution
Go to saving throws go to Constitution it’s plus five whatever roll a D20 and add the five to it it’s you know stuff like that so yeah you don’t necessarily have to know all the core rules it’s nice if you eventually you know pick up
On them but no I don’t think it’s a requirement so when he said he’s a DM that means dungeon master that means he’s the guy running the show he he basically has to role play for all of the non-player characters that you’re going to encounter whether the good guys
Or bad guys you’re you’re playing them and you’re you’re ultimately deciding what happens to every character good or bad um you make the final decision on that so it’s a it’s a big job uh to take on being a dungeon master and I like to
Do it a little differently so the way I see it is the players are building the story I’m just facilitating I’m setting the setting I’m I’m putting the setting in but they’re deciding what they’re doing and you know I I run kind of a Sandbox I don’t run a a railroad you
Guys are going down this road now and you know do you go left or right no what are you guys doing you know this is what you guys see what are you doing it’s more along more along those I think that makes for a much more enjoyable experience for everybody because they’re
They feel like they’re creating something together but it’s a Different Strokes for different folks though not everybody likes that it’s much harder for a dungeon master to run a game that way because it’s much easier to just say I have every encounter planned out and
This is what we’re going to do for four hours and do it it’s much harder hard to not know what you’re getting into you have a rough idea probably you got you got you got so it’s actually easier for me for that reason right so I tried
Running the modules and my problem was not remembering who this guy’s name was that’s important because on this other page you know in the next chapter you got to know who that guy’s name is because they gotta find him and all that yeah knowing all that and and trying to
Remember all that is it’s a watch because your characters are to pick option C either way any way you do so I’d rather it just be more of an improv Bas than so I try not to over plan I have ideas of what I what my guys are
Going to run into uh and I’ll have things that maybe I can move around that you they still going to run into this thing even if you go that way but you know whatever uh that’s more along the lines of what I do I don’t do the you
Know plan a whole dungeon thing where it’s nothing but a Dungeon Crawl and you got to know where every trap is and every monster I don’t I have done it it I hate it so it’s a lot of work I tend to I’m more of an open world kind of guy
Myself that’s fun and and uh I noticed that now um they give bonuses for role playing like it wasn’t like that when I played you were expected to role play depending on your master yeah depending on the dungeon master so you can do yeah well yeah it’s a inspiration is what
It’s is what it’s typically called uh you can do a lot of different things to in incentivize it like what I’ve done instead of just giving somebody inspiration saying uh instead of saying I want to hit that guy with my axe I’m going to do a backflip over this guy do
This if you’re explaining to me how you’re getting there how you are you know doing that then I’ll give you an extra it might be a harder role you might have an acrobatics check on top of it but if you land it well then you get
Extra x amount of damage on top of it depending on how cool the thing was that you did you know so there’s different ways you can incentivize role play to to your players as a I think the best way is to do it yourself right like when you
Play a character you play him with an accent you play him like you do something and that pulls them you know the old Master of Disguise become another person Mantra yeah for me I always like I’m drawing from movie characters that I like right like I might have a Scottish accent and I’m
Doing like a you know some kind of a uh what was his name he played James Bond I always imagine that guy is like uh con I would do I would do Sean connory they had no idea but that’s I play right but you pull from your life
And things and you kind of like you know method acting I guess what they call right but uh no other than that so pool D and D um and I like to hang out with some friends of mine and uh have a beverage or two on occasion um that kind
Of thing I’m pretty simple nowadays I don’t have a whole lot of time for a lot of things so I’m sure between work and family and masonry you don’t have a lot of time for hobbies uh like I said I got I got a couple that I do and H you know hyper
Fixate on them but I have ADHD so I also do martial arts and stuff and I so I got a million other things but it’s like what am I focusing on this week I didn’t know that what style yep uh well I’m in a couple um I’m in
Roku kmo through a master out of Jacksonville that I started with when I was a little kid and I still talk to and then uh H worship or Hampton crimmy uh teaches a soku bu Jitsu Ren and I was in his class for a while and I still
Practice some of his cot and stuff even though we’re not meeting on on any regular basis anymore um but yeah a couple of different ones all ok now and K for the most part so you’re trained in standup and grappling oh yes yes and I I’ve done a little bit of um small
Circle Jiu-Jitsu which goes handed hand with uh that and then um you know I’ve I’ve done a very small amount of uh modern arnice or Kali it’s a different form of kie Filipino stick fighting kind of thing I’m not I suck at it I’m I I
Tell people my IQ drops 30 points every time I grab one of those sticks when I’m at a seminar it’s like uh uh but I I feel like I could do better than just a random person that maybe never picked up a stick before though you know I mean
That’s kind of the key to martial arts that’s what I tell people they think they think oh you’re you’re dead weapons hands it’s like no I could definitely beat somebody that’s never trained before you know that’s the advantage of training you’re better you’re hopefully gonna be better than that uh but you put
Me in a competition with other guys that have been training and it’s GNA look pretty sythetic right yeah no I’m I’m out on that I don’t do tour I’m out now I’ve also seen a lot of pictures of you in a leather vest with a Widow’s Son Cat ah
Yes so I’m assuming you ride motorcycles I am a motorcycle Enthusiast I do have an Indian Chieftain in the garage that I do get to take out from time to time and go right I haven’t been doing that as much recently so it wasn’t at top at the Forefront but uh yeah I
Just I used to see that’s how I used to see pictures of you online you’re always doing Widow son stuff before I right yeah yeah that was before I was Master you know I had a lot more time to do all R I do love it I get to I forgot about a
Meeting yesterday I still feel bad about that I missed it but uh I’m starting to get back involved with that too now that I’m out of the East and I get a little bit more time as far as that goes but uh that’s a whole another group we got to
Talk about one day the Widow Suns fascinating Widow Suns is is a fun fun group I like that I like the Widow Suns a lot a lot of great Brothers in them um motor cor is also a lot of great Brothers there a lot of the same Brothers a lot of similarities between
The groups um ones a standalone that’s technically not a dependent body at all and not a masonic body at all it’s just a a body with masons in it uh then you know motor core is a shrine unit now so I appreciate you giving me your time and coming on the show again
To talk about deole which I know is something that’s important to you and has been for a long time oh yeah um hopefully people learn something about it uh from the show and hopefully if they know somebody that has kids between the ages of 12 and 21 they’ll uh they
Send them to be a.org where they can learn about deay I’m sure on that website they can even inquire about joining a chapter near them um and hopefully get involved you uh you’ve done a lot for a 29y old um in in masonry especially uh been the master of
A lodge you know you’ve been in several appendant bodies and now you’re in a leadership role in one of them uh I think what you the term you’re looking for is I’m a sucker yeah no I get that wasn’t the word I was going to use I was
Going to use leader you’re leader and uh I appreciate you have a platform here where you can speak to Masons all over the world um we gave your email address so I’m gonna I’m gonna encourage people to reach out to you with questions they might have um whether it’s about being
Um a master of vage or an officer or being involved in D mle or any of that that stuff they they you know you have a lot of experience in this area so I hope they reach out oh there’s certain things that I’m better at than others man um I
I I had a good year I did my best but I’m not if you’re looking about the guys that know all about all the reports that you got to do and uh the th that aspect of of being a master I would direct your attention to somebody else because I had
A mentor that was helping me the entire time get through that um but as far as you know managing people I’m halfway decent at doing that a lot of the time and uh managing events that kind of thing I’m I’m decent at um and deay I’m
I’m happy to answer any questions I can with deay too yeah um we have to go but I want to give you the opportunity to speak last is there anything that you’d like to share with the listeners that are probably Masons uh wisdom for them
That we can leave them with on the way out um once again support Masonic youth they are our future with you know without them what do we have uh we we are not in this situation where we have enough members to where we don’t need to build
The future um and we’ll never will be so um find a local demon lay chapter and do what you can whether it’s financial support whether it’s just showing up and being an extra hand uh whether it’s helping uh with you know if you have a young man in your life and get him
Involved and not just Dema but also job’s daughters and the rainbow girls look into those as well I don’t know as much about those two so I won’t talk too much on them but they are also great organizations that need help as well well thank you thank you for being on
The show um thank you for the year thanks for having that we had together everything that you did for me and um I hope you come back yeah brother I appreciate you man anytime you know give me a call Tim F daon this is it for on the level podcast join us next
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