Well hello there thank you for joining us here at coolest life my name is Tony I’m here to talk to you about the shrine what is it what do they do and should you join that’s right the shrine cuz I’m a member of the shrine been a member
About 10 years so you’re getting this information firsthand not by some researcher or some reporter or some expert I know all about masonry and Shriners no no if if you’re not a member You Don’t Know Jack I assure you I’m not being arrogant I’m just telling you
Facts if you ain’t a doctor you don’t know about being a doctor unless you’re a doctor I’m just telling you so anyway let’s go ahead and get on into that and maybe dispel some rumors about the shrine and maybe masonry I’ll talk to you about the organization how it gets
Together and and again the main thing is should you join and and why should you join and how was it all made up CU you not answering the coolest life Shrine and Masonic Edition So what is the shrine uh well the shrine is um well let me just give you the the textbook example of what a shrine Shriner is okay Shriner International is a Brotherhood of men with great character compassion and strong values who are committed to family fellowship
And making the world a better place we seek to attract men of different backgrounds career paths ages and interests the UniQue Ideas believes a perspectives they bring to our Global Shriner family our members are known for their loyalty camaraderie and their steadfast support of each other and
Their communities in times of need we have members in six continents so essentially you can go anywhere in the world you’ll always find a friend or a brother um so they’ve got members that areen all those continents uh and um their main philanthropy is the Shriner hospital now what is the Shriner
Hospital Shriners Hospital is a made up of 22 hospitals throughout the uh US Canada and Mexico currently and they provide health care for children that’s primarily it that’s their that’s pretty much it uh now how do they do that uh they provide it to them free of charge
Probably the only one that’s even close to ours is uh the one that uh that they do in Memphis um I can’t remember the name of it right now it escapes me however that’s they’ve only got one Hospital whereas Shriners have got 22 hospitals and you’ve seen a
Lot of advertisements on on TV typically they used to be only for uh only the Shriner supported those hospitals because those children that get seen they get seen free of charge they also don’t need a Ronald McDonald House Ronald McDonald House of course is a place where families to stay
Near a hospital so it’s not quite as as expensive as a hotel is is if they needing to go out of town to have their child treated someplace in a regular hospital but in Shriner hospitals they actually have suits that the family can stay in in the hospital that’s just not
Found any place else you’re not going to find that in your regular you know St whatever hospital or or you know general medicine hospital downtown you’re not going to find that only in Shriner hospitals are you going to find that they actually have sweets and typically those sweets
Are right next to your child’s bed uh in a sense the very next room over so you can get some sleep and yet you’re still right there with your child while they’re in the hospital now uh that’s the big philanthropy doesn’t mean that they don’t have philanthropies that U
Even more than that they’ve got larger philanthropies that are um uh they might support some some local uh philanthropy so whatever that might be uh so let me uh turn this around really quick and show you some things I got written down for you to kind of kind of show you the
Structure and how it’s built all right so let me break this down to to you uh just a little bit or should I say let me break this down for you just a little bit the organization is actually called Shriners International as you see right up here now Shriners International at one time
Used to be called this big giant word here it was as it pops up here the ancient Arabic order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine that’s what they used to be called until about four years ago maybe five it hasn’t been all that long ago that they actually changed this name
And called themselves now Shriners International so so that’s what they are now how do be how do I become a Shriner well first you must be a Master Mason in good standing okay you have to be a Master Mason good standing your card needs to be good your dece card needs to
Be valid everything and then you can pledge or petition to join the shrine typically there are three main organizations that a that a Master Mason would join after they become a Master Mason uh that of course they would stay involved in their blue Lodge but uh in
The regular Lodge and I’ve got videos on that uh that can tell you more about how to be a Master Mason and everything and uh and and what all that entails but uh those are the three main organizations which is Scottish Wright which I also
Have a video on and York wght that I’ll be making a video on very soon um the other organizations within uh masonry are Eastern Star Grotto order the Amarth and there’s several others I’m not going to go through them because I know I’m going to miss one or two because there’s
Probably another 15 that I could list down here I just keep going these are the three main ones when someone becomes a Master Mason they typically Join one of these three right off the get-go okay so um now within the shrine you have units and clubs now clubs are normally
Spin-offs so if your city is here and but you’re um uh is your main city where your where your main Shrine Center is uh or your yeah your Shrine Center they also call The Shrine Temple they’ve actually getting away from the word temple they’re starting to call them
More cers because Temple sounds too much like a religious Temple and um masonry in general wants to kind of get away from that so you hear them called Shrine temples um normally the older members will call them temples sometimes the the outside of the building still says
Temple but if you go inside all the writings all the Publications that they have says Shrine cers but anyway I digress uh so it might be in a major city say San Antonio but Waco there’s a lot of members in Waco but Waco is way over here but they’re not quite big
Enough to be their own their own Shrine Center so they’ll become a club so the this club here will be will be affiliated with this main Shrine Center here so you might have one Shrine Center and then you’ll have several cities that will have their own clubs um uh
Affiliated uh me in in Georgia mine was called alas Shrine it was out of mon but uh we were actually in Columbus Georgia and Columbus had a uh Columbus Shrine Club Now within each of those clubs Andor within those the the shrine centers you’re going to have groups
Within them so they’re separate units like if you wanted to be a Shrine Clown and go do circuses and stuff you may part of the director staff road runners scat cats which is basically those people that that drive those little cars and there’s lots of different groups
That are called different names um for for those people that drive cars there’s they all over the place Keystone Cops actually I think that should be a k there for kops um honor patrol Legion of Honor motor core ritual units uh 10 Lizzies and there a bunch of it it just
Depends on where you are the the units that you find listed here might not be in every Shrine Center but they uh but there might be this many plus another 10 more involved in the shrine Center for example I know the one in mon Georgia
Alah I think we have about 10 units is all we have but if you go down to the one in Tampa they probably got about 20 I mean it’s amazing how many different units they have each one of serves its own purpose yeah you can get in here and
Be a clown and I also want to drive a little car and then I also want be part of the honor patrol and I also be part of yeah you can join all those you can begin to U make yourself a little thin though so you got to kind of pick and
Choose what you’re going to join and that’s just within the shrine that’s if you’re not even involved in Scottish ride or York R there’s all these extra units understand something you join this you join your master Mason you’re going to pay dues there to your your regular
Blue Lodge that you BEC Master Mason and then you’re going to pay dudes to the shrine Shrine dudes is going to run you the cheapest I’ve seen it so far is $100 per year and the most I’ve seen so far is$ 250 per year so it can vary it
Depends on what Shrine unit uh you join whatever and basically whatever jurisdiction you’re in that’s a shrine you have to if you’re near San Antonio you can’t be joining the shrine over there in Houston technically can you but how how active are you going to be in
One that’s so much further away you would typically join the one closest to where you live and or work so so you would join the one in San Antonio and you’ll find out what kind of groups they have there and you can also start your own groups and units if you have enough
Input from others so that’s what that’s all about and uh what else I want to tell you about that oh so you get your dues here each one of these is going to have their own dues their dues might be zero it might be $25 lifetime it might
Be $25 a year it might be $10 a month you never know what it’s going to be it can add up really quick as you join more and more organizations also if you’re if you’re not part of the if you are part of the main Shrine you’re also part of a
A local Club an affiliate Club you’ve got dues here too I think my duudes here was running me uh 150 no maybe maybe it was 75 I think it run me $75 here my clown dudes was running me 25 I was remember one of these other ones I think
It was running me $25 a year the shrine one was running me$ 115 and then I had my dues here so it can add up pretty quickly luckily it’s not a monthly fee for most of them um it is a yearly fee so so that’s pretty pretty good uh
Shriners Hospital I talked about that just a little bit that 22 Shriners hospitals um the shrine has been around um 150 years so that’s a long time and one thing I want to mention to you about that that’s the information I just read you a little bit ago that I expertly
Read and I want to say something to you U 13 Masons met in a nicer bacher’s Cottage in New York City in 1870 and they formed the first shrine now similar to a college fraternity that used a Greek Motif the organization’s Founders modeled the uh icon iconography ceremonies and themes after
Arabic Nights theme party of one that attended while they toured in Europe and I believe it was Morocco is where they went to so that’s kind of where they got their whole theme of wearing the fezzes and everything else and while we’re talking about fezzes let me get that out
Of the way and show you a fez so that’s a fez nice huh yeah that’s my Fez uh so I’m a member of alai Shrine as you can see here it says alah um differences in fed of course they come in different sizes because they are hats you’ll see uh
Double you’ll see some that are stitched you’ll see some that are double single jeweled double jeweled and triple jeweled and you can see this as you can see there’s two lines here so you know this is a double Jewel this is basically your first kind of level in a sense most
People if they say well I’m just going to dabble a little bit in Shrine they’ll normally get a single Jewel or they’ll get the one that’s actually it’s it’s just sewn this little this little piece here that’s sewn here well actually it’s a little W makes them a little wider
Than that but they make they’ll spell out the letters a shrine now we mentioned those those director staffs and if you’re if you’re the the president of that particular Shrine you become what they call a potentate so your potentate is your your your your head guy in charge then you might get
The word potentate across here and maybe the year you a potentate because that will never change as long as you’re in Shrine someone will get the word Divan and D IV an Divan is basically the uh it is is the the officers of that particular Shrine so they’ve got a
Rayban a chief Rayban Oriental guide so those people are part of their officer core and those officer Court are called the Divan okay D Ivan so when you first get part of the Divan you might you might get you know the name of your
Office or you might just write d i v an because you can use it for the next three years until you become potentate and then you want to get one that says potentate across here because he’s the president so uh and you’ll see differences in this especially the
Single Jewels if someone gets a single jeweled this Crest here or basically these Lions claws will be lower and this this Shrine logo will be across the top and let me see if I can find one well look at there I did find one you see how that that’s that sword is is
On the top of the head here and how this one here how it’s how it’s actually going through the center you can design that either way you want you can do it like this or do it like that in fact there’s there’s actually a little better one there that’s what
You’re typically you’re going to find on logos on paperwork uh Do’s cards uh websites you’re going to find this logo you’re probably not going to find this one because this one here is more of the standard logo and they kind of do this to kind of do spacing a
Little better when it comes to The Fez they want to make it as big as possible but they don’t want to make it too clutter so that’s what you’ll find now what is this thing this is my Shrine this is my Fez hat so you can see it’s
Got a got a holder in here it might hold a name badge it might hold my crown of Honor Jewel which I can’t seem to find I wonder where my crown of honor is anyway um you might put cuff links in there obviously put your name in there and so it’ll go in
There just like that and Boop it protects it uh you’ll see some of guys that they’ll have a they’ll have a dual they’ll have a dual zipper around the bottom and they’ll have a big another section down here uh that would be on the bottom normally that’s for their Scottish right
Cap if they carry that with them a lot of Scottish wres you leave your Scottish right cap at the center that you’re part of the Scottish R but some of them don’t um the only other thing I want to say about this is this is pretty customary
The other one has triple Jewel normally if you become a potentate you’ll get yours triple jeweled uh here and this is a this is a pretty standard hook up here some of them are not quite as ornate some some are just solid and then of course you get a holder down here this
One here is actually a clown can you tell it’s a clown someone gave that to me an older Shriner gave that to me who was a clown he thought it looked good and so I think it looks good too so you can get things that say director staff
Or any other unit you might be a part of you might want to get something special it’s basically a brooch is what it is but it holds down your your your tassels here from going around and the tassels come in different lengths this is pretty standard length some are most I think
When you get them are are about this long and then you can buy this one here which is a longer one there’s even some that even longer they get down to here so they get them I think this one’s 18 they get them like 24 in long that’s
Pretty much what that is about the uh about the the shrine Fez and you can see others uh some are softer some of this thing lays to the side but it’s basically the same kind of shape is what that is so their mission as a Shriner is just
That it’s it’s to uh better yourself um and to much like what what masonry is in general and also to uh help your community um through philanthropy work Phil philanthropic work a lot of times you might see a Shrine Circus the majority of the money made in a Shrine
Circus pays for the event uh the next check goes out to local Shriners Hospital maybe maybe Shriner International but for the most part it goes to shriner hospitals uh it’ll go to one of their one of major hospitals it’s a very Medical Care no matter where you
Go is expensive and to know that your child here in the United States is taken care of uh free of charge and or Mexico and or Canada taking care of free of charge and let’s just say it covers a whole lot more than a Canadian healthc
Care plan does it’s not exactly as free as you think it is and I only say it because I know a whole lot of Canadians that I tell you so copays and different things like that hidden fees it’s it’s it’s it can sneak up on you you can
Sneak up on you anyway um so why did I join a shrine uh join a shrine to be a Shrine Clown I like the whole aspect of being a clown and U and having fun and going to circuses and I’ve been able to uh participate in probably I think I’ve
Been in nine circuses something like that some of them were actually not even from my my Shrine Center my Shrine Center wasn’t having a circus so I went up to Atlanta and participated with them I did that with him maybe five years six years uh also parades so you can dress
Up as a clown and you know mess with people and the kids and stuff like that so really it’s a lot of fun I I really enjoy parades I plan on going to a parade here in uh South Texas they’re having one I think it is next month I
Need to check on it maybe it’s this week but uh I need to check on that um the uh uh oh let me mention something real quick this is I just put some some some pins that that I’ve gotten through my travels I put put those on here that
I’ve gotten and you can do that you can do this belongs to you so you can do whatever you want to with your own Fez case so I just happened to put mine across the top and and some of them were uh military uh that they honored the
Military this one here so you know I’m a I’m a veteran and everything and there’s this one here he he was a police officer so he made these up this one here’s from Georgia so they did those up so there’s a there’s all different ones you can get
And uh one thing in m r we do is uh we collect um we collect uh pins and coins and just like those challenge coins from the military they get those big coins yeah I’ve got a bunch of I probably got I I don’t have a ton of those I probably
Got 30 but as far as lapel pens like like that boy I probably got I probably got over 100 and it’s not because I’m looking for them or or trying to go buy them it’s they come to you as an exchange you get them for visiting and doing different philanthropies and stuff
Like that um uh should you join Shrine um if if what you want to do is get together compared to Scottish Wright Scottish Wright is a little more formal uh basically caten ties kind of required at most Scottish wri meetings not all uh but most um coat and tie is rarely and I
Do mean you’re rarely ever uh uh ask that you wear that at at a shrine function uh if they’re having a nice dinner or something like that the potentates ball sure but as a regular meeting no no they they expect you to come in t-shirt and shorts or whatever
You want to wear then I really don’t care um York W is a tends to have more of a uni they’re more coat and tie and of course if you go up in the commander they’ve got a they got a standard uniform that they expect you to wear at
That so but Shrine is a little more laid-back a little more casual the ritual is a little more casual typically only takes you one day to go through Shrine not two days like it does for some of the others um um and it’s it’s just it’s just more relaxed and laidback
And and they have a little more fun I’ll say this most Shrine centers that you’ll find they’ve got a bar there somewhere some of them actually have a bar like the one in Savannah it’s actually open to the public so uh not that it’s a bad
Thing I mean what do they say God made uh uh water into wine not Wine Into Water just saying something to think about so but uh uh but anyway it’s not that they encourage drink because they don’t I mean none of them actually encourage it or force it and actually
Alcohol that I’ve never found has been in involved in any type of initiation uh while I was while I’ve been in uh in masonry there is zero there’s zero normally uh through in the initiation process alcohol is basically forbidden during those times so you can’t be drinking alcohol while you’re
Trying to initiate somebody and and they don’t force you to drink stuff and it’s it’s not that at all it’s not that kind of a fraternity because I’m I’m in another Fraternity in college and yeah alcohol might have been involved in one of those so and maybe involved of the
Fraternities I can’t speak for all of them by any means but uh so uh uh if you have any questions I put them down below I’ll try to answer them as best as I can uh but uh I enjoyed the shrine always have enjoyed the shrine I haven’t
Attended a meeting I attended a meeting in December I don’t think I went to one here in January but typically we no matter where you go you can find a shrine Center someplace to go to a meeting or a unit not a unit but a but a
Club right because the club is the actual local Center so you can find a a club to go to and visit with them but uh want let you go be sure to like subscribe I hope you enjoy this uh and got some information out about the about
The shrine again if you have any questions leave them down below in the description destion down below not in description but down there in the comments and uh I’ll answer those as best as I can as quickly as I can cuz I’m going to let you go cuz you’re now
Leaving the coolest life Masonic Edition in this case Shrine he
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