Hey Chris yeah Fred what’s a Mason that’s a really good question Fred you’ve reached the internet’s home for all things masonry join Chris and I as we Plum the depths of our ancient craft from the common gavel to the TR nothing is off the table so grab your tools and let’s get to work this is on the level yeah space the final frontier oh
Somebody’s been watching some Star Trek I’ve been watching a little too much star track I got to be honest with you really I don’t know is that possible no wow it’s not possible our levels are very high right now woo like it man that’s awesome I’ll tell you what they
Don’t make television like that anymore Star Trek used to almost every episode be some kind of commentary on society yeah right yep that’s very true it was I been watching uh Next Generation I started at season 1 and I’m into season two now and um at first it’s kind of
Hard to watch you know yeah it’s a little cheesy in the beginning in the beginning it’s yeah they’re still trying to figure things out you know the budget wasn’t there right yeah clearly the budget wasn’t there the actors didn’t really know their characters yet right and Bard didn’t
Have his Bard voice really down you know like he does now you know The Bard maneuver yeah that’s right that one right he tucks his shirt every right yes that’s right um apparently the shirts rode up all the time and oh my gosh we’re recording this is a show what the
Heck hi people hey what’s up guys wow you’re not a nerd we’re we’re nerding out on some Star Trek uh which is um which is appropriate I mean it’s a great show it is the the greatest show yeah ever to Grace the television screen you know I remember when when next
Generation first came out me too season one I had believe it or not and this is really weird I had a portable television what yeah it was a handheld portable television now this is what you got a cell phone 80s I don’t remember what year it came
Out it was in the ‘ 8S I believe it was yeah late 80s anyways uh I was so into it that I was carrying my um 87 87 I was carrying my portable television it was super fuzzy had a big antenna you know it was cool it this was a portable
Television in ‘ 87 it it was a handheld television man I’m telling you and I’m and it’s Tri I’m taking my kids on Halloween trick-or-treating and I’m watching Next Generation this is how much I was into wow very cool yeah I guess my poor kids you know they probably well they knew I
Was a freak so that was the precursor to cell phones you got your TV in your hand it was pretty cool everyone thought my my cool fact was through the roof yeah for the 80s man that was a big deal you know I wonder what ever happened at
Think I bet be worth a ton of money these days oh God yeah absolutely it would I’m sure it lasted all of you know a couple of weeks and then something malfunctioned and it blew up you know that was tech tech in the 80s was pretty
Sketchy at best it’s true we had a lot of cool technology but nothing worked nothing really worked and it was big and bulky and kind of a concept now it’s just everyday you know we’re we’re chained to it now it knows more than we do that’s not a false statement that’s
Right that’s right so brother what’s been going on with you man what’s uh what’s the latest me oh nothing you know just the usual we did a a really awesome practice last night for a competition degree team with right worshipful Ron babber who brought in right honorable uh
JJ Alberton and worshipful Kevin sapio to the team wow we have like literally he’s talking about bringing one more big huge name to help coach and I can’t even imagine who that might be wow that’s awesome we already got all the heat right around here so who else is he
Bringing yeah I was only a little intimidated before now well H they’re so nice yeah they’re good guys the practice is like on on level I’ve never experienced in all my years of Freemasonry and this is this is ridiculous that I’m even there I’m a seconde Mason well yeah I guess second
Almost three um year Mason I’m sitting in the junior warden’s chair and uh I am clearly the weak link I mean I am just like ay so I got to work at it I got I can’t I I can’t be there and make and lose us points it can’t happen I cannot
Allow that well he said last night uh we’re gunning for a perfect score and by the time we do our final practice we will be doing it at a perfect score level right and he said if we lose it will be because somebody made a mistake they didn’t make in practice right
That’s and that’s almost always you got to keep your head in the game because you’ll know it and you got to get through the The Fear Factor part that’s a big factor you could know it and know it really well and then the day of when
You’re up at bat man you’re swinging for the fence and you know strike three you’re out you know that’s that’s what happens so you gota for me in my mind if I I have to know it I mean I have to know the I have to not only know
The material but I got to know the why behind it so check this once I own it then then I’m comfortable with it I can have fun with it yeah and uh and and I’m good and I’m there now I know I know all
The words um I can do it from memory you know without an issue so it’s uh you know what is this he’s showing me something folks for those of you listening to the podcast and not watching it because you can’t watch it yet uh he has handed me his phone and
I’m looking at have a picture box in my hand I got a picture box in my hand of Mr babber he’s dro dropping a golf ball this was one of the exercises we did last night took a golf ball dropped it on the Mosaic pavement and it was the
Junior warden’s job to have his column down before the ball hit the ground and the senior warden’s job to have his up by the time the ball reached his hand oh what a great idea you were doing exercises like that oh man I’m so sorry I missed that I’ve never practiced in
This in this way and it was so Dynamic and engaging everybody was having so much fun but learning really learning ah so yeah this is this is all in preparation we haven’t even started actually practicing we’re just learning how to learn properly right now right right yeah how to read a floorwork book
How to use your floorwork book as an open books right uh as you were there when we went through open books and read every letter every letter jot time yeah it made a difference oh God it made a huge difference to me I always just like
I just do it from memory and and babber even said he said all right I can tell you’re just doing it from memory you’re not actually reading it go go through it again and read every single word every letter and it was like whoa this is hard
Yeah I love it but it does cement it a little better into into your mind and and um you know for me um the stress of doing it the day of uh is going to give way to just the fun and the joy of it
You know and that’s that’s the way I am if I know the material and I can have fun with it uh then then I know that I’ll do fine you know and and the junior Warden part is not all that um difficult you know there’s you’re doing a lot of
Standing and sitting um and and very little talking I I feel for the uh well for the worful master position obviously they uh and the senior Warden they got a lot of talking to do every chair has its like difficulties you know none of them are super easy but I would
Say the senior Deacon because he moves so much oh yeah that’s right and talks arguably has the harder job that’s correct yeah but the master being the focus of all the attention that is a layer of difficulty that people don’t realize can be challenging on top of the
Words and on top of the floor workor so I I I could see that case being made that the Master’s the harder than the senior Deacon but I could I would argue the senior Deacon is actually tough right as tough as the master yeah yeah
So um what are we talking about what are we talking about you guys still out there sorry sorry uh it’s us bantering again um so I I want to talk a little bit about Texas and just a little bit you know there are things going on outside of
Florida in the world of Freemasonry there are there’s another one that we could bring up but let’s go for Texas first let’s go with Texas so uh apparently there’s a huge controversy going in Grand Lodge of Texas um has um and we and on the level with Fred and
Chris is not taking a side or a stand here here in any way but it’s interesting to me that this is a this is a controversy it seems to us from here in Florida and just what we’ve seen online is that the Old Guard is not
Wanting to give way to the new guard am I wrong about that that is exactly what the issue is and it’s gotten so detrimental to the craft absolutely yeah that things are looking a little scary for them right now like they might actually split to two Grand lodges is
That even possible it’s totally possible wow that’s how the there’s a uh Freemasons of Florida Facebook group and this is where we’ve been kind of getting some information is right the Masons in that’s Texas are posting about it and uh their passions are getting the better of
Them a lot of them right yeah it happens it happens yeah people are digging into camps they’re calling each other names they’re they’re uh they’re they’re not engaged and Masonic dialogue I literally see people see say this is why people aren’t coming to Lodge I’m leaving this group what they’re doing is they’re
Driving people away their their passion their inability to circumscribe their passions is driving people away right and what’s the end goal here you know what is what is the goal guys out there in Texas um you know is the goal to make new Masons because I don’t think you’re
Going about the right way uh if that’s if that is the ultimate goal um so we were wanting to there’s a there’s a there’s a Mason a brother yes out there who’s trying to I guess he’s on the new the new upcoming um side what’s his name can we
Say his name on on the air oh sure so uh I believe the grandmaster’s name is Clay Smith okay and the issue is I believe he accepted Masonic charges against the junior grandmas of the State of Texas all right uh whose name is uh right uh most
Wishful ramsy okay does that sound right uh I’m trying to find his first name I think his last name is ramsy uh yes he was trying to run for Grand secretary and so these charges came at installation and that prevented him according to Texas law from running for
The secretary’s chair if he was under Masonic charges oh that was their first attempt to so that smells like a political move uh in the in the grandest of terms correct yeah I mean when you accept the charges at an installation it’s pretty clear it’s pretty clear you’re making a statement yeah there’s
Something not right there yeah and and I my statement was you know is this the Old Guard not giving way to the new guard it just seems like that’s always the case you know there’s a but I you know I could be wrong we would love to
Get Rumsey M brother Rumsey on yeah uh the show to talk to him so we’re trying to reach out to him and see if he’d be willing to come on and just tell us what’s going on out there because at the end of the day all of us Masons need to
Be doing what we can to help Texas kind of kind of go go go home go in the lodge close the door all of you men men and Masons face to face and work this out man and and make make Texas great again for goodness sakes come on man what’s up
With that right worshipful Jim ramsy the name so he’s the one that we tried to reach out to him to see if we could get him uh to interview him on the show and talk about what’s going on he may not be able to talk about it but uh if he is
Willing and able to talk about it we’d love to hear you know what’s going on and then maybe uh from the other side as well uh hear some things going on and maybe Florida can help um Texas and someday maybe Texas can help Florida because that’s what we do we’re Masons
Right uh yeah so I I think uh the grandmas removed the grand treasure uh he removed a brother who was the chairman of Finance okay when he became Grandmaster and then proceeded to file charges against this brother and another named uh Billings wow uh who was that is who was running for Grand
Secretary was uh Billings and uh charges were filed against all these people uh the whole state is up and because apparently the the brothers who are under charges are beloved by the state they had fantastic contributions they brought change they were visible they communicated and there’s a certain older guard that is
Not a fan of this change right right want things to stay the way they’ve always been and uh we’re no stranger to that not on not on the grand Grand Lodge level here but uh in our own backyard we’re no stranger to that uh that effect
For sure um I’m sure anyone in anywhere in the world must experience that right I I would say so yeah when the new comes in but you know it’s it’s the same thing look at look at uh you know look at our Congress you know the average age
Believe it or not the average age uh in the Congress of the United States of America is 74 years old people that’s it 74 years old can you imagine that and and a lot of the top names that you’re thinking of right now they’re in their
80s man so and I’ve always believed that you know um the the future cannot be carved out by the past you you cannot you cannot make a future uh based on the past and and the elders are supposed to give way to the youngers and be there to
Support them uh and to uh to you know to help them you know carve out this new Direction and we we just don’t have that anywhere can we please try it in masonry maybe if we try it uh in in the Masonic World maybe we can it’s like I said one
Of the uh switching here to another Rabbit Hole the the Symposium that we have in January uh the the talk that Chris and I are going to work on and it’s not going to be an in-depth talk because we’ve got some really great speakers who are G to who are going to
Really take the show oh yeah but our our quick brief uh talk is going to be about a project that Chris and I are going to start working on which is uh does masonry have something to offer to our hurting country and I’ve been digging into some stats uh on young men young
American men in this country and it is disheartening fellas it’s really disheartening what’s going on with our young men in this country right now and we are we are definitely in a crisis U with regard to young men and my question is and the question that we want to
Answer during the Symposium we don’t have a lot of time to develop it but we’re going to do it in parts and pieces and we’ll do some of it on the show as well but does masonry offer something to young men that could help them navigate
Uh this world and do better in this world because uh young men in this country are failing and failing greatly uh on a huge scale and uh my question is does masonry have something to offer to help us well Texas the answer to that the answer is Texas you got to get
Yourself together and uh we we challenge you in love as brothers to get it together man and to uh you know to to join the rest of masonry uh in in in helping we got to help this country if if masonry can help young men find their
Direction find their way find a cause find Integrity find a way to circumscribe their passions and be contributors to a future then I say we should do everything we can to make that a reality yeah absolutely that’s kind of what we’re charged to do as masons in
The three charges that we take that’s right the degrees that’s right I think we did a couple shows on that yeah well Texas uh apparently their grand lodge meets in January so this is all going to be set settled in January all right but they’re calling for a special session to
Be made who’s calling for it the Old Guard or the new craft petitions areed by lodges oh I love that submitted to Grand Lodge the people have been activated yeah lodges are getting involved oh this is great yeah that’s why it’s dangerous yeah right absolutely yeah people are actually getting
Behind again or or facing off against their grand lodge so where does that take them because they have no authority over Grand Lodge right people have all the authority so I’m curious to watch and see how our brothers in Texas handle this I see a lot of uh vitriol yeah yeah
Anger lot of emotion getting away from people online uh some people are are steady steadfast Masonic people but they’re not getting listened to from what I can see online right it’s it’s kind of a mess but Other M news other Masonic news go ahead this is the state of Ohio okay the
Grand LOD has issued a ruling on transgenders okay which is interesting in news I believe uh and what it boils down to is that they have determined uh that they will follow the sex given to you at your birth okay as a male only fraternal Society a petitioner
Must be born a male and continue to live as a male as a private organization our business meetings are private and we respect the privacy of our members uh but they’re saying that yes if you were born a man you can be a Mason if you transition
To a woman you’re no longer living as a man and therefore can’t be a Mason and vice versa I suppose if you were born a woman and transitioned a man you cannot be a Mason correct because they’re going by your sex at Birth right okay so you
Have to have both born a man and living as a man right which puts any transgender woman becoming a man out of the mix and any transgender man becoming a woman out of the mix so all right you’re not a mason in Ohio so the first thing in my mind is that
They Kudos on them for just for for taking a stand whether you agree with it or disagree with it they actually stood up and said this is what we’re about um which is lacking uh in this country for sure I presume it’s because they were presented with a probably so right issue
Right yeah it came up so that it had to be addressed and this is the way they decided to address it it does it does purport to the orig the origins of Freemasonry I think whenever you’re whenever you’re presented as an organization with a new world problem or
A new world situation it’s important to go back to who you are from the beginning who are you and what do you stand for in the beginning what what are your principles and what are your you know what is what is it that has made
You what you are and then stand on that uh it sounds like that’s what they’re doing men uh it’s a fraternity so you know and and right now I know I know this became as a a political football almost immediately but people are beginning to
Take a step back on this issue and and talk about it a little bit more uh especially because the women’s sports and all that stuff that came out and now it’s just blowing up you know on you know it’s the the unintended consequences you know of of uh issues
That that come up and everybody just runs in One Direction and then all of a sudden it’s like wait wait the house is still on fire the house is on fire and uh we got to stop and put it out and figure this thing out and I think that’s
What’s happening now um I take no I I don’t know I I I haven’t really thought about it so I I should keep my mouth shut until I know how I feel about the whole thing I I did think about it and obviously my political views tend to
Be we call them Center left correct so I tend to try to protect people’s civil rights uh and initially I was like wait this isn’t fair but you know I I read this and I thought about it more and we are a private organization we make our
Own rules we don’t have to follow that’s right societal Norms whether they’re good or bad we can stick to who we are and I think uh I agree with the decision personally that if you’re born a man be a Mason if you’re born a woman you’re
Not going to be a Mason if you want to be a woman why would you want to be a Mason correct correct so uh the Grand Lodge of England however has ruled the opposite oh no kidding they see it as a civil rights issue and uh they say that gender
Reassignment should be treated with the utmost compassion and sensitivity and they allow men who transition to women to remain Masons right and women who become men to become Masons now I do know that uh I do believe in Canada and in England it is illegal you could be arrested literally for disagreeing with
The uh you know with that standard so they may be just cow Towing to uh you know government regulation because they are it’s different there yeah it’s really different you don’t have the right they have they have female Freemasonry over there so they really changed so they yeah they’ve changed a
Lot of stuff over there yeah and and and I I’m not I’m not commenting on good or bad it’s not my house that’s somebody else’s house it’s across the pond that’s their deal not ours correct um I do know here um we do have we still kind of
Almost still have the right to free expression uh it’s it’s it’s eroding uh daily but we still have that right to free expression like you just said from your position um you know we are a private organization and we should and do have the right to determine our own
Destiny yes based on you know what we as a craft uh want it to be and our landmarks existed before the transgender issue absolutely right I get at some point something had to be said and uh we haven’t in Florida to my knowledge no the State of Florida had to deal with
That at the Grand Lodge level uh I’m i’ in Florida I’d be surprised if it came up in the near future but it might it might and I’d be curious to see how they handle it I don’t think the majority of people would disagree with how handle it
Personally yeah um I think the majority would agree it’s a fair stance I I suppose so I suppose so because either you were born a woman or you chose not to be a man correct and if you’re choosing not to be a man okay it’s a fraternity of men right the argument’s
Pretty easy to make that you should not be a Mason right it I mean at at the end of the day it is a an emotional it’s a choice I shouldn’t say emotional wrong word but it it certainly is a choice because your DNA will always
Remain the sex that you were born in it doesn’t matter they’ve dug up bones you know that are hundreds and hundreds of years old and they do testing on the DNA and they can tell if it’s a male or a female you know so it’s always going to
Be that way you can make uh superficial changes to your body and to your personality you can do that uh through modern technology but you will never change the the app the total makeup of your your DNA strands it won’t change you you can’t you were made that way you
Were born that way and you’ll you will die that way yes so that that part’s just true let’s get off this and on to what are we talking about today your current affairs there you go Texas and Ohio Texas and Ohio yeah go go Texas come on guys let’s uh let’s uh let’s
Let’s see you guys work this work through this in a masonic way and come out on the other side as better men that would be that would be uh on the level with Fred and Chris’s desire and if there’s anything this show can do yeah to uh to help facilitate that let us
Know email us and uh and let us know we’ve got some listeners in Texas um so uh distract you so much from the issue you’ll have no idea what you’re originally talking about that’s right we’re good at that we’re done with you that’s kind of like what we’re good at
Right we’ll we’ll take you down a rabbit hole you ain’t never seen coming EXA all right so we’re still in the etiquette book yes um which is great I’m I’m good here I I kind of like it we’re getting a lot of really positive feedback uh from folks all over the
World um that they uh they dig it um it’s the book they almost never read did I see Sweden was it Sweden correct our brother from Sweden uh shouted out uh to us and um I I I think he has like a really cool Swedish name so uh P yeah something cool ironide
Or something I don’t know something something totally cool like that yeah yeah maybe maybe yeah yeah maybe but anyway um sgen sgen yeah he he shouted out to us and um let us know that he was listening and that he was digging uh the content with regard to uh to the
Etiquette book that and and I think he made the comment forgive me brother I don’t have your email right in front of me but um I think he made the comment that he he like most people never really read never read the thing most people
Don’t look at it and read it so we go through these these documents of ours here in the Florida Grand Lodge documents and booklets that we have that which we can share we don’t share stuff that we’re not allowed to share uh or that is part of our you know our secret
Rituals but um it’s it it we don’t go totally in depth uh on this stuff what we try to do is get you guys to be like hey these guys are talking about this I’ve never open it up maybe I’ll just open it up for myself I’ll read through
It and uh maybe I’ll I’ll encourage my brothers and my Lodge to do more with it and read through it and that’s a lot of the responses that we’ve gotten over the years um uh with with regard to you know what we do here people that’s what
People do we’re not we’re not diving deep into Masonic Truth uh here on the show you guys probably already know that uh we we’re pretty superficial with it by Design we want you to do the work we want you to go home and open it up and
Read and and figure out what it is you believe about masonry and why on Earth you would believe it in the first place this week we’ve said it many times we’re not teaching we’re not teaching anybody we’re not teaching we’re just giving you our opinions on things we’re giving you
Our opinions and we’re encouraging you to go and teach yourself and find out for yourself open up some books talk to some people ask some important questions and get those answers that you need to make yourself a better Mason which makes you a better man go I have the email
From Johan lingvist yes Johan list shout out to Johan way across the pond Yan linguist from St John’s Lodge Solomon and Troy suurus and GTA provincial Lodge under the Grand Lodge of Sweden wow Sweden mouthful that’s awesome he sent a big ping from Sweden where he listens to
The podcast although he’s always a couple weeks behind come on come on brother Yohan I thoroughly enjoyed the discussion but I tend to skip interviews from Florida Masonic officers see this is why we can’t just interview people from Florida because we do have listeners all over we are in Florida so
It’s easy for us to access people Johan send us an email we’ll interview you from across the pond that’ll be fun list uh I uh you stay away from things that cannot be discussed openly I do learn a lot about the similarities and differences between both our ritual traditions and organization so thanks
For bringing this show to us that’s awesome for listening brother yeah brother it means the world to us man that that’s why we do what we do and um why we get here at 6:30 a.m. on a Thursday morning yeah to do what we do uh and apologies this podcast will be released
30 minutes from the time we record it as soon as we turn this thing off we’re gonna we’re gonna we’re GNA post it because we missed yesterday and our apologies guys we are really struggling with time uh these days to to consistently get it out on Wednesday
Morning which I know you guys are used to and we do get emails we hear you guys you shooting us stuff Hey where’s the podcast what’s going on what happened was there a nuclear Holocaust that I was unaware of the answer is no Fred and Chris are just stupid busy and uh
Sometimes we just cannot get our sorry butts in here at an un ungodly morning uh hour of the morning okay I want to get going on this I have one more if okay go go yes of course go but uh I don’t know why this was sent to me this is
Uh from Brother Frank during uh brother Frank during said good morning worful brother Burns just want to let you know that I love your podcast and look forward to every new one each week keep up the great work and education you and Fred are doing the two
Of you are making a big difference wow that’s awesome thanks bro wow that means a lot he is a past master of Hancock Lodge 229 in ellinsworth Wisconsin woohoo I’ve help she’s head yeah she’s head I’ve held many Grand Lodge offices over my 20 years being a Freemason
Lastly the position of District Deputy of our district 2 oh ties in perfectly District Deputy District Deputy H where is that going to come up go as such I saw a great need for True basic Masonic education we’ve always tried to raise the the calling and have forgotten to
Raise the floor this year by your inspiration I have started an open book club similar to what your brothers do in Florida I could use some help and guidance that on tri’s Endeavor as you already have experience with what works and what doesn’t could you please help
Me out with this also I’m very interested in the promotional program you developed which I understand is now sponsored by the Grand Lodge of Florida I want to learn how this works I want to bring it to the Grand Lodge of Wisconsin as I said before he’s been a district
Deputy discovered some important needs in The Lodges Wisconsin has less than 8,000 active Freemasons many of whom are very Advanced and aged and he believes as we do that there’s a great opportunity to strengthen our ranks with the right tools brother you are singing our song man you are singing Our Song
Yes I know somebody who’s influential in the reimbursement program he’s sitting right across from me so that is not a problem uh gladly to help out there yes yes well absolutely will help with that and I’m going to email brother during and uh maybe we’ll have him on the show
If he has any success with these things that would be great happened over there that would be absolutely awesome as far as you know what we have learned with uh sitting down with a group of men and openly discussing uh Masonic um whatever it is we we have a discussion
Group uh esoteric discussion group and we sat down and we just opened up the mentors manual and started uh just talking about EA stuff uh that’s in the manual and kind of pushing the conversation in that way I can tell you what doesn’t work what doesn’t work is uh one person
Reading uh and just kind of a a teaching a teacher student format does not seem to work we’ve we’ve tried it once or twice and it just bombs what works is an open conversation but you have to have somebody directing traffic yes uh in there um kind of keeping things going
Somebody who’s experienced I have a lot of experience in that kind of stuff because I’ve just done I’ve done this kind of stuff Men’s Ministry for 30 years at our events yeah it I I I don’t like it being just me so I’m I’m actively recruiting people to uh to
Start doing it as well as me but anyways brother what I’m saying to you is that an open forum uh with one or two guys sitting you know kind of in the front facilitating not leading not directing but facilitating open conversations um and and reinforcing
Some of the rules of the group um one of our rules in the group is everything is you can share anything you want doesn’t matter what it is as long as it’s done with gentleness and respect for the belief structures of everybody in the room this some people think that’s not
Possible it is possible we have proven it over and over again I think we’ve done four or five of those now so figure very successfully probably 10 hours of discussions we’ve done corre and in those 10 hours we had one situation where we had to change the subject I
Think so I think so yeah it’s like barely anything compared to the heavy stuff we were actually talking about right and and it ain’t just the degree it ain’t just your words we’re talking about life yeah no we we went into some deep deep truths and a lot of social
Issues MH um we even had a conversation about racism and and race relations um we had they don’t want to hear about that no they don’t every time we use that word everybody Tunes out I don’t know why that word is death to podcast never put that word in your title by the
Way if you’re a podcast no one will listen to it 101 we we don’t want to hear about it I wonder why we I guess that means we probably should okay there’s a rabbit hole for you now can we finally get please to the etiquette uh
Manual that’s uh GL 208 revised in 2010 you’ll find it with a yellow cover uh it was given to you when you became an Entered Apprentice uh by your secretary and uh it was the last book on the bottom of the pile and that’s probably
Why it remained there get it out uh when you get a chance get it out and read through it you won’t you won’t regret it we’ll do it with you right now we’ll do it with you now to uh the The Heading today uh which is on page four are you
Kidding me we’re only on page four uh is uh District Deputy Grandmaster uh is the heading and I’ll just read the first paragraph or so the district Deputy Grand Master is the personal representative of The Grandmaster and when visiting a lodge whether it be formally or informally he
Should be accorded all respect he should never be addressed by his first name during any part of Lodge ceremonies such conduct de demeans his office the district Deputy Grandmaster should be received in accordance with Provisions adopted at the 180th Grand Lodge in 2010 so that’s the reason why this book
Is revised for 2010 a district Deputy Grandmaster is required by our constitutional law to officially visit every Lodge in his dict District at least once during his term he comes there to perform certain specific duties required by Grand Lodge and to changing the page my goodness and to give the
Brethren the the message of The Grandmaster this message contains matters of importance concerning wi concerning which The Grandmaster in his wisdom deems it necessary to inform the craft the remarks of the Deputy then are of supreme importance it is his it is his evening no programs or speeches
Other than his should be allowed what he has to say should stand out nothing must detract from it that’s interesting so this is something that I’ve heard from several District deputies past District deputies they people don’t understand the role of the district EP grandm I did
Not understand it yeah they have told me PE they don’t understand why people get scared when they enter the room they get nervous when they’re around the district Deputy Grandmaster because they have no power uh their P their job is to bring the grand Master’s message to the
District right yeah they can’t take your Charter they can’t unmake you a Mason they can’t even give you any kind of masonic uh discipline uh they are simply there as the eyes and ears of The Grandmaster so if they see something they’re supposed to report it to The Grandmaster right if The Grandmaster
Tells them to do something they have to do what they’re told they don’t have a whole lot of power and autonomy right as the district Deputy Grandmaster uh but because it’s such a a a position of uh admiration Masons I guess we do rever the district Deputy
Correct as uh the most important person in our district at that time you know because they represent us at the Grand Lodge and he he literally represents uh the grandm yes uh sitting in your Lodge so the grandm cannot be everywhere at all times he is not omnipresent therefore his Representatives with in
Each district represent him I like you said eyes and ears uh in the lodge when he comes in he is representing the Grand Master he’s representing uh most worful Bishop uh when uh right worshipful uh District Deputy Grandmaster Davies comes into our lodge he is rep representing most worful
Bishop and we are to afford him the same respect we would most worful Bishop that’s the idea here yeah and um I have I always ask every outgoing District Deputy Grand Master ever since I was a senior Steward I used to I don’t know why I was always curious like hey was
There anything that surprised you in your year anything you didn’t prepare for and every single one of them has said the same thing for the last six years I can guess I had no idea how bad things were oh oh is that right I had no idea how UNM Masonic people behave oh
Right oh wow that’s what shocks them that’s what they weren’t prepared for is some of the bad stuff they wind up seeing inevitably uh and that’s the job right that’s the job people come to you when there’s a problem and they tell you there’s a problem you wind up seeing all
The problems you see all the bad stuff and you’re used to being in your Lodge and you know your Lodge is deal and you know what the problems are right and you think ah it we got big problems but then you go out and look at the other lodges
And you see oh there’s some really big problems really bad stuff right yeah wor Masters need to get removed Charters need to be pulled uh Masonic trials are being held like heavy stuff that you’re dealing with uh and so some of them I’ve seen needed to take a minute to recover
From all that negativity they were surrounded by uh it can be a very difficult job it seems I don’t know I’ve never done it and uh hopefully don’t get asked to do it uh but it seems to me that the people that have done it unanimously agree that you you should be
Prepared mentally for dealing with some interesting things you probably don’t want to have to deal with yeah that’s right it ain’t all sunshine and Rainbow and I know we’re remiss in inviting um our current uh deput Deputy District grandmas um right it really is you hear it all the time it’s hard rightful
District Deputy Grandmaster Davies yes there you go um shout out uh to brother Tom um and uh we have we we our apologies we have been remiss in inviting you he’s been busy I know I know how busy you are every time I talk to him he’s like I travel I travel I
Keep I travel I keep traveling well I think they have to do four Lodge visits this year he told me it was eight eight for the whole year yes so he has to go to Every Lodge four times yes and we’ve got nine lodges so that’s 36 Lodge
Visits 36 Lodge visit visits all over the district the district Deputy is also expected to be at the grandmaster’s official visits throughout the state oh right so there’s another all those there’s another 13 or whatever 20 something you’re 60 70 things to do yeah so he spends his time traveling a lot so
I and we understand that and we are planning on on asking him and hopefully he’ll be gracious enough to to come on and we can do a an interview with our our current we want to we want to interview um we’re we’re a little LAX guys it’s end of the year the holidays
Are starting and things just crept up on us we got a thousand things in the fire right now and that’s the one thing that kind of fell by the wayside we want to get um we want to get our uh our instructor our our district instructor
Justin broom um on again we want to get Tom Davey on and we want to get uh couple of other people on before the end of the year we’re trying like crazy but it’s just I wish Barry Hart will be the next interview Barry Hart will be the
Next interview yes um a stalworth in our district oh yeah um if Barry Hart is he’s he’s the Geor George Burns of District 23 George Burns once said I I I can’t die I’m too booked and that’s to booked that’s that’s right worful Hart uh he can’t go anywhere nothing can
Happen to him because he’s just too darn booked uh he is going to be somewhere even tonight I’m sure of it or tomorrow night any any day of the week he’s somewhere is doing something for uh our district and uh we are blessed to have him for sure two more George Burns
Quotes that could be Barry heart quotes oh yeah go sex at 90 is like trying to shoot pool with a rope oh I could see Barry saying that happiness is having a large loving caring close-knit family in another city Love George Burns George Burns is awesome what’s the other one he said um
Had I listened to my doctor uh and quit smoking cigars I would not have lived long enough to attend his funeral he said when I was a boy the Dead Sea was only sick what he lived to be like 90 something right oh yeah he was up there
Man he was up there quite he was a class singer Class Act my father’s name was George Burns oh that’s right yeah your name is George Burns my middle name is George I’m Christopher George Burns sitting across from George Burns yeah I’m trying to
Make that tie so I can get some of that inheritance okay let me know how that anyone out there can help me with that any lawyers any any lawyers yes from the Burns estate yes the other Burns estate yes please call the show uh okay so the Constitution also requires that the
District Deputy inspect the records and accounts of The Lodges and sees that the same are in proper order and then it cites the section there have been instances where lodges have gotten into difficulties because of irregularities which such an inspection would have disclosed but were not discovered until too late because this constitutional
Requirement has not been complied with this being a duty imposed upon the district Deputy by our constitution the master should formally tender the the lodge records to the district deputy before such an official visitation and preferably at a time convenient to the district Deputy to examine the same so
That the conciseness dis so that the consens the consenus district Deputy will not be put to the embarrassment of asking for records conscientious sorry conscientious I I I can’t I did not bring my book I’m reading it off my computer sorry um yeah that did that
This year well I was a Treasurer when he came in you were there yeah we both did that together that’s right yeah and it was interesting it’s a very thorough look that they do yeah it is it is and it’s um it should be it it should not be
You shouldn’t be afraid even if you’ve got work to do inside your Lodge as far as your recordkeeping goes um you should welcome it um I I know I certainly did um because I know that as the treasure I just became treasur in June late June uh
July Maybe and um there’s a lot of work to do in there and uh and the secretary and I have been been working through it you know little by little um as as we can we were not I’ll be honest U with everybody we were not as prepared as I
Would have liked to have been um there’s no discrepancies or or any anything you know negative like that going on but I think we could have done a better job with regard to uh keeping things in order and you know for me I’m a project manager I’ve been a project manager for
A long long time um so for me a ready information is everything to me so if I walk into an office and I ask somebody who works under me for information um that they’re supposed to have if they don’t have it that raises a major red
Flag to me so when the when the district Deputy Grandmaster comes in and is asking for ready information and I don’t have it I don’t like that that a that ain’t the way it’s supposed to be we’re supposed to have that information should be a click away you know that that
Whatever they’re asking for and that is our goal uh that that our lodge 147 will have that uh under control our lodge is a little unique in that we have a lot of money um so and it’s a big Lodge it’s downtown Sarasota the property is
Extremely valuable um and uh we’ve got a lot of members a pretty large membership so uh it’s not as easy as a lot of the I asked one Treasurer he’s been Treasurer forever and ever of another Lodge if he could you know if I could hang out with
Him and ask him a few questions he said don’t bother bro it takes me two minutes to do to do our uh treasury work because we don’t have any money oh yeah and it’s true with a lot of lodges they it’s not High Finance uh there’s not a lot going
On there but in our lodge that’s not the case it’s actually yeah there’s a lot going on a lot lot coming and going and you’re going to have a lot more we did some big stuff this year we did we did we we signed a contract that we are we
Have entered into to sell our parking lot in the air rights above our building for yeah a significant sum of money very significant and that’s going to change things even more so I’m trying to get us ready uh it’s Pro that probably happen in a year from now maybe a year and a
Half from now I’m trying to get everything ready to receive said funding uh and then and then hopefully turn it over to a competent uh person to take over as treasure and I hope you’re in for life I’m not in for life don’t listen to that voice it is not true I
Will not be secretary for Life For Life GH no thank you I I don’t mind I love untangling wires that’s my thing I love big giant balls of wire that are Tangled and gnarled up and I I love to untangle them but once I untangle them I’m bored
With it and I want to move on to the next big bundle of wires so and that is very much the the the way I am I will of course stay because all Masons should be faithful in their position and if you’re needed there stay there brother if
You’re listening that’s for you uh let’s move on when making an official visit to a lodge in his district the district Deputy shall be formally received with grand honors on such occasions all guests who are not entitled to Grand honors but whom it is desired to honor by a special
Introduction at the altar should be should be received first what want to try that again on such occasions all guests who are not entitled to Grand honors but whom it is desired to honor by a special introduction at the altar should be received first yeah thereafter the district Deputy may prefer to be
Received alone ahead of other others entitled to Grand honors in order that he may himself preside at the reception and the rendering of grand honors to such other guests or he may desire to enter with such other distinguished guests in which case it being his official visitation
Where in the absence of the grandm he is directly exercising His function as the personal representative of the said grandm okay that’s because there’s only one other situation that you would issue Grand honors to a brother in the State of Florida and that’s when he receives his 50-year award oh right so they’re
Saying imagine that you had a 50-year presentation they don’t want that to like kill his ju guu oh gotta bring him in do his presentation then bring in the grandmas and do his p circumstance gotcha gotcha okay so that that makes sense and and I know that he comes in
With his Council behind him right yes his committee his committee men committe come in with him he leads the whole group in yep uh he’s the first one sat in the East correct and then the committee men are introduced in sat as well right yeah it’s it’s actually it’s
A it’s it’s pretty cool I like it I like that stuff that’s why because I’m kind of weird I guess of it yeah the ritual of it is good especially when it’s done correctly the last time we did it it went pretty well man actually it was it
Was real good I know our our instructor our district instructor was there with his notepad out yes making making notes as we were doing it and never came back to us with any corrections so that was pretty encouraging you know I think well this year I think is the first year
They’ve asked the district Deputy to grade each officer individually on how he performs during the ritual opening and closing uh and I was told that we did very well uh so that’s encouraging I hope he doesn’t say that to everybody yeah right but I felt like we did really well it
Went it went it went real smooth there was no it was an accident we practiced we practiced it and there was none of those cringy moments you know where things are like oh that didn’t go well you know there was none of that it flowed right through from beginning to
End and it was a great evening it was a really good evening all right next is dress oh um and we’ve got about I don’t know we got got about 25 minutes less let’s try it uh shall a lodge require of its officers that they wear formal dress
Question mark the wisdom of doing so depends entirely upon circumstances and is a point which it is the prerogative of each of each con constituted Lodge to decide though much may be said in favor of formal dress cutaway coat tuxedo or full evening dress since it is a mark of
A respectable it is a mark of the respect for the fraternity mhm in any event one thing is certain if any of the officers are required to wear formal attire all the officers should wear it without exception and if he and his colleagues wear it the worshipful master
Should use a hat to correspond not a should wear a hat to correspond not a soft hat straw hat or a cap makes sense the members will dress according to to private taste and it is proper that they enter the lodge room with apron properly arranged beforehand and any other Regal regalia
Jewels Etc in due order so that’s that’s interesting it it was a little bit of a controversy last year yes dress it came up that was the big deal at Grand launch last year that was the big deal yeah they were um our poor most worful uh
Lambert he’s a great guy shout out to to most worshipful Lambert um but um but even he when we interviewed him he even said you know it was it was it was something that he thought would be a good idea but the craft did not and he
Accepted it yeah because he’s a true Mason and uh and moved on there was no hard feelings there was nothing like that it was disgust and uh moved on and his his thing was just I think the overall idea behind it was uh just the decorum
Yeah um of of the dress we we wear black um black suits with bow tie black suits Black Bow Tie white shirt white gloves white gloves so we we go we go all out I enjoy it um my wife loves the fact that I I dress that way twice a twice a month
Really to go out she loves it yep nice and uh we look sharp when we dress like that we really do we really do and it it just brings an air of uh of importance to the evening feel different when I put the suit on yeah absolutely Ely do I do
I feel different and then the gloves come on and it’s like all right I am uh nothing I touch it’s all with Purity now and uh you know you go through the ritual opening you’re like wow I’m a Freemason this is happening this is awesome now I have been to other lodges
In the State of Florida where I’ve seen their officer attire is for example like dress shirts but at short sleeve I’ve seen polo shirts that are LOD shirts that that’s what the officers wear I was just at a LGE and um one of the officers had a uh like a sports Jersey T-shirt
With the lodge logo on it and that was the shirt right so it’s wildly different and uh some lodges have they’re just in normal clothes and they don’t match and when the officers don’t match it is kind of off-putting and it’s it’s a little confusing too it is confusing yeah
Absolutely did the guy just come off the street and fill that roll or is he one one of the officers I can’t so it’s like hey I like the idea of okay it all of you should dress the same we’re not saying how to dress but you got to wear
The same stuff yeah I think I could be mistaken shout out guys if I am but I think um wrong wrong I think um uh who’s the lodge down who’s Bob’s Lodge uh down South Englewood Englewood Lodge they wear I think they call each other or
They call out the dress of the evening because it’s different sometimes they’re suited out uh to the Max and then sometimes you come down and they’re all in their Lodge shirts um and they’ve got some cool Lodge shirts man somebody knows what they’re doing down there because their
Lodge stuff is awesome but um but they they dress the same but not always uh decked out in suit uh you know jacket and and uh and vest so um they they kind of take it they take it seriously but uh sometimes they don’t have to dress in
The monkey suit uh sometimes they’re just uh you know dressed uh Dressed casually but they’re all the same yeah you know which I think is great we should probably try that one time one time or two maybe maybe next year maybe the new worshipful master will do that
Listening here I can’t we got to do black suits that’s what our tire is that’s what right be I’m I’m all about it man I’m fine with that the custom prevails in some Lodges of having the worshipful master wear one type of dress clothing while the other officers wear
Different styles of dress the harmony of good taste would be better served if all dressed alike hint hint uh on that one this is a philosophy in dress there is a philosophy in dress as in so many other things and the dress proper and the dress proper to Masonic
Occasion is no exception its principle is good taste its practice is to wear such attire as shows respect to the Brotherhood and express the Dignity of masonry there it is there that’s that’s the reason for it and I hear a lot of people come you know some people come in
And they want to wear shorts and and sandals and and all this stuff well I’m just sitting in the you know I’m just on the sideline sitting I’ll sit in the back it’s like well that’s not the point brother you know that’s not the point the the point is is that you should
Dress different here than you do anywhere else right and I know people get off work and come to Lodge and so they don’t have much choice but uh some people have the choice and they can you know I it’s like tough on this one I travel a lot in the
State and I see a lot lot of different cultures in in The Lodges and I’ve started trying to adapt my attire to where I’m going so I almost feel like it’s disrespectful to me to walk into a lodge who’s typically wearing like jeans and a t-shirt in a suit it’s like well
Right I don’t want to be that guy so I I try to dress more like I think they’re going to dress because I want to blend in with my brothers right yeah that makes sense that makes and that’s kind of the point but at the end of the day
That last statement makes it clear that uh you know the philosophy here is that no matter what you do make sure it brings honor uh to the fraternity that’s that’s what really matters here as far as our dress goes um I know that for me um being in church for the last 35
Years um the dress thing has evolved uh back and forth over and over again if you go to a church on Sunday uh and everybody’s in suits uh it typically it it’s typically an older Congregation of people and uh the way they dress uh it
Means something to them um I came up in a time where uh the the dress code was was kind of frowned upon and everybody was wearing shorts and and t-shirts and you know the way you dress doesn’t matter and all this stuff and it in my
Opinion it it did kind of cheapen uh the Dignity of it a little bit so there is something to be said about you know dressing uh you know dressing in a way that you don’t nor dress I guess is the point you know if you’re if you’re an executive and a you
Know a multi-billion dollar Corporation you wear expensive suits every day I mean so for you it’s it’s no big deal but for those of us schlubs down here putting on a suit putting on uh a certain type of clothes does honor the occasion and I guess that’s the point
I’m beating that one to death brother we have got just a few minutes left on this particular broadcast so uh election to office is the next one emblems and symbols uh Flag Ceremony uh funerals uh coming up I guess we’ll do that on the next one uh this will be
A little bit shorter of a broadcast uh this this uh this week uh only because um it is just insanely busy these days which is no excuse uh Chris and I will endeavor to find um a better time slot for us to do this it’s you know like we
Told you from the very beginning um over a year ago I think uh that um you know we don’t actually know what we’re doing so just so you understand that I want to remind you it ain’t getting better either it ain’t getting any better man we’re going to die not knowing what
We’re doing this is this is how we do it this is probably how we will always do it um but listen if you’re listening uh right now if you got anything out of today um we we appreciate you listening we appreciate your support we’re getting support like I said from all over the
World and it it really means a lot Chris and I want our fraternity to survive we want our fraternity to to make a difference uh to do something great you know there was a time when masonry was uh was was very prevalent in this country and uh it could be that way
Again bringing all men together uh regardless of their faith uh their financial background their familial status any and all men coming together for the betterment of themselves and the community around them what’s wrong with that man where you going to find that you’re not going to find that anywhere
No uh and and are you going to find it in masonry is the question that we’re asking and the question that we’re going to be asking and um you know as as masonry as young men come into uh masonry the Old Guard is looking at them
I think in the wrong way um you know it’s it’s not your fraternity it’s our fraternity and it belong belongs to the young men the young men coming in teach them well teach them what masonry is and hand the Reigns over to them and support them that’s the only way it survives
Otherwise it goes the way of I I don’t know name a organization that’s no longer you know what it wants Boy Scouts yeah there you go there’s an organization that forgot what it was uh and paid the price for it and now it is no more uh so well almost no more but
Anyway no they’re they’re still kicking I think I hope so I hope than it was maybe but yeah absolutely they’re still doing fine I think they have girls now that’s what I was told I thought that was Girl Scouts no no they have girls that are Boy Scouts now girls that are
Boy Scouts changed a lot it’s yeah see that’s what I’m talking about so but you know it’s like I get it I get it I’m I’ve been bleeding in my Lodge four years sweat tears blood everything and I’ve just finished a year of having leadership at after all this time of the
Direction of the lodge and now it’s time to go away and be quiet and that’s hard to do I I understand you brothers and Past Masters and past Grandmasters and past District deputies you gave so much to the fraternity you gave Life Time everything it what’s more important than
Your time and you gave a lot of it to this fraternity and so you love it and you don’t want to see it uh degraded but change isn’t always bad we can’t look at all changes bad and we should try new ideas and if they fail they fail but if they help then
It’s your fraternity that’s being helped too um so let them have their their opportunity you’re there to try to guide them and say we tried that here’s what happened when we did it right has anything changed yeah that maybe it would work now they we did that in our
LOD they were talking about doing spaghetti dinners or something and right like ah we tried that didn’t make any money and then it came out yeah but when you did it look at the situation it’s a little different now so you know situations do change Through Time right
Just because something didn’t work in the past doesn’t mean it won’t won’t work now but they need your feedback yeah need your engagement they need your wisdom and guidance that’s right the only the only way a an organization can survive into the future is to bring
Young people into it train them in the ways of the fraternity or organization and then put them put them in place and leave them alone let them do what they’re going to do let them make their mistakes let them learn and guide them in the ways and precepts of the
Organization so that they don’t Veer off from it but you got to bring them in you got to let them in the Old Guard has got to give way to that that young and new you know the new way I mean it’s you want to talk about Old Guard who gets it
Talk about R worsh for Ron babber yeah that’s right last night he he’s one of the older guard right he won competitions he was Master District instructor he worked for the district so hard uh for many years he’s paid his dues he’s done his time he’s helped a
Lot of people and at this point he stood in front of us last night and said uh the here’s the thing about being a teacher of leaders you’re not teaching them how to do their job you’re teaching them the system that they’re working in and you’re encouraging them to be themselves yeah
Because they will have hesitance they will be uh scared and so you have to encour encourage them to be themselves because good leaders and Embrace who they are yeah that’s right so you’re just teaching them the system they’re working in the rules they got to follow
Like you don’t teach them how to do the job right just you can’t do this you can’t do that you have to do this you have to do that now go out there and do a good job right yeah this is who we are this is what we believe now go make it
Make it your own it some room to fly yeah man I love it I absolutely love it well thank you whoa that was abrupt here we go oh man uh well you know brother once again uh I am in awe of uh of of this crazy uh podcast that you and I started
So long ago based on an idea and a thought and uh it’s grown uh into something um that I’m pretty proud of man it’s uh it’s quite an experience and it’s quite an honor it’s humbling to meet people out of nowhere who hey you’re Fred from Fred and Chris I’m like
Oh yep I am what did I do wrong I’m sorry um and they’re just encouraging us thankful for everything that we have uh we that we’ve tried to do here all of it is for love of the fraternity we really do believe that uh that masonry does
Have something to offer um to this hurting country and um all of us together we can go back to our guiding principles and uh and we can make them our own and move things forward uh and and maybe make a difference uh in this world what do you got Chris on the way
Out nothing n
source
