HOW DO I LIKE GETTING OLD?

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I would never trade my amazing friends, my wonderful life, and my loving family, for less gray hair or a flatter belly. As I have aged, I have become kinder to myself, and less critical of myself. I have become my own friend. I don’t chide myself for eating that extra brownie, or for not making my bed. I am entitled to a treat, to be messy, to be extravagant. I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon, before they understood that great freedom that comes with aging.

Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer until four AM, and sleep until noon? I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 30’s and 40’s, and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over my loved one, I WILL. I will walk the beach wearing an outdated swim - suit if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the younger and sexier set. They too, will get old.
I know I am sometimes forgetful, but there again some of life is just as well forgotten, and I will eventually remember the important things.

Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when somebody’s beloved pet, is hit by a car? Broken hearts are what give us strength, and understanding and compassion. A heart that has never been broken, is pristine, sterile, and will never know the joy of being imperfect.

I am so blessed, to have lived long enough to have my hair turning gray, and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face. So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver.
As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what other people think. I do not question myself anymore. I have earned the right to be wrong.

So, to answer your question, I like being old. It has set me free. I like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what I could have been, or worrying about what will be, and, I shall eat dessert every single day (if I feel like it).

MAY OUR FRIENDSHIP NEVER COME APART,
ESPECIALLY WHEN IT’S STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART.


Hiram
The old & Happy guy who is a Mason!

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ABILITY TO DELEGATE

The ABILITY to DELEGATE is a strength of ALL good leaders!
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The inability to delegate is one of the chief reasons Masters reduce their effectiveness. Another is their inability to make decisions effectively. These two personality traits have contributed to a master’s ineffectiveness than any amount of inexperience.

There are a number of reasons why a Master must analyze his workload and delegate as much of it as he can, thus allowing himself more time for the planning and creative aspects of his office.

Delegation gives an opportunity for the Master to take on additional work and to expand in the area of seeking more Masonic Light that will be beneficial to all concerned in the execution of his duties as master.

Delegation relieves the Master of the petty, routine details that can certainly be handled just as efficiently by another brother. While it is true that many members tend to shirk responsibility, it is equally true that the best way to cure a member of this unreasonable fear is to give him a greater share of the responsibility. The one great enemy of the officers and members morale is boredom, monotonous, humdrum work that is just being done because, “I was told to do it.”
A little more responsibility, a little more authority will put a brother more “on his own,” is often the answer.

Proper delegation of work also keeps masters from becoming one of those harassed individuals whose briefcases are jammed with reports from the many committees relating to various projects and programs that he did not have time to look at and evaluate during the time that has elapsed between meetings.

The surest way for a Master to increase his ineffectiveness is to refuse to learn how, and when, and to whom to delegate work.

Very good advice!
Hiram Abiff
The Widow’s Son

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INDIAN AND MASONIC FAMILIARITIES

Being that the Grand Lodge of Ohio was established in the year 1808, I wanted to determine if any Native Americans played a part in Freemasonry during that period. I found there were some Native Americans who were made Masons during this period.

There is little information regarding Native Americans and Freemasonry, but fortunately, there was enough for me to make some comparisons between Native American traditions and Freemasonry. I made a comparison between the Tribal Medicine Man and the Senior Deacon. A Medicine man is not an intermediary between others and the Divine, but rather his authority derives from his “own mystic spiritual experience.” The medicine referred to is the process of spiritual awakening that may be necessary to cure mental or physical disease, gain wisdom, strength or spiritual insight, and acceptance of Divine cosmic unity. In this way, the Medicine Man, having himself already walked the path, serves as a guide to his community, those preparing for the vision quest, and those about to be initiated into the tribe’s mysteries.

In ancient Roman mystery schools, a similar function in providing guidance to initiates was fulfilled by the “Conductor of the Soul.” This “conductor,” would usually meet the candidate at the entrance to the Temple or cave where the rites would be performed, and guide him through as needed. In Freemasonry, the Senior Deacon fulfills the role of “Medicine Man,” or “Conductor of the Soul.”

Among many Native American tribes the bat serves as a symbol for the Medicine Man because it is symbolic of rebirth. The bat lives in a cave, representative of the womb, and sleeps upside down, in a position reflective of a child just prior to birth. In this sense, the role of Medicine Man is more particularly viewed as a guide, in the initiate’s rebirth, his emergence from darkness into light. In the Fellowcraft Degree, the Senior Deacon leads the candidate up the winding staircase, showing him firsthand the path by which the lower passions are transcended. Once the candidate has symbolically mastered his intellectual faculties, represented by the seven liberal arts and sciences, he arrives at the middle-chamber of the temple, finally prepared to move from the outer to the inner, from the circumference to his own inner spiritual corner, his heart.

In conclusion, the similarities between Freemasonry and Native American tradition, and the comfortable initiation of many Native Americans and tribal chiefs into the Masonic order over the last two hundred years, are a testament to the traditional character of Freemasonry. Native American culture as a whole is traditional because all rites are viewed as a natural aspect of a divinely maintained communal existence, and not somehow separate as religion is often viewed in the modern world.

Freemasonry bears a certain affinity to this understanding because it is one of the last remaining institutions of the Western world to preserve and practice traditional forms.
All traditional societies and institutions are founded upon a common human spirituality that seeks to return man to the center of his spiritual existence. The purpose of initiation is to move man from the circumference to the center, from the outer to the inner, in order to fulfill his function of “unmoved mover” in relation to the world that is his. For the man able to achieve this it can be said, that he no longer belongs to this world, but on the contrary, this world belongs to him. Black Elk, a Medicine Man of the Sioux, wrote the following:

“I am blind and do not see the things of the world; but when the Light comes from above, it enlightens my heart, and I can see, for the Eye of my heart sees everything. The heart is a sanctuary at the center of which there is a little space, wherein the Great Spirit dwells, and this is the Eye. This is the Eye of the Great Spirit, by which He sees all things, and through which we see Him. If the heart is not pure, the Great Spirit cannot be seen. If you should die in this ignorance, your soul cannot return immediately to the Great Spirit. It must be purified by wandering about the world. In order to know the center of the heart where the Great Spirit dwells, you must be pure and good, and live in the manner that the Great Spirit has taught us. The man, who is thus pure, contains the Universe in the pocket of his heart.”

Hiram Abiff
The Widow’s Son

"No man has ever knelt at our altar of Obligation an arose the same man."
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ABE LINCOLN'S AX

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Some time ago, I was researching folk history in Illinois. Several people in the countryside had told me of a farm family, who had the ax Abraham Lincoln used when splitting logs for a living as a young man.

I finally located the farm, and found the farmer in the yard splitting wood for a living room fireplace. I asked him about the story.

“Yes,” said the farmer, “It’s true. Abe Lincoln lived around here as a young man and he worked for a while splitting wood for my great, great, grandfather. Happened he had bought a new ax from a peddler the day before Abe Lincoln came to work here, and he gave it to Lincoln to use. We have kept it ever since.”

“That’s a real historical treasure,” I said, “It really ought to be in a museum. Would you mind going into the house and bringing it out so I could see it?”

“Oh, we know it’s important,” said the farmer, “But I don’t have to go into the house, I’ve got it right here. I take it to the school from time to time and tell the kids about it and Lincoln. It seems to make him real.”

He handed me the ax he had been using. I was totally blown away!

“You mean you’re still using it?”

“Sure thing, an ax is meant to be used, the farmer stated.”

I looked it over carefully. “I must say, your family has certainly taken good care of it.”

“Sure, we know we’re protecting history. Why, we replaced the handle twice and the head once.”

In many ways, Masonry is like Abe Lincoln’s ax. All of us tend to assume that Masonry has always been the way it was when we joined. We have become fiercely protective of it in that form. In fact, we’ve done more than replace the handle twice and the head once. For example, when Brothers George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Paul Revere (and other Masons of their era and for decades to come) joined the fraternity, they did not demonstrate proficiency by memorizing categorical lectures. Instead, the same evening they received a degree they sat around a table with other brethren of the lodge and asked each other questions and answered them for the instruction of the new brother. They asked him questions and helped him with the answers. The discussion continued until they were confident that he understood the lessons of the degree. Then they taught him the signs and tokens, and he was proficient. In many cases, he took the next degree the next night.

The custom of allowing twenty - eight days to pass between degrees came about for no other reason than most lodges met every twenty-eight days, on the nights of a full moon. There was no mystery behind that, very few horses come equipped with headlights, and only on nights of the full moon could people see well enough to leave their homes in the country and come into town for a meeting safely. These lodges were known as, “Moon Lodges.” As to other changes, for instance, the names of the three ruffians have changed at least three times since the Master Mason degree was created about 1727.

More importantly, the nature and purpose of the fraternity has changed dramatically. Far from being a bastion of conservative resistance to fostering revolutions in political life (the American Revolution, for example) and social life. It created homes for the elderly and orphanages, and then worked for the sort of social legislation to make those widespread. It sought economic development for states and communities. Until the late 1940’s and 50’s, it was one of the most potent forces for change in America, and Masonry is like Abe Lincoln’s ax in another way. For, although the handle and the head had been replaced, the ax was still used by the Abe Lincoln in truth if not in fact.

The farmer used the ax to teach. He told children about it and about Abe Lincoln. He helped make the past real to them so they could learn the great values of honesty and hard work, which Lincoln typified so well.
It’s the same with Masonry. In spite of the many changes which have already happened and the changes which are bound to happen in the future, (Masonry, like any living thing, must change, and grow, or die) it is still the same.

In essence, the lessons it teaches, the difference it makes in the lives of men, that great moment of transformation, which is the goal of Masonry when a man becomes something new and better than he was when he came in the door as a candidate. The essence cannot and will not be lost, as long as brothers are meeting in the true Masonic spirit, to work, and learn, and study, and improve themselves and the world.

That is Masonry, and like Abe Lincoln’s ax, it was meant to be used, not to rust away in a museum case. That use keeps it bright, and sharp, and Masonic, no matter how often the handle and head, need to be, replaced.

Hiram Abiff
The Widow’s Son

"No man has ever knelt at our altar of Obligation an arose the same man."
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A WISH FOR LEADERS - . . . .

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I sincerely wish you would have the experience of living within a new idea, planning it, organizing it, following it to completion and then having it be magnificently successful.

I also hope you will go through the same process and have something “bomb out” horribly.

I wish you could achieve some great good for mankind, a special favor for someone and have no one know about it except yourself.

I wish you could find values so worthwhile that you deem them worthy of investing your life in them.

I hope you become frustrated and challenged enough, to begin to push back the very barriers of your own personal limitations.

I hope you make a stupid, maybe even unethical mistake and get caught red-handed and are big enough to say those magic words; “ I was wrong!’ or “ I’m sorry.”

I hope you give so much of yourself that on some days you wonder if it’s worth it at all.

I wish you a magnificent obsession that will give you a reason for living and purpose and direction and power from within, to do that, which must be done.

I wish for you the worst kind of criticism for everything you do, because
that will make you fight to achieve beyond what you normally would accomplish; that makes you earn the power of commitment, which is a sacred trust...a key to achievement.

I WISH FOR YOU THE TOTAL EXPERIENCE OF LEADERSHIP!

Hiram Abiff
The Widow’s Son

"No man has ever knelt at our altar of Obligation an arose the same man."
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“ALAS, MY BROTHER”

Last evening, about six-thirty,
I went to a visitation.
For a departed member of a Masonic Lodge
Without any hesitation.

I slowly entered the funeral home,
Rather solemnly, I confess,
I thought many there would greet me
As his Masonic Brothers, no less.

Only three of his Lodge Brother’s were present,
While the family sat alone,
Where is all the Brotherly Love?
His Brothers should have shown.

Not only was I embarrassed,
For I could feel the family’s pain,
Of not seeing their loved ones Brothers,
As the mourners went and came.

The Masonic oaths we took on bended knee,
Should mean much more than this.
Have we lost sight of what they mean?
My Brothers, surely something is amiss.

We certainly have an obligation,
To make time to say Good-bye:
Eternity is a long, long, time
For tear filled eyes to dry.

Though many of your Brothers are not here,
To say their last farewell,
I am here to say my last Good-bye,
Alas, my Brother, sleep well!


Hiram Abiff
The Widow’s Son

"No man has ever knelt at our altar of Obligation an arose the same man."
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