"Preserving Our Traditions"
Frank C. Baker, W. Grand Orator

Most Worshipful Grand Master, Brethren, Ladies and Guests, good evening. There are four stages of life. First, you believe in Santa Claus. Second, you don't believe in Santa Claus. Third, you are Santa Claus. And forth, you look like Santa Claus. And with all of this snowy weather we have had, I hope you don't start fantasizing about Christmas when I talk about...

In order to preserve our traditions we must first understand what tradition is. The dictionary describes tradition as, "an inherited, established or customary pattern of thought, action or behavior or the handing down of information, beliefs and customs by word of mouth or by example."

When I first think of tradition, certain religious holidays and anniversaries come to mind. Often we find tradition in a time of year, a great event or a special occasion. One Sunday late in Lent, a Sunday school teacher decided to ask her class what they had remembered about Easter. The first little fellow suggested that Easter was when all the family comes to the house and they eat a big turkey and watch football. The teacher suggested that perhaps he was thinking of Thanksgiving, not Easter, so she let a pretty young girl answer. She said Easter was the day when as you come down the stairs in the morning you see all the beautiful presents under the tree. At this point, the teacher was really feeling discouraged. But after explaining that the girl was probably thinking about Christmas, she called on a lad with his hand tentatively raised in the air. Her spirits immediately perk up as the boy says that Easter is the time when Jesus was crucified and buried. She felt she had finally gotten through to at least one child until he added, "And then he comes out of the grave and if he sees his shadow we have six more weeks of winter."

The traditions that I am talking about are neither presents under the tree or watching afternoon football on the TV nor six more weeks of winter. They are the traditions of the Fraternity. They are about Ritual, Rites and Regalia - they are about Temples, Community and Country - they are about Faith, Charity and Civility. I would like to simply define fraternal tradition as, "Emotions and experiences of the past that provide meaning and purpose in the present and secure our existence for the future."

The U.S. historian Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. wrote in "The Challenge of Change," New York Times Magazine July 27, 1986, "Science and Technology revolutionize our lives, but memory, tradition and myth frame our response. Expelled from individual consciousness by the rush of change, history finds its revenge by stamping the collective unconscious with habits, values, expectations, dreams. The dialectic between past and future will continue to form our lives."

Preserving our traditions is a responsibility that should not be taken lightly. It entails a stewardship of insuring our Ritual, our Rites and our Regalia survive as they have for almost 300 years. The very essence of what we hold sacred in Masonry lies in our symbols, customs and pageantry. For example: The Officer's stations within the Lodge room are based on the traditions contained in our Lectures and Ritual and are illustrated in Masonic publications. The Worshipful Master's seat is placed on the third step in the East from whence all light flows. The Senior and Junior Warden's seats are on the second step in the West and South side of the Lodge respectively. At the conclusion of our meetings, we all meet upon the level and part upon the square. The other Lodge officers who interact directly with the Worshipful Master preside in the East on the left and right side of the Worshipful Master. They represent a position of service not a position of observance to the Worshipful Master. Just as the Junior Deacon and the Stewards represent in the West and South. The North side of the Lodge is deemed a place of darkness and therefore Officers of the Lodge do not sit there.

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, "Whenever a mind is simple and receives an old wisdom, old things pass away - means, teachers, texts, temples fall: it lives now, and absorbs past and future into present hour. All things are made sacred by relation to it - one as much as another."

Preserving our traditions is a responsibility that should not be taken for granted. It entails a stewardship of insuring that our Temples, our communities and our Country survive as they have for almost 300 years. The very heart of what we hold true in Masonry lies in the freedom, equality and justice of the code, constitutions and regulations of our fraternity and of our government. It demands a stewardship that requires the steadfast and diligent means of maintaining, protecting and insuring our property and Temples, our communities and Country. By keeping up to date with current affairs - keeping up to date with the necessary everyday concerns - keeping up to date with political issues we preserve our way of life. Tradition is what our country was founded on, is what our community is based on is and what our Fraternity survives on.

In 1909, British author Gilbert Keith Chesterton wrote in "The Ethics of England", "Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes - our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking around."

Preserving our traditions is a responsibility that should not be taken in jest. It entails a stewardship of insuring our Faith, our Charity and our Civility survive as they have for almost 300 years. The very soul of what we cherish in Masonry lies in our belief of a Great Architect of the Universe who in his infinite wisdom presides over all. We worship faithfully through a virtuous and steadfast commitment of the fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of man and the immortality of the soul. A charity that surpasses all social, political and racial boundaries on a level plane of equality for all people is the spirit of the Fraternity. We take care of others and don't take others for granted, we pay our own way.

One morning a priest walked into a barber shop in Washington, D.C. After he had his haircut, he asked how much it would be. The barber said, "No charge, in keeping with tradition, I consider it a service to the Lord."

The next morning, the barber came to work and there were 12 prayer books and a thank you note from the priest in front of the door.

Later that day, a police officer came in and had his hair cut. He then asked how much it was. The barber said, "No charge, it's just a tradition I have, I consider it a service to the community."

The next morning, he came to work and there were a dozen donuts and a thank you note from the police officer.

Shortly thereafter, a U. S. Senator came in and had his haircut. When he was done he asked how much it was. The barber said, "No charge, I consider it a service to my country."

The next morning, the barber came to work and there were 12 Senators standing in front of the door.

We don't take others for granted, we pay our own way.

Francis Bacon said, "Since custom is the principal magistrate of man's life, let men by all means endeavor to obtain good customs."

One tradition that is paramount within the Fraternity is the social bonding of polite, courteous interactions of just good etiquette, common sense and good customs. Masons and good manners equal good men and good customs that should never be separated.

The other day a woman got on a UTA bus holding a baby. The UTA bus driver said to the women: "That's the ugliest baby I've ever seen." Shocked and in a huff, the woman slammed her fare into the fare box and took an aisle seat near the rear of the bus. The man seated next to her sensed that she was agitated and asked her what was wrong. "The bus driver insulted me," she fumed. The man sympathized with her and said "Why, he's a public servant, he should keep the company's long standing tradition of polite, courteous and professional manners. He shouldn't say things to insult the passengers." "You're right," she said. "I think I'll go back up there and give him a piece of my mind." "That's a good idea," the man said. "Here, let me hold your monkey." Ignorance is no excuse for bad manners just as two wrongs don't make a right.

We preserve the traditions of the Fraternity by the acts of doing - we preserve the traditions of the Fraternity by the acts of stewardship - we preserve the traditions of Fraternity by the acts of kindness. Our actions - our stewardship - our kindness are the preservative that keeps the Fraternity from rotting into the forgotten depths of antiquity. Remembering the traditions of the past preserves the fraternity for a future generation of craftsmen.

In 1790, Edmund Burke wrote in "Reflections on the Revolution in France", "People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors."

Change affects tradition and that affects the future. As I have said in a past oration, "We don't like change, but change is good for all who seek the truth; it rattles the chains of complacency and breaks the bonds of apathy". To elaborate, if we change for reasons that are not justified or that are not for the common good or for selfish and shallow acts we have lost what the past has so graciously given us - a sense of belonging - a sense of purpose - a sense of understanding. The preservation of our Ritual, Rites and Regalia; our Temples, Community and Country; our Faith, Charity and Civility; will be no more and we will be no more and Masons and good manners will be no more.

I ask you to remember this quote by Will Rogers, "So live that you wouldn't be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip." Oh, and don't go holding anyone's Monkey!

Thank you and enjoy the rest of your evening. Frank C. Baker, Worshipful Grand Orator - © 21 April 2006