Most Worshipful Grand Master Ridge, Most Worshipful Past Grand Masters, Right Worshipful Grand Wardens, Worshipful Grand Lodge Officers, Worshipful Masters, Wardens, Brethren, and Ladies. My talk this evening is entitled “The Importance of ‘Me’ in Masonry.” I don’t know about you, but when my folks were raising me one of the things that sticks in my head was the stricture to be humble. Don’t draw attention to yourself, don’t talk out of turn, don’t interrup the teacher; respect adults, the list goes on and on. In school the don’ts continued: don’t disrupt the class, don’t talk out of turn, don’t chew gum, etc. If you survived all these rules and strictures, you were probably pretty subdued when you struck out on your own. Over time, most of us learned how to balance humbleness with assertiveness, so that we could succeed at our chosen careers without being labeled an upstart or be seen as too aggressive or success driven. Much of this occurred because we learned that we must take personal responsibility for our actions and that success requires a lot of personal effort to learn the job, learn the “ropes,” become a subject matter expert. We learn organizational dynamics and learn how to thread our way through “office politics.” Hence when we are initiated into Masonry, we bring this knowledge with us.

Let’s examine how Masonry might look to a newly initiated Entered Apprentice. He sees a lodge of eleven or twelve officers, Brethren on the sidelines who appear to be knowledgeable Masons. They all welcome him with great cordiality and explain to him the prodecures and path he must follow to become what we call “proficient” before we can proceed to the Fellowcraft degree. His task is clear; learn the ritual, learn the meaning of the symbols, become “proficient.” This pattern is repeated after the Fellowcraft degree and again after he is raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason. If the lodge’s mentoring program is a good one, his mentor has been with him every step of the way and will continue to integrate him into the lodge’s “way of life.” Our new Mason will learn about the committees who assist the officers in running the lodge, its fund raising activities, its charitable activities. Our approach is to show our new Mason all the things we have to offer and hope he will become interested enough to pick one of them and become actively involved in its success. Each Worshipful Master begins his year in the East with goals to move his lodge forward to greater success and enjoyment. He hopes that he will be able to inspire his Brethren to strive for his goals, thereby improving their lodge success and their enjoyment of being with the Brethren.

Now let’s consider how the Grand Lodge organization must appear to the young Mason of four or five years. Here we have an officer complement of nineteen Masons, half again as large as the lodge officer corps. If he attends a Grand Visitation he hears about programs that the Grand Lodge is sponsoring to help his lodge do a better job and be more successful. He hears about our Blue Lodge charity, the Masonic Model Student Assistance program. The first time he sees a Grand Lodge visitation he is impressed by the pomp and ceremony. But he doesn’t get a good idea of how he fits in to the picture. It appears that “other people” are responsible for what happens at Grand Lodge, for the success of their programs. Often times when he asks his lodge Brethren about Grand Lodge, few of them can answer his questions of what Grand Lodge is and what Grand Lodge does, and the purpose of Grand Lodge. Consequently he ends up with a vague notion of Grand Lodge and puts it in the “to be determined later” pile.

Let me suggest, however, that nowhere in this aculturation process do we talk about the importance of “Me” in accomplishing all these things. Lodge officers, committee members; each are a “Me” helping to assure these accomplishments. We don’t, however, spend a lot of time inculcating the need for each Brother to be the “Me” that helps to get things done. We are always looking for good ideas about how to do things, ideas for new things to be done, personal experience that can be brought to bear in solving a particular problem such as membership or financing for example. We need to foster a culture in which each Brother understands that he is essential to the success of his lodge, that we are depending on him to shoulder his share of the load. He can’t rely on everyone else to get the job done, it requires his personal involvement. We need to make his constributions so visible and rewarding to him that he will continue to offer his efforts on behalf of the lodge. We have ways to recognize those “Me’s” in addition to their personal psychic rewards. In my lodge we gave the Hiram award to a “Me” who suggested that we have a picnic as a fund raising event and volunteered to head it up. He asked for volunteers to help him with the logistics of the event and his Brethren stepped forth and gave him the help he needed. Everyone had a great time, the lodge made nearly a thousand dollars on the event, and our “Me” has continued to head up this annual event for the past five years. He understands that our lodge’s success requires a “Me” like him to get the ball rolling. When it comes to Grand Lodge, here too it requires a “Me” to make all of the Grand Lodge programs happen. We need “Me’s” from our lodges to help with our committees, our programs. In the final analysis, it requires a “Me” for anything to happen.

So how do we change our culture to highlight the importance of “Me” in Masonry. First, we get back to basics. We start talking about and emphasizing how important it is for each Brother to take personal responsibility for the success of his lodge, for the success of our Grand Lodge. We take every opportunity to praise each “Me” for his accomplishments. We make them stand up in lodge, even have the Senior Deacon escort them West of the alter for public praise. Every man appreciates being acknowledged for his efforts, even the quiet and unassuming ones. We stress the additional enjoyment and psychic rewards to be gained by increased participation by each “Me.” We do everything possible to inculcate the concept of the individual, the “Me,” as the cornerstone of succes.

How do we start, you ask? My advice to you is: try it! Most likely you will be surprised and pleased with the results.