Welcome to Wal Mart

Corinne Visitation October 1, 2005

Most Worshipful Grand Master Ridge, Most Worshipful Past Grand Masters, Right Worshipful Deputy Grand Master and Grand Wardens, Worshipful Grand Lodge Officers, Worshipful Past Masters, Worshipful Masters, Wardens, Brethren, and Ladies. My talk this evening is entitled “Welcome to Wal Mart.” I can just imagine what my good friend PGM John L. Elwell is thinking – “What’s One L doing now? Is he losing his mind?” And I see that MW J. C. McLaughlin has one eyebrow raised. I ask your indulgence Most Worshipfuls because I believe that the Wal Mart metaphor has relevance to Utah Masonry in five areas: the feeling of being welcome, the value of enthusiasm, the necessity for knowledge, willingness to serve, and the necessity of providing something for everyone.

Have you ever rushed in to Wal Mart in a hurry, hassled, not caring whether you talk to anyone or not? As you pass through the doorway, someone says to you “Welcome to Wal Mart.” I don’t know about you, but I am hard pressed to ignore this simple greeting. It breaks into whatever mood I was in and brings me into the present - - and pleasantly so. It engenders at least a small feeling of welcomeness and inclusion. Do you get that feeling when you walk into your lodge? If not, you can fix it! Everyone wants to be included in the activities of the lodge and wants to feel welcome. You can promote that feeling when you walk up to each Brother there assembled, shake his hand, and say “Welcome to lodge.” Notice I said Each Brother, not some of the Brothers, or the Brothers you know the best. It is absolutely essential that you greet Each Brother before you can assure that they all can feel appropriately welcomed to the lodge. Did you ever notice how a politician works a room of guests? You are the politician for your lodge if you want your lodge to be a place of welcomeness and inclusion.
My “Welcome to Wal Mart” greeter didn’t say that phrase with a downcast voice, an angry voice, or a sullen voice. The greeter said it with enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is catching. When you greet your Brethren with enthusiasm and talk about lodge activities with enthusiasm, they can’t help but pay closer attention to what you are saying so that they can be sure that they aren’t missing anything. We all want to be a part of the group – that’s one of the reasons why we joined Masonry in the first place. But we all need to be reassured that we are a valued member of the group, and this is one of the ways we communicate that reassurance. Enthusiasm leads you to tell your Brother that you know he would surely like to join with you for a particular activity because it will expand his and your Masonic knowledge and you are excited to tell him that it will be held at such and such a time. Think back to the recitation of upcoming events during a Regular Business Meeting and the excitement that doesn’t covey. Nobody notices! That’s why we need to follow the Wal Mart model and talk about our lodge with enthusiasm.
Welcomeness and enthusiasm really works. At the Wardens Retreat in August, I tried out a couple of things to make sure that our Senior and Junior Wardens and Senior Deacons and their wives felt welcome and caught the enthusiasm we had for the program they were about to experience. First I asked Former First Lady Dianne McKenzie to act as the Ladies’ Host. Her job was to greet each of the wives as they arrived, make them feel welcome, and explain the program we had prepared for them. Additionally, I asked her to act as the Breakout Sessions host, introduce the presenters, and in general be a facilitator of participation by the ladies. Second, I asked PM William C. Hall from my Education Committee to act as the Masons Host doing similar things as the Ladies’ Host. I also charged the entire Education Committee as well as the Breakout Session Mentors to make sure that each Mason was welcomed, that his questions were answered, and that we made his stay as pleasant as possible. Sitting at the registration desk, I tried to shake hands with each arriving Brother and his wife and kept asking them throughout the weekend if they were having a good time and if they were getting good information. Their answers were invariably positive. Furthermore, when I looked at the evaluation sheets they filled out at the end of the retreat, 91% of the men rated the their feeling of being welcome at 9 or 10, on a scale of 1 to 10, while 83% of the wives rated their feeling of being welcome at 9 or 10.
When you enter a Wal Mart, especially a “Super Wal Mart,” you can wander around looking for the items you came to find, or you can ask a “Wal Mart Associate” (not an employee – an “Associate”) for assistance. My experience with Wal Mart Associates is that they know where everything is in the store. And in the rare instance when they do not know where your item is, they do everything possible to find someone who does know. They don’t wander away from you leaving you to fend for yourself; they stay with you until they have helped you find your item. The masonic relevance here is knowledge and willingness to serve. Our Entered Apprentice Charge tells the candidate that during his leisure hours he is to converse with well informed Brethren who will be as willing to give as he will be to receive Masonic knowledge. So I ask you: Are you prepared to be the knowledge source for your newly initiated Brethren, for your newly raised Brethren, for your five year veterans? Wal Mart requires that their “Associates” be knowledgeable. Shouldn’t we require that our Masonic leaders and influencers be knowledgeable? At our Wardens Retreat in August, Brother Drew Sanders, Senior Warden of Wasatch Lodge No. 1, shared with us some data he gathered from a survey of his lodge brethren who had been masons for 10 years or less. One of the principal findings of his survey was that his brethren had joined Masonry for philosophical reasons. Our philosophical teachings come initially from our degrees, but there are layers upon layers of additional sources of masonic scholarship that expand and deepen the history and meaning of our symbols and teachings. It is therefore incumbent on our lodges to provide this phlosophical teaching to our brehtren. If we are going to be able to provide this teaching, we are going to have to devote more time to our lodge. We can’t wait for someone else to get the ball rolling. If we are to put this teaching in place, we must be willing to serve. It is up to each one of us – you – and you – and you – and me - to do it.
Wal Mart is an interesting kind of place; it has one of everything or, put another way, something for everyone. Masonry is kind of like that. We have philosophy, we have ritual, we have community service, we have fund raising, we have charity. If our lodges are stuck in the “cruise control” phase – annual charity at Christmas, gifts to the community once or twice a year, scheduled ritual practices, and so forth and so on, maybe we need to examine what we are doing and jack up our goals and enthusiasm and provide more outlets for the energies of more Brethren. Brother Drew Sanders’ survey also showed that by the end of six years, over 60% of his respondents felt that there were not enough opportunities to serve in their Blue Lodge. So . . . . if you were wondering how to get more participation and excitement in your lodge, providing more opportunities to serve sounds like a fertile avenue of approach. One other particularly interesting statistic from Drew’s survey: 70% of those surveyed said they plan to commit more time to their Blue Lodge. It sounds to me like our Brethren are willing. It is up to the leaders and influencers of Masonry to give our Brethren the reasons they seek to spend more time with us, make us more vibrant, make us grow, enhance our enthusiasm.
So . . . Most Worshipfuls John L and J. C., that’s my “Welcome to Wall Mart” story and how it relates to Utah Masonry in terms of making everyone feel welcome, the value of enthusiasm, the necessity for knowledge, the willingness to serve, and the necessity of providing something for everyone. I hope you will agree.