PRACTICING BROTHERLY LOVE
From time to time we come across true stories that
tell more about the meaning of living Freemasonry than any degree lecture or
visiting speaker can ever do.
The following story was originally published in
October 2003, about a year after the telling of the story to a California
Mason. This story deserves to be shared
with a wider audience.
A group of Masons were sitting around a hotel pool
in following a banquet. They were
discussing the various talks they had heard during the day’s conference.
It was when I saw tears forming in his eyes barely
visible in the dim light and heard a tremor in his voice that I began to pay
closer attention to Mike. I’d never met
him before this day. He seemed about to
open his soul and had selected me to be his attentive ear.
“I was a car salesman then,” he said. “Wasn’t a great salesman but earned enough
to provide for my wife and children. My
wife was unable to work because of her health condition.”
“One day Julius, my manager, handed me a commission
check. I read the check and said I
could not accept it because I had not sold the car indicated in the paper
accompanying the check. Julius said the
company made this kind of mistake occasionally and they’d never find out about
it. Again I refused. He asked why I could not take it. The check was good and made out in my
name. Besides my family could probably
use the extra money. I said we could
but I could not receive wages for work not done. He asked where I had come up with such a notion. I told him it came from my Masonic teaching
and also from the Holy Scriptures. He
walked away shaking his head in disbelief.
Clearly he did not understand.”
“Even though our discussion was supposed to remain
private, word of my decision spread quickly throughout the office. Salesmen with whom I had established good
relations became cold and distant. Joe,
our head mechanic, was different. He
became friendlier. He asked about my
decision and the reasons behind it.
After giving him the story he said he’d heard about the Masons. He said if the organization taught such
moral lessons he’d like to become a member.
For a long time he was afraid to ask believing that as a native American
Indian he would be disqualified. I
assured him he wouldn’t be. The next
day I handed him a petition. I was
happy to be his first line signer. As a
Past Master I was able to give him a better understanding of Freemasonry and my
enjoyable experience in the Lodge.”
“Over the next few years his family and mine became
close. We enjoyed many day trips and
evening dinners together.”
“A couple of years later the dealership went through
difficult financial times. I was not
the only one to be let go. Finding a
job was nearly impossible. My savings
were nearly depleted. After searching
for several months there were no options and no job. There was no way I could afford to keep my house.”
“Joe remained close and knew my situation. He came to my house one day and suggested my
family move in with his. He said that
they had room to spare. I tried to
refuse but he insisted. He asked what
kind of a Mason would he be if he could not aid and friend and worthy Brother
in need. My family stayed with Joe’s
for nearly five months. During this
time I was able to secure a job and move my family back into a decent
home. There was no way I could ever
repay Joe and his family for their kindness.”
“One day my daughter’s car needed an oil
change. I suggested she take it to
Joe’s son Jake. He was a mechanic
following in his Dad’s footsteps. Late
in the afternoon Joe came by for a chat.
I asked if he had seen my daughter.
He said that Jake had finished the job early, after which the two of
them decided to spend an enjoyable drive in the country. Joe asked if I knew the two of them were seeing
a lot of each other. I hadn’t. Three months later Jake asked permission for
my daughter’s hand in marriage. Jake is
a fine young man. I could not have been
more proud and happy when the wedding day arrived.”
“It was not long after the wedding that Jake
petitioned the Lodge. As a Past Master
I felt privileged to take part in his degree.
When it came to the part in the ritual where the candidate is destitute
I got rather emotional delivering the ritual.”
“A year later Jake wanted to join the Royal Arch
Chapter. I was High Priest that year
and was able to confer upon him the Royal Arch degree. Once more I got a little emotional when Jake
again found himself in a destitute condition.
To symbolically give him a monetary token, no matter how small, was a
confirmation of my personal pledge to assist him whenever he had need of my
assistance.”
“God only knows where I would be today had Joe not
extended a helping hand to raise a brother who had fallen on difficult times.”
This is the Freemasonry we are taught by the ritual
to apply to our every day lives. One
man extends the helping hand of friendship and brotherly love to another in a
demonstration of natural respect, no questions asked or motives questioned. Joe was practicing applied Freemasonry.
And recall how Joe came to become a Mason—by
observing Mike’s practice of honesty and good dealings with other men in the
business world. Joe came to the
Fraternity after forming a favorable opinion of the institution. In turn, his son Jake became a Mason surely
because of what he learned from his father and from Mike by precept and
example. Jake was a boy when Mike and
his family came to live with Joe’s family.
Jake learned by example from his father what it meant instinctively to
do the right thing.
This story also contains an important lesson about
how it is the internal and not the external qualifications which make a
Mason. Because Joe was a native
American Indian he did not think he was qualified to become a Mason. Mike, a practicing Mason, knew otherwise,
and opened the door of Freemasonry to a man who might otherwise never have
thought to join. And his Lodge would
have been the poorer if he had not joined.
It is by our exemplary conduct as Masons in raising
our families and in our business and professional relationships, that we will
attract new men to our Fraternity.
When we speak of the moral and ethical principles of Freemasonry only
within the Lodge, they can become stale and routine recitations of ritual. But when we begin to live by these precepts
and apply them in our dealings with our families, friends, and the society at
large, not only will we have an effect on those around us, but also we will
attract new members and Masons to our Lodges.
Actions have always spoken louder than words. It is by our deeds that people will know
us. And when we practice true
Brotherhood, as Mike and Joe and Jake did, the world will be a better place.
NOTE: The central story told here was related by William N. Wine, PM,
in an article published in The Philalethes Magazine.