Message from the South

Home

East

West

South

Trestleboard

Lodge Officers

Past Masters

Calendar

Greetings from the South

Brethren,

Procrastination

Seeing as this month I'm guilty of it; guess that is what I will write about in this article.   I have been sitting on my keister for more than two weeks avoiding writing this article.   My stated reason for this is that I can't come up with a subject for my article.   I guess you might say that I had one all along.

April has been a good month so far and I am looking forward to May.   Hopefully we will be able to get Brother Pham's second degree done sometime in the next few weeks.   We had a terrific practice for the second degree.   Every one showed up for the proficiency and we decided at Worshipful Shelley's suggestion, to open on the second degree and call down to the first for the proficiency.  That was two thirds of the practice already taken care of.  The rest was "cake" as the saying goes.   Everyone was prepared for their duties in the degree and the practice was a pleasure.  This little story illustrates the value of preparation versus procrastinating and therefore not being prepared.

I can't think of anything more aggravating than showing up for a practice or even for District Officer's School of Instruction and finding that the people who are performing the work haven't prepared.   It makes the practice tedious and generally drags out the length of the meeting. Whether it be a practice, proficiency, degree, or business meeting.   Preparation is everything. You might say to me that as a Past Master, I have the advantage of already knowing the "whole kit and kaboodle" as it were.   Let me set the record straight.   While it is true that all of the ritual work is imbedded in my brain; it takes actual practice to bring specific portions to the fore. There are some that are blessed with sufficient recall and are able to fill in any part of the ritual on five minutes notice, giving a creditable performance of the work. I am not one of those.   I must concentrate on and practice my part for a minimum of a week in order to do a good job. Therefore procrastination is a luxury that I can not afford to indulge myself with if I want to do good ritual work; and you can "take it to the bank" that I do.

I would appreciate any suggestions that any of you might have for themes for my future articles.   My e­mail address is in the Trestleboard.   Drop me an e-mail if you have any suggestions.

Have fun in Masonry Hiram.

 Fraternally Yours,