| Los Altos Lodge No. 712: | Last Updated on May 11, 2005 |
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In May we look forward to another busy month. To kick the new month off on a great footing I have the pleasure to announce that Brother Christian Martin and his wife Tanya are happy to announce the birth of their son Brady Robert Martin on April 12, 2005. Baby and mother are doing just fine at home in Chicago. Of course the proud uncles, Brother Jason A. Martin, and Brother Justin A. Martin and the proud grandfather, Worshipful Robert W. Martin are already announcing that perhaps we should get ready for a possible first degree somewhere around May in the year 2023. Great news and congratulations to all.
I want to welcome Brother Oussama (Adam) Adra, who received his Entered Apprentice Degree on Monday April 11, to our fraternity, and congratulations are also extended to Brother Jeffrey K. Altera who received his Fellowcraft Degree on Monday April 25th. Keep up the good work and please know that you can always call me if there is anything I can help you with.
April is Public Schools Month, and we usually hold our Public Schools Night in that month. In the past several years we have been holding this event together with Palo Alto Roller Lodge No 346, and Mountain View De Anza Lodge No. 194.
This year however, due to local public school and lodge scheduling we have had to postpone the annual event until Wednesday May 11.
You will not want to miss this year’s event. It will be held here at Los Altos Lodge and will feature a Grand Banquet including Prime Rib of Beef, Turkey, and Chicken. The three lodges will pick up the tab for the evening so dinner is on us.
Following the banquet we will retire to the lodge room where representatives from our three youth groups, Job's Daughters, Rainbow for Girls, and the young men of the DeMolay will honor us by bringing in the Flag of our country. By the way when you first come into the building before dinner you will be greeted by these wonderful youth and then guided to the dinning room.
Following the flag presentation and a call to the throne of Grace, we will proceed with the ceremony by hearing a short talk by a representative of each of the youth groups. Following this the Masters of each of the three lodges will make their awards and presentations to the chosen school recipients. Los Altos Lodge, I am pleased to say, will additionally have a surprise for each of the youth groups attending. Be sure not to miss this event and also bring a non-Mason friend. The time has come for us to let the world outside know what we do and this is just the kind of event to bring them to.
It goes without saying that as Masons we all seek the best for one another, and in so promoting, we sometimes overlook pitfalls along the way.
I am sure that there would be no argument among us on the question of if we should work toward assuring that our fraternity survives into the future generations. In our minds it seems the only disagreement among us is the constructive argument of how to accomplish its survival.
However, it has become increasingly apparent that there is another, more subtle concern, which we as Masons must address if our descendants are to enjoy the fraternal benefits we enjoy today.
We must establish in our own minds the true value of our fraternity. We must begin to understand and accept that it’s meaning is truly defined differently by each of us.
We must also begin to understand the views of the non-fraternal world around us, and while we may not agree with many worldly concepts we must understand its reality in the fact that it is where our future members will come from. Finally, realizing the conditions we must work with, we must begin to address the future of our fraternity in reality mode. Is this possible? Are we capable of such a monumental task? If not, “...well then let’s just keep on dancing!” Right? No, not right! Not, if we are smart enough to look reality in the face.
Let’s take a case in point within our own lodge. We have made a giant step forward into the 21st Century by instituting a lodge baby-sitting service for the children of our members and officer’s while they attend lodge functions.
Like it or not, today’s world is not the world we grew up in. In our youth, almost every home had a full time mother to care for the children. Duties of parents were strictly defined, and our entire fraternal and social system seemed to work together like a well-oiled machine.
Today we rarely find a household where only one parent is employed outside the home. Both mother and father are seen as having equal rolls in childcare, homemaking, and as breadwinners. This means lodge night is not a boy’s night out anymore.
Of course there was opposition in the lodge to this new idea. Of course there was some uncomfortable even hurt feelings, and of course those dissenting may continue to oppose the direction of the majority, but please, my brethren, remember that though we might disagree on some items, we are still brothers, and pro or con, we are all working for what we believe is in the best interest for the future of our beloved lodge and fraternity.
Change is never easy, but it is simply as sure a part of life as death and taxes. In fact, without change we are by definition left only with death.
Like our U.S. Constitution our fraternity must be a living thing. The only alternative is that it be a dead (or unchangeable) thing.
A venerable brother confronted me after our last stated meeting and expressed doubt that he would be returning to lodge on as regular a basis as he had in the past, because of the obviously overwhelming lodge opinion that we provide the above mentioned baby-sitting service. I asked him to consider the alternative.
Would any of us really be more comfortable if our lodge did not change and simply (in the not to distant future) ceased to be? Of course not! We all love our fraternity or we wouldn’t be so concerned about what happens in the first place.
I suggested that he indeed return. I further suggested that he become more vocal about his concerns, and I also suggested that he in future not only object to any given matter at hand, but indeed suggest, outline, recommend, and in general, guide us in what he sees as the proper approach to the future actions of our lodge and fraternity. In the end he agreed with this and I am happy to know he will be with us on a regular basis in the future.
To remain a healthy and viable organization we need both the “Ying and the Yang”, those for a given subject and those against it. Without honest and interested dissent we cannot progress into the coming new age, and our Lodge will surely fade away.
We each have the responsibility as well as the privilege of working toward what we see as the correct method of future actions, and we must understand that the lodge is truly helpless without our individual and collective guidance.
Some years ago in an hour of despair that my view of things was going nowhere, I was introduced to the directions of a venerable Brother Mason who advised me on several avenues of possible opportunity arising from my disappointing situation.
He said several things to me, and I learned several lessons from him I had not even dreamt of. I hope the following facts will help each of you as much as they did me.
He said to me “Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we ought might win, by fearing to attempt!” Is it not true that success is always impossible without positive and persistent effort in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds? He was right and it changed my life!
During the Korean War I served as a military photo-correspondent, and was privileged to have experienced several interesting and important lessons in life. I vividly recall the reports of vicious infighting, which took place in Washington for and against General Douglas MacArthur’s plan to invade at Inchon Korea in 1950. The cries against the plan were often based on reasonable doubt. By all reason the invasion was doomed to failure. That harbor had some of the highest tides in the world, and to succeed we would have had to adhere to a grueling, and dam near impossible schedule. The chances of success were rated at only 2 in 10, and when all was said and done our doubts almost lost us the day. In fact the history of that invasion shows how wrong our doubts really were.
When you come to lodge don’t just come to sit and listen. Come to contribute and guide our lodge in the direction of your opinion. Consider all options, but continue to advise the proper direction regardless of setbacks along the way. If our lodge and fraternity are not worth your efforts we lose before we begin.
Liken, if you will, our lodge to a giant earth moving construction tractor. You may have seen these many times as you traveled across country from time to time. They are built to actually move mountains, and regularly do enormous amounts of good.
Yet each of these giants must have a driver at its wheel to direct its efforts and actions. They have built vast freeways across our land, and upon this base we have gone forward to build the greatest free nation the world has ever known.
Still this could not have been done without a driver at the wheel. If we simply sit back and let our machine run itself, it will most likely crash into some gully or mountainside, and never accomplish anything positive. We must direct its actions positively. And to do this we must control our thoughts and direct our actions with persistence.
Finally, in closing I want to impress upon you the importance of positive thinking. Our minds are like the good earth. It does not care what we plant in it. It will return to us what ever we put into it, but it doesn’t care what we put into it. As in an example given to me many years ago. Imagine that a farmer has a good plot of ground, and plants two seeds in that ground, one corn, and the other Nightshade (a deadly poison). Now let’s say he waters and cultivates both plants equally. What will happen? At harvest time he will find that the Nightshade will blossom equally as will the corn. They each will return in equal abundance.
Now the human mind is much more fertile than any known piece of soil, but it will also return poison or good in equal abundance. If we plant poison in our thoughts we will reap poison in our returns. If we plant positive thoughts and ideas we will be blessed with equal and like rewards. It is all in how we control and direct our thoughts. Ancient tradition of many cultures has taught us “…As ye sow, so shall ye reap!” and this truism applies to the future of our lodge as well as the future of our mundane world.
Continue to attend lodge and our lodge will reap the good of which you sow.
Fraternally,
Luis Oroczo
Master
We are quickly approaching the middle of the Masonic year and we are fortunate to have the opportunity to confer several degrees through the rest of this year. But before we get too lax, we also need to start some planning for next year.
For example, we all know Worshipful Ernie Castillo volunteered to sit in as Junior Warden this year with the expectation of being replaced before summer.
Personally, I want to thank Ernie for doing all that he has done this year which is clearly above and beyond the call of duty after a year as sitting Master of our lodge. But we do owe him a replacement now, and if we don't; well, we will have a serious gap in our Senior Wardens chair next year.
Therefore, if any of you are interested in stepping in as Junior Warden this year and give Ernie a long-needed break, I strongly encourage you to contact our Master or myself without delay.
Another issue we need to look at is the movement toward securing youth groups. We have made positive strides already this year in possibly sponsoring a Masonic youth group for girls. But what about the boys, (i.e., DeMolay)?
The Master included a significant increase in the budget for sponsoring youth groups and I hope we will continue this trend and start a DeMolay group.
Please understand, the first step is to have a team of adults to plan and organize the development of a youth group. Would you be willing to support your lodge by helping create a DeMolay group for Los Altos Lodge? If so, like I said above: “I strongly encourage you to contact our Master or myself without delay.” And even if you are not able to provide one evening each month in such noble and glorious purpose, maybe you have some ideas of things we could do as a lodge that will encourage the local male population to create a DeMolay unit to be attached to Los Altos Lodge . . .
In the meantime, lets get out there and support our plethora of new brethren as they go through their degrees. Lets support them and show them we care by simply attending each conferral. I hope to see you there!
Fraternally,
Hal Bain
Senior Warden
I thought I would say a few words about Masonry and our times. Too many the period starting with WW II to the present, has been a social experiment. Prior to WW II most homes consisted of the working male (bread winner) and the wife and children.
The wife’s duties were to take care of the home and raise the children. Since then many home if not most have become two income homes with both spouses being in the labor market.
I cannot attest to this as in my home both my parents worked from before I was born. In fact in many emigrant homes this is the norm. But from what I have read and surmised, most Masonic homes, prior to WW II had one breadwinner.
This gave the master of the home more latitude. Today, the younger generation is still in mostly a two-income home and the man of the house has to share in the household chores and obligations.
Our Masonic Lodges have been wrestling with this dilemma for about fifty years now. One of the reasons for our declining membership is precisely the competition that exists in most homes for the man-of-the-house’s time (lest we forget the entertainment media demands). One solution that has been tried in many lodges is to bring the whole family into the lodge by having many activities directed to include all the members of the family. I cannot attest to the success of this approach as the membership continues to decline across the country.
One that we are trying here at Los Altos is to provide baby-sitting for our brothers during our stated meetings. Again I cannot attest to the success of this approach, it has only been in place for the past three years.
I can say that when speaking to prospective candidates this point has impressed them. They all, so far, agree that this provides them with great options to encourage their spouses to have a relaxing evening off and attend our dinner without having to worry about the child or children. Only one or two of our brothers have availed themselves of this service, but I would like to see how it fares over the next few years. We are getting younger candidates and we should continue to try this experiment for at least another four of five years.
Subtle changes such, as this is the learning process for all organizations. We will not know if it improves membership but I view it as a 21st century test which can be used in the learning process of Masonry and lodges throughout our jurisdiction.
As this year’s JW, I have been the first JW to manage the Social Fund. To refresh the brethren minds, last year we voted to maintain a Social Fund separate from the JW Fund. This was to facilitate the JW adhering to the CMC. Grand Lodge has decreed that the JW Fund cannot be used for social functions. Towards this end I have set forth some rules for the separation and management of the Social Fund.
The Social Fund is responsible for handling the expenses of all social events taking place except degrees; practices; OAMs and CMC defined JW responsibilities.
The Social Fund will maintain separate accounting so that the only accounting at the stated meetings shall be requests to fund the Social Fund. To justify this request the Social Fund will provide a monthly balance on its invoice request for funds. Like a checkbook it will have the beginning balance, expenses, income and ending balance. I am recommending that the Social Fund be audited in June and January. The auditors can be anyone the Master chooses, but I think the Trustees could make this part of their duties. The JW can make a report to the lodge in July and February as to the status of the Social Fund. The JW shall keep detail records of the Social Fund expenditures. To facilitate record keeping the Social Fund and JW Fund will share the dry good expenses 50 – 50. This consists of paper plates, cups and nonalcoholic refreshments. Hopefully by the end of the year we will have a method for maintaining a simple and well-managed Social Fund.
An item I discussed in my article last month was having the Social Fund pay for a candidate’s dinner on the night of the degree. Taking a candidate out to dinner on the night of his first degree was a tradition started over ten years ago. Through those years the method of paying for the candidates meal took various forms.
The initial method and the one followed in the last two years has been that the Master has paid for the candidate’s dinner. So far this year we have had four blue applications. It is our hope that many more will be coming in.
This may pose a burden on the Master to pay for all these meals, so I am proposing that the lodge allow the Master, if he chooses to voucher each candidate's meal. It would be charged to the Social Fund. Brethren please come prepared to consider this motion at the May stated meeting.
Fraternally,
Ernie Castillo,
Junior Warden
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