Are Freemasons getting the Value for their Monies?
So I'm coming from the house of my lodge Secretary and this thought of money for value crossed my shaking mind. It shakes, just like the trotro(public transport) I board from Atinga junction to Atonsu. Money. Value. I asked myself if at all members are getting the value of Freemasonry, a society of which they have paid so much money to belong. And just at somewhere the mate (conductor) jounces on my shoulder for his money, again, I thought about whether I have received a service worth the Ghc1.20p claim he was legally demanding of me. I don't know. Maybe not when I have not reached Atonsu yet or maybe yes.
I will pay you later when we have reached Atonsu, I said politely in Twi(the local dialect of Ashantis) and unusual of trotro mates, this one had patience. And neither the driver nor the mate bothered me. Or I was too busy typing this piece to pay any mind to what might seem a tincture.
I had gone to the secretary's house with a candidate for initiation, purposely to pay the required amount of money expected of every candidate for Freemasonry. He had in a white envelope the cedi equivalent of the pounds sterling component. That money goes to the United Grand Lodge of England, so it should have been changed into its sterling equivalent, the secretary humbly said. But a quick flash of the thoughts whisked by and I saw a duty in myself as a proposer. I asked myself simple questions yet complex ones. Is this man going to get out of Freemasonry the value for his money? Is he going to be patient to appreciate that, indeed, Masonry is expensive but worth it? After his initiation the only time he will enjoy his membership is to be here on whatsapp with brethren, but again, you ask yourself that, who pays so much just to end up in a whatsapp group? We might be the most expensive whatsapp group then.
Who will talk about Freemasonry with him? Who will explain to him the initiation ceremony he will just in days pass through? Is he also going to be disappointed like I was after my passing? Like me, will he take exhilaration in doing his personal research about the craft? So many of these questions kept exciting my confused mind. You see, like any other man I have initiated, about fifteen of them, I will add him to Sustain the Craft Whatsapp group, hoping to entertain him while we do our very best to educate him, making him feel belonged and above all, sustaining his interest in the Fraternity, but again, who pays so much for just for a WhatSapp group? Though I might recite a portion of the charge after initiation to him come Saturday, I can only say for certain that it will make no sense to him. The part which says.....From the very commendable attention(no attention is paid, we know) you appear to have given to this charge, I am led to hope you will duly appreciate the value of Freemasonry and indelibly imprint on your heart the sacred dictates of truth, of honour, and of virtue. You see, no one appreciates this when said to him for the first time. We have learned to know. At least for the most.
I pray every new made brother to be patient, calm and remember his obligation keep. As humans, and worse as Africans, we find it very difficult to grow. We don't grow. Yet we write about growth. That is why it is not startling to see a Ghanaian man struggling to operate his new TV set while the instructions booklet stays in its wrapper undisturbed. Such is our nature. And we seem to like it that way. What point am I proving? Freemasonry, I have grown to appreciate it as a gentle man's club, more reading is required of its members. More thinking and more contemplation are needed. Patience. Industry. Your corporeal and mental faculties in their fullest energy will be employed most, thereby enabling you to exert those talents wherewith God has blessed you, as well to his glory as the welfare of your fellow creatures.
I am ashamed to mention that mentor-ship in the lodge as been so much downplayed that, even when the candidate's mind has been prepared for reading, there is no such a resource, at least, at this side of our masonic world. I am not the first to mention this and certainly won't be the last. Until you are raised you are not suppose to know anything about Freemasonry? I think that was a question right. To who? Please reader don't find trouble for me, I beg.
Else where mentorship is piquant in nature, at least I can commend the District Grand lodge of East Africa, and of South Africa. They have a printed booklet for the candidate on each ceremony he experiences. Thus for the initiation, passing and raising ceremonies. And they assign to each candidate at his initiation, a senior and experienced Mason, who happily will embrace the honourable duty of mentorship. He will rather walk to the new made brother and request for his telephone contact and his residential address. Obviously, the shy poor man who finds himself in the midst of odd faces, will feel loved and welcomed. So he won't hesitate to exchange details with his mentor.
This is a simple exercise we as Ghanaian masons are not doing hence endangering our fraternity. Right here, rumour has it that, the moment you are nearing a senior Mason, it is because you need a job or favour from him. So bad a thought of them. But hold on for a second, what would you ask if you are jobless and suffering? Certainly not for wisdom and peace, the senior Mason ain't God. You will surely ask for help from him or his connections. Is that too bad of young masons? (Rhetorical question)
Please dear new made brother, I pray you, zeal, passion, research, humility, trust, patience and industry to mention but few, I hope you will discover the value for your monies.
And the mate hinted me when we got to Atonsu, hopeful that I paid his money.Which I did pay. I think it was a good drive with so much traffic snarl up. But with patience and industry, I am finally here and have enjoyed the value of my money. I hope it makes some sense to the new brother.
Thank you.
Bro Oppong Clifford Benjamin
Excelsior Lodge No. 7670 EC
So I'm coming from the house of my lodge Secretary and this thought of money for value crossed my shaking mind. It shakes, just like the trotro(public transport) I board from Atinga junction to Atonsu. Money. Value. I asked myself if at all members are getting the value of Freemasonry, a society of which they have paid so much money to belong. And just at somewhere the mate (conductor) jounces on my shoulder for his money, again, I thought about whether I have received a service worth the Ghc1.20p claim he was legally demanding of me. I don't know. Maybe not when I have not reached Atonsu yet or maybe yes.
I will pay you later when we have reached Atonsu, I said politely in Twi(the local dialect of Ashantis) and unusual of trotro mates, this one had patience. And neither the driver nor the mate bothered me. Or I was too busy typing this piece to pay any mind to what might seem a tincture.
I had gone to the secretary's house with a candidate for initiation, purposely to pay the required amount of money expected of every candidate for Freemasonry. He had in a white envelope the cedi equivalent of the pounds sterling component. That money goes to the United Grand Lodge of England, so it should have been changed into its sterling equivalent, the secretary humbly said. But a quick flash of the thoughts whisked by and I saw a duty in myself as a proposer. I asked myself simple questions yet complex ones. Is this man going to get out of Freemasonry the value for his money? Is he going to be patient to appreciate that, indeed, Masonry is expensive but worth it? After his initiation the only time he will enjoy his membership is to be here on whatsapp with brethren, but again, you ask yourself that, who pays so much just to end up in a whatsapp group? We might be the most expensive whatsapp group then.
Who will talk about Freemasonry with him? Who will explain to him the initiation ceremony he will just in days pass through? Is he also going to be disappointed like I was after my passing? Like me, will he take exhilaration in doing his personal research about the craft? So many of these questions kept exciting my confused mind. You see, like any other man I have initiated, about fifteen of them, I will add him to Sustain the Craft Whatsapp group, hoping to entertain him while we do our very best to educate him, making him feel belonged and above all, sustaining his interest in the Fraternity, but again, who pays so much for just for a WhatSapp group? Though I might recite a portion of the charge after initiation to him come Saturday, I can only say for certain that it will make no sense to him. The part which says.....From the very commendable attention(no attention is paid, we know) you appear to have given to this charge, I am led to hope you will duly appreciate the value of Freemasonry and indelibly imprint on your heart the sacred dictates of truth, of honour, and of virtue. You see, no one appreciates this when said to him for the first time. We have learned to know. At least for the most.
I pray every new made brother to be patient, calm and remember his obligation keep. As humans, and worse as Africans, we find it very difficult to grow. We don't grow. Yet we write about growth. That is why it is not startling to see a Ghanaian man struggling to operate his new TV set while the instructions booklet stays in its wrapper undisturbed. Such is our nature. And we seem to like it that way. What point am I proving? Freemasonry, I have grown to appreciate it as a gentle man's club, more reading is required of its members. More thinking and more contemplation are needed. Patience. Industry. Your corporeal and mental faculties in their fullest energy will be employed most, thereby enabling you to exert those talents wherewith God has blessed you, as well to his glory as the welfare of your fellow creatures.
I am ashamed to mention that mentor-ship in the lodge as been so much downplayed that, even when the candidate's mind has been prepared for reading, there is no such a resource, at least, at this side of our masonic world. I am not the first to mention this and certainly won't be the last. Until you are raised you are not suppose to know anything about Freemasonry? I think that was a question right. To who? Please reader don't find trouble for me, I beg.
Else where mentorship is piquant in nature, at least I can commend the District Grand lodge of East Africa, and of South Africa. They have a printed booklet for the candidate on each ceremony he experiences. Thus for the initiation, passing and raising ceremonies. And they assign to each candidate at his initiation, a senior and experienced Mason, who happily will embrace the honourable duty of mentorship. He will rather walk to the new made brother and request for his telephone contact and his residential address. Obviously, the shy poor man who finds himself in the midst of odd faces, will feel loved and welcomed. So he won't hesitate to exchange details with his mentor.
This is a simple exercise we as Ghanaian masons are not doing hence endangering our fraternity. Right here, rumour has it that, the moment you are nearing a senior Mason, it is because you need a job or favour from him. So bad a thought of them. But hold on for a second, what would you ask if you are jobless and suffering? Certainly not for wisdom and peace, the senior Mason ain't God. You will surely ask for help from him or his connections. Is that too bad of young masons? (Rhetorical question)
Please dear new made brother, I pray you, zeal, passion, research, humility, trust, patience and industry to mention but few, I hope you will discover the value for your monies.
And the mate hinted me when we got to Atonsu, hopeful that I paid his money.Which I did pay. I think it was a good drive with so much traffic snarl up. But with patience and industry, I am finally here and have enjoyed the value of my money. I hope it makes some sense to the new brother.
Thank you.
Bro Oppong Clifford Benjamin
Excelsior Lodge No. 7670 EC
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