THE LIE BROTHER MALIK AZONG INADVERTENTLY MADE ME THINK OF FREEMASONRY.

by Brother Oppong Clifford Benjamin

Let me be frank with you, before I joined the Masons I was a passionate confederacy theoriser against Freemasonry - the type that argued vehemently against the system, that said Freemasonry was evil and ruled the world from behind the scenes and had a secret agenda of introducing to our already chaos world a new world order. By my theories, the new world order was some kind of mystical power which I presumed was secluded within the very inner circles of the highest ranked Masons -the 33 degree- I thought, that by its manifestation it will heighten the topsy-turvydom of the world. And a popular engravings on the 33 degree ring affirmed my mentality back then. ORDO AB CHAOS, translated as Order out of Chaos. So I made many believe it was rather the other way around they (33 degree Masons) sought to achieve with their new world order mystical enchantments. Silly boy!

Unlike many others of the ignorant popular world, I didn't think Masonry was about blood money rituals or that all Masons were rich. Perhaps, it was because I knew some Masons in my town. If ever anything informed my decision to join eventually, I would say it was the sweet and lovely brotherhood those Masons exhibited towards each other right before my eyes and nose- their jolly end-of-year parties in the community which they invited their ladies and children ( those were the times I would bite my father for not being a Mason), those Masons had many shibboleths that made even a flying bird pause to laugh. But sincerely those weren't my principal drives for my membership. I don't tell, so don't ask.

I thought of those Masons as elite men whose corporeal and mental faculties were in their fullest energy, thinking for the whole township and influencing the governance of Tarkwa. This fallacy, however, was affirmed by my knowing that a particular traditional ruler of the town was a member and also, two very famous doctors but highly dreaded by the people of Tarkwa were also members. It called for no further consideration, I thought.

And then on the night of my passing ceremony, Brother Malik Azong did something that made me believe Masonry was going to make me rich. The thought only crossed my mind right after the Malik gesture, but in the next moment I asked myself why then were some Masons I knew back in Tarkwa not so rich. Quickly, the more excited side of me retorted, maybe they didn't perform those sacrifices. Fear gripped me and frissons were all over my brown November skin. I would remain a poor Mason, my rather disappointed side thought.

Malik arrived at the porch of the Temple to find a lonely man sitting there. My face found no meaning in the moment or maybe in life. It wasn't as if I was scared of the ceremony that was about to take place. I had gone through the initiation ceremony only the previous month and even that didn't frighten me a bit. But I was trying hard to appreciate the system of Freemasonry. I didn't feel belonged and nothing mystically powerful had been entrusted to my keeping, save a word with its corresponding grip which had no meaning to me except its Biblical import. I doubted if it was Freemasonry I had joined here. What then? Nonsense!

"My brother why are you so dull... are you sick?" Brother Malik asked and stretched his hand to feel my forehead. I smirked briefly.

"I am well, my brother" I managed.

"You are not, and is clearly written on your face" he retorted loudly in an authoritative voice. As if he had some charms to determine if a person was sick. (I'm chuckling) And then he did what I have since then come to like most about Malik, he pulled out his fat wallet and counted ghc200 and dashed it to me. WHAAAAATTT? I thought. Who does this? I asked myself. If not the Masons, who else? I answered myself with a rhetorical question.

"Really! Thank you so much but this is too much" I said to him and held the money openly in the space between us.

"Oh! I know you are a student, you are going to need it. Get some medicine, and cheer up. This is Masonry and we know no misery." He yanked up my spirit and like whirl wind, he flicked himself into the temple.

Right there, I knew Masonry was going to make me as rich as Malik on that night or any future period. I would wait patiently, I assured myself. But my excitement was short lived by a memory and a thought. I remembered the not-rich members among the Tarkwa Masons and I concluded that if at any point I was asked to perform any ritual for money, I rather a poor Mason.

But now I have come to appreciate Malik's gesture as a common trait among most Masons - selflessness. I have come to know that Brother Malik Azong was not any rich but he acted so because of the one value which he had so professed to admire - charity. And need I mention that he is one brother who loves his brothers genuinely and cares the most? I need not itemize the various ways he had selflessly shown that he was a proper Mason at heart. Much can't be said about his performance in the lodge, unfortunately.

MASONS ARE NOT RICH MEN

ARE NOT ANY MORE INTELLIGENT

BUT ARE THE PRINCIPLES AND TENETS

OF MORALITY, CHARITY, TRUTH AND JUSTICE.

I beg, whoever said Malik can't speak proper Grammar is warned. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Some Cutlery Etiquette Every Mason Must Know.

By Brother Oppong Clifford Benjamin. (OCB)


After labour is indeed refreshment. We are constantly reminded by the junior warden's duty to call the brethren from labour to refreshment and from refreshment to labour that profit and pleasure may be the results, to, once in a time, halt our crafty work and retire to the comfort of forks and knifes.
As the junior warden, which also means that I'm the chief steward of my lodge (Excelsior Lodge No. 7670 EC under the roll of the District Grand Lodge of Ghana in the register of the Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of England), I deem it necessary to educate Brethren of my lodge on some rules governing the use of fork and knife at refreshments. And as a Mason, it is only brotherly that I share this information beyond my lodge, the better to enable fellow Brethren to satisfy their general desire for knowledge. 

I was as guilty as anyone may be in cutlery malpractices when I first joined Masonry. Some senior brethren corrected me. Sometimes it was embarrassing and other times it was intimidating. But I learned them anyway. And now I will beg you also to please step down to my class and let's do this on the level. Thank you.

 I will use my experience to illustrate the lessons, so please don't get too angry when you read many 'I's than 'you's. I'm not that selfish. I hope you can smile now. (Two 'I's and counting....)

On the night of my initiation, just after the ceremony, the director of ceremony announced that there would be banquet downstairs and it was the Worshipful Master's singular honour to wine and dine with all brethren present. I said to myself that this must be a gentleman's society. But where we had the banquet wasn't that close to gentility. Let me save that for another day.
We got to the part when the WM proposed the toast to the initiate, and I was prompted to deliver a short speech, which I did with ease and with a poetic touch. There was a thundering sound upon completion of my speech. I still don't know the name of that auditory gesture but I suppose I can call it a Masonic Applause - the hitting of glasses against the dinning table and the tapping of shoes to produce not noise but sounds.
I felt too good. At least I have made a good first impression. Everybody's goal right? But something happened. Something insignificant to the Brethren but really affected my mood as a newbie. 
The WM asked if I needed some more food and I thought he was only making sure I was satisfied. So I smiled and replied that I was okay. Then he retorted calmly that my cutlery shouldn't be in this position; I had left the fork face down somewhere on the plate and the knife was also somewhere behind the chicken thigh residue. 

He then taught me these etiquette;

1. When you want to pause eating and attend to something else that needs your attention: place the fork face up and the knife meeting the fork at tip ends at 90 degrees at the north of the plate such that the handles of both cutlery are widely apart at the south. (See attached image)

2. When you are done with the meal on a plate and want some more or ready for the next plate: cross the cutlery on the plate with the fork on top and face up. (See attached image)

3. When you are done with your meal: place both fork and knife vertically side by side. Always remember that the fork must always face up. (See attached image)

4. When you don't like the food served, you don't have to scream at the steward or make your plea by shouting. All you have to do is: you insert the blade of the knife into the spiral openings of the fork and them in the position so described in number 1 (the Pause). (See attached image)

Brethren, our society is one of gentlemen and for gentlemen, for which reason we MUST continually act in conformity with all rules that govern gentility in its entirety. Such is the nature of our fraternity. 

I Greet You Well.