"Every Man In There Has Gray Hair"

"I do understand your points about modernizing; There's a lot of young guys who are interested in joining" I said to a brother as we conversed after lodge out in the main foyer.

"Every man in there has gray hair. We're all going to be dead and you're going to be in that lodge room by yourself."

I couldn't believe what he said. I had never heard any of my brothers say that before. The words echoed for what seemed line an eternity in my mind while standing in front of him. "...We're all going to be dead and you're going to be in that lodge room by yourself".

I felt like it was such a stark comment to make, however, a nugget of truth. The other comment that he made, something along the lines of "titles are bullshit", was equally surprising. How many past "Grand Lodge" officers say that one? Usually its the more standard "...no no no. You mean 'Past Illustrious Past High Worshipful Illustrious 33rd Knight York Cross of Honor!". What good are your titles when you're buried and all the corporeal 'you' becomes ash? The beautiful portrait of you hanging outside the lodge room? Gone. A group of brothers (who had merged with your dying lodge) pried it off of the wall and threw it out after making the comment "Who the hell is that? Nobody cares anyways".

The meeting, I felt, was one of the best I had been to in years. To hear just a few brothers say "open and close, open and close, that's all we do!" made it seem like we made headway into the future when the meeting devolved into a conversation about relevancy of our fraternity. The point was made that we don't control our own image; we relinquished control to society long ago. We are in the golden age of the Internet, and yet, our online presence is shabby with more misinformation than actual knowledge.

I had also never heard another brother (at least in person) say how insulated the entire organization is. Rather than look for new ideas from without, it just seems that Freemasonry keep retreading tires. No one sees that the tires are flat, we've been grinding down the rims, and we still have miles to go. Keep saying "2 B 1 Ask 1", that's sure to entice people to join...especially when they think we're either a dead group or some spooky group of kooks straight out of a Dan Brown novel.

When you're number 13, and about 11 of them are twenty years older (or more), what will it be like in the lodge room by yourself? It won't be a bunch of Past Masters filling all the chairs; it'll just be you.