Drive Fast, Turn Left, Give this Due-Guard and Sign.

Dear Unknown Friend,

Tis true. The AASR-SMJ has endorsed a Busch League driver.

I have tried to avoid commenting on this occurrence because I feel that the topic is often discussed with too much heat, and not much Light. In fact, I have had this post as a draft for several weeks now. I am reluctant to publish it because it would be the second negative post in a row, and ultimately this topic doesn’t promote the Craft, or Masonic development. However, I think it is am important topic and worth approaching - if only to document my thoughts on it for me own reference at some later date.

I must confess I have mixed feelings on this. I see the business reality of this decision. We need money and leadership. Dues are woefully inadequate, the tax pool for income (dues paying members) is dying off at a tremendous and increasing rate and we can no longer avoid the reality that the institutions of Freemasonry were poorly managed over the last half of the 20th century. Ultimately this is our fault. We did not train our leadership appropriately and we took gambles on short term investments (lower dues, get more members = more short term cash flow). We had no retention strategy (no long term monetary strategy, we will just get more new guys), no investment into our people resources (i.e. Masonic and leadership training), asked no commitment from membership (no memorization, reduction in acceptable ritual quality, no education as a budgetary line item, no budget, make it easy and attractive to keep new members coming in), made the so-called higher degrees and appendant bodies more attractive than the Blue Lodge, aligned ourselves to out-dated and out-moded management styles and standards, and waited nearly 4 decades (Initations peaked in 1948, death overtook the holding pattern in 1956) before recognizing the problem.

This does not concern me. All of this can be corrected. This is ultimately a training issue, and can be corrected inside a generation (though don’t take this as me saying there will not be painful losses and decisions).

My concerns pertain to the factors leading to the decision. Stan Dodd, our SR Public Relations manager states we are getting old, and we are looking to attract new members. With about as much skill and grace I might add. Again, I understand the business importance, we need new blood, and we cannot change our economic reality without resources, namely funds. But what about this particular decision was so appealing over any other decision? Why did we choose to attract NASCAR fans, business partners and supporters, over say the NFL, Hockey, Soccer, Horse Racing, professional basket weaving? What in the cumulative experience of this demographic contains the necessary elements to change our Craft for the better? Our PR Manager simply says “Men”. That doesn’t lead me to a great deal of confidence.

What was the framework of the decision: Freemasonry as an Initiatic Tradition dedicated to individual Illumination and Universal Brotherhood or Freemasonry as a purely social and charitable organization? The Supreme Council hasn’t said.

The absence of information on the impacting factors is what concerns me most. I will not make any prognostications that this is the death knell of Freemasonry as an initiatic tradtion dedicated to individual Illumination and Universal Brotherhood, but I do not see the sponsorship has actively supporting it either.

I fear we have made a deal with the Devil, and I don’t know that we are smart enough to out-wit him this time.

J.