Full transparency: I have written and rewritten this article five times.  There’s so much happening around us.  So much pain, frustration, anger, disappointment, and sadness.  So many things are being called into question, it is sometimes hard to make sense of it all.  As a Mason, I have found it hard in recent weeks to remember my working tools; to circumscribe my desires and keep my passions within due bounds.  Masonry, though, is a practice.  Which means you sometimes fall short, not because you weren’t trying but because sometimes it’s too much and you’re a flawed human being. 

Masonry teaches us that we have a responsibility to help make the world a better place while being devoted to family, faith, country, and fraternity.  We value and promote ethics, personal growth, tolerance, education, diversity, philanthropy, family, and community.  So, as we drive through town with shouting protesters and counter protesters, see historic statues tumble to the ground, or listen to politicians attacking one another’s beliefs, platform, and party, we need to be mindful.  Mindfulness is one of a Mason’s most powerful tools.  It allows us to calmly acknowledge an accept another person or group of people’s feelings, thoughts, as a valid experience for them.  We should seek to understand where our feelings come from and be honest with ourselves about them.  It takes effort.  It’s not easy. Nothing about Masonic philosophy says we must make other’s experiences our own but, we should be empathetic.  We should seek to find common ground – things that we share, rather than things which make us different – and a mutual respect.  We have to keep trying.  If only to model to the rest of society that there’s a better way.