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"The essence of
being human is that one does not seek perfection, that one is sometimes willing to commit
sins for the sake of loyalty, that one does not push asceticism to the point where it
makes friendly intercourse impossible, and that one is prepared in the end to be defeated
and broken up by life, which is the inevitable price of fastening one’s love upon
other human individuals."
George Orwell (1903–50), British
author.
Please Read On ...
We're not really claiming that we're perfect: it's simply not true! Masonry has it's faults and problems. Sometimes a member slips into alcoholism, mental depression or other forms of sickness. Sometimes a member will forget his vows and act wrongly towards another human being. Sometimes a member will cheat, steal, or wrong someone else. It has happened, much as we'd like to wish it had not.
When it does, anti-Masons are quick to point out these shortcomings. Rather than extend a helping hand to someone who has stumbled or fallen, they'd rather mock and rejoice in the ill-fortune. Most seem to get great pleasure in the pain and suffering another member of mankind is facing - and justify their glee because in their minds, 'Masons deserve whatever they get!'
Most people understand that you can not judge an entire organization by the actions of one member - particularly when that member is acting as an individual and not on behalf of the organization. Nevertheless, anti-Masons quickly attribute whatever perceived shortcoming they find in a fellow human being as a result of their Masonic connection. Is this rational? Not really - but it happens, and far too often.
If a person gives a break or benefit to a relative, it's often 'expected' yet when a Mason helps someone they might know through their lodge, they're accused of 'protecting' another Mason. If for some reason they had not become involved, then they would have been charged with abandoning their brothers. It's a no-win situation - but could be resolved in the minds of the anti-Masonic faction if there were no Masonry.
Interesting too is when one of 'theirs' falls, they quickly distance themselves and suddenly the person or ideology seems to cease to exist in their minds. At one point in the US, many fundamentalist preachers used Masonry as one of their convenient 'whipping boys'; following the spectacularly visible 'fall from grace' by so many of them, now anti-Masons seem quite reluctant to tout their particular spiritual leader apparently because of fear that he may soon be found in some scandal.
Regardless, though, few Masons relish the thought of someone else suffering. The precepts of Masonry encourage toleration and forbearance. Masonry supports the concept that it is far better to help someone up than to kick them down.
For that reason alone, we will perhaps never be able to be understood by those who enjoy the sufferings of their fellow human beings!
Are all Masons perfect? No, they aren't...
but most are striving to be better!
While imitation has been called the sincerest form of flattery, we were shocked and a bit dismayed when, in October, 2000, we found the following announcement in an online mailing list in which we participate:
"Brethren I have received the following article which is part of "The Keystone Communicator" (Volume 10, Issue 6) which is a Bi-Monthly Publication of Keystone Lodge No. 251, F. & A.M. located in <location removed>. The Senior Deacon of that Lodge, <name removed>, wrote the article. I found the article very interesting and I am passing it on to you."
The article was that as shown above! Word for word, comma for comma, and even including the ellipsis which we constantly use in our writing. It's disappointing that Masons - who should know better - take material they've obtained elsewhere and use it as their own. Our site has been very favorably received by the writer's Grand Lodge and they've included links to us from their web site. This page has been on our site unchanged almost from its inception in summer, 1998. We were inspired to write it by a newsgroup posting that said, in effect, 'You Masons think you're perfect....'. I thought - well, that's not quite true and proceeded to pen the item above. I'd never seen any other Masonic author write anything quite so 'brash' and chuckled to myself about it. Then it was put aside and nearly forgotten until about two years later when, I was saddened to find, that it had been plagiarized. Perhaps my Brother had no idea where he'd found the material (it happens, I know) but its doubtful he'd have forgotten that he had not written it.
For those writing Masonic publications, PLEASE be sure that you give credit where credit is due. This page, like all others on this site, is under copyright. If you wish to publish the article above, with proper attribution, simply ask for permission to do so. It's that simple....
Just
click on "Prince, the Search Dog" to find things on our site. He's on every page
and he'll take you directly to our search form where you can see if we've
written about whatever it is you're interested in. Prince has a great memory; he
always remembers where things are!