Fear and Loathing on Thanksgiving

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

WB Darin A. Lahners

WB Darin trying to whisper good counsel to a 

 brother - 'Stop being a dick!'

Here we are yet again...another Thanksgiving.  Another day of food and football, and in many cases depending on the level of dysfunction of your family... too much alcohol and a family fight (or more than one).  I'm about to pick a family fight without the alcohol...without the food...without the football.  The fight I am going to pick is based on our behavior. Mostly on social media, but this can also apply in real life. It's probably a good time to discuss this given the real possibility of fear and loathing on this Thanksgiving day. 

No, in fact, what I saw on many brothers social media posts up to and after the election. To be clear...this goes for both supporters of the red and blue...or anyone in between...can we stop: with memes and comments that go against our core values... pretty much those demeaning against certain individuals who are of a different gender, race, religion or sexual preference? Basically, can our membership stop acting like internet troglodytes who look like Walter Sobchak cosplayers?

To paraphrase the late great Dwight Smith: 'Why not try Freemasonry?' What I mean to say is we as members of this Fraternity have an identity crisis. The crisis is this. We need to decide if we're going to act like Masons both outside and inside of our lodges, or only inside of them. I think this decision is the fundamental solution to all of the issues facing us right now and for the foreseeable future. 

Let me explain. If we're acting like Masons both inside and outside of our lodges, then we are: getting outside of our lodge rooms and we're being active in our communities, which gives us more visibility in our communities, which should in theory lead to new members. This also means that we're being respectful of everyone in our communities (online and real world), able to have meaningful discussions between opposing view points that are backed up by verifiable facts or data, able to embrace our differences by finding common ground with each other, and parting in harmony, which should show us as living the tenets of Masonic Philosophy in our daily lives. 

Or we can decide only to act like Masons in the Lodge room. This means: we're not getting out in our communities, so there's no community visibility for the Lodge, which means we're not getting new members. Otherwise, we're acting like assholes outside of the lodge room both virtuality and in reality, we're entertaining conspiracy theories as factual, arguing with everyone who has an opposing viewpoint without having verifiable data or facts, and we don't have to live the tenets of Masonic philosophy because heck nobody even knows we exist in this town.  

Of the two options above, which do you think is the best recipe for future success? Let's just say this, when you're being a Freemason, you're acting like an individual who is a member of a small and selective (in theory) group of men. When you're being an asshole, you're acting like a common denominator... because everyone has one. 

Before you go to wherever you're going for Thanksgiving, you need to ask yourself what type of member you're going to be this year.  Are you going to fear what conspiracy theory Uncle John or Aunt Karen is going to start ranting about to the point that you loathe having to go? Or are you going to be able to go and be able to ask Uncle John or Aunt Karen for verifiable facts and data to back up their assertion of reptilian shape-shifters taking over the world? Are you going to be able to respectfully disagree with your relatives and walk away? Or are you going to feel the tug on your ego when your relatives vomit word salad and so you decide to 'own' them?  Choose wisely.

~DAL

Darin Lahners wishes everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!