Tough, but Crucial Conversations

by Midnight Freemason Guest Contributor

Kevin Homan

Before the early hours of December 4, 2024, had you asked the average American who Brian Thompson or United Healthcare was you would have probably gotten a quizzical look back in return. Now, you can hardly escape a day on social media without seeing a meme, or praise for Luigi Mangione or Thompson. In typical American fashion, the division was immediate, and it is stark. Much like school shootings, “now is not the time to be politicizing” these acts. Thoughts and prayers must be with the family of the victim.

Now, please don’t get me wrong. Mr. Thompson’s murder is a tragedy. A wife lost her husband, and children lost their father. One man allegedly murdered another man. Any way you slice it that is a tragedy. While it is still early, and we only have the alleged gunman’s writings to go on, one cannot immediately think of the current state of the American insurance system and not admit our system is broken.

A week or two before our election, I was walking my daughter to school when she asked one of our neighbors who was out walking their dog who she had voted for. She responded in typical American fashion, “Who we vote for is private”. I,of course, immediately thought of the Masonic prohibition of speaking of religion and politics within the tyled space of the Lodge, which we frequently conflate to include just about everywhere else. I’m not claiming we should be having these conversations in Lodge, we shouldn’t be. What I am claiming is as a fraternity, and as a society, we need to stop hiding behind this idea we can’t have difficult conversations, conversations that NEED to be had mind you in the aftermath of a tragedy. Quite the opposite, the immediate aftermath of tragedies like this is the BEST time to have these conversations. Otherwise, in our frantic media cycle, we forget and move on to the next squirrel that takes up the airwaves.

The sad reality today is, that we do not discuss political or religious topics as Masons because it will cause disharmony, but because a majority of Masons cannot subdue their passions and debate rationally. Instead of being the example to society we claim to be, I see a majority of Masons making uninformed and abhorrent statements. Instead of engaging in civil discourse, and being the light in the darkness, I have witnessed Masons call Masonic widows’ groomers.

This country deserves, no NEEDS to discuss the state of the insurance industry and how it puts profit before the health of its customers. This country NEEDS to discuss meaningfully why school shootings continue to happen. This country needs to meaningfully discuss the border crisis and how we can best plan to solve it in a way that adequately addresses everyone’s needs. There was a time when Masonry had the courage and the ability to lead the rational discourse, and needed to thoughtfully solve problems such as these. But no more. No more, because our membership is just as polarized as the country, despite our ritual saying we are different. Despite us saying we are different, we are no different than society. Brethren, we are not better. By and large, we cannot subdue our passions, and by and large we’ve lost the stomach to be the change society needs. If you doubt what I’m saying, I encourage you to look closely at what you’re fellow Brethren are saying online.

This is the state of the fraternity, all because we’re afraid to have tough conversations. We’re afraid of this because, despite our claim of being able to subdue our passions, we can’t subdue our passions. We are afraid to have tough conversations because we’re afraid of what it might reveal about ourselves.

How do we once again become the organization we tell ourselves it is? How are we truly going to become the light to society we continually tell ourselves we are?

Brother Homan has been a Freemason for 18 years as a member of Olive Branch Lodge in Leesburg VA. He is also a member of multiple Appendant Bodies. Masonically, Kevin is interested in education, currently serving as his Lodge's Education Officer as well as a Regional Provost on the Grand Lodge Committee on Education. Outside of Masonry Kevin is either transporting his children to their various activities or can be found at the track in his 1997 Mazda Miata.