Applying Masonic Values to Covid-19

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

WB Darin A. Lahners

As I write this, the Delta variant of Covid-19 is sweeping the nation. While there is no evidence that the Delta variant makes people more severely sick, it is around twice as contagious as the original SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) virus.[1]  According to research from Johns Hopkins University, the average number of daily COVID cases in the U.S. has gone up 66% in just the last week and is up 145% from two weeks ago.[2]  The variant is twice as contagious as the original virus, and one study suggested that the amount of virus in unvaccinated people infected with Delta might be a thousand times higher than seen in people infected with the original version of the virus.[3]  In the past few days, the Center for Disease Control has advised that vaccinated individuals begin masking in public spaces again, because they are able to carry tremendous amounts of Delta variant in their nose and throat.[4]  The deadly pandemic has continued because there is a large percentage of people who have refused to wear masks in public while unvaccinated and/or get vaccinated against Covid-19.  About 97 percent of people hospitalized with Covid-19 are unvaccinated.[5]      

This is not a political post, although it most likely may be labeled as one by some. Even though Freemasonry is not supposed to take any position regarding politics, we have seen brethren divided politically more today than at any other time in history apart from the Civil War era, and unfortunately, Covid-19 has been made into a political issue due in part because of this divide. This is unfortunate because this isn’t a political issue. It is at heart a principle that I hold dearer.  That principle is Civic responsibility. Civic responsibility means active participation in the public life of a community in an informed, committed, and constructive manner, with a focus on the common good.  I made the choice to become fully vaccinated to protect myself from Covid-19 and protect myself from allowing me to potentially spread it to others. When I was unvaccinated, I wore a mask in public places where social distancing was impossible because of this principle. I am wearing a mask again in public indoor places based upon the latest CDC guidelines to help prevent the spread of the Delta variant of Covid -19.  This is my personal decision.  

While it is unknown what percentage of the population would need to be vaccinated for herd immunity, what we do know is that is most likely the high 80 or low 90 percent of the population of the United States and that we are nowhere close to that happening.   For example, measles is a highly contagious illness. It's estimated that 94% of the population must be immune to interrupt the chain of transmission. [6]  As of today, 49.4% of the population of the United States is vaccinated against Covid-19.[7]   As of writing this, there have been 609,441 deaths in the United States due to Covid-19.[8]  95% of the deaths due to Covid-19 are in patients that are older than 50 years old.[9]  We know that the majority of our membership falls into this demographic category. 

The good news is that the vaccination rates increase as we get into this demographic group.  57.5% of the total United States population aged 40-49 are fully vaccinated, 67.0% of the United States population aged 50-64 years are fully vaccinated, 81.6% of the United States population aged 64-74 years are fully vaccinated, and 77.6% of the United States population aged 75+ are vaccinated.[10]  The bad news is that rates are under 50% for the population aged 18-39.  We know that the vaccines are not 100% effective.   There are going to be cases of breakthrough infection.  A breakthrough infection occurs when someone who has been fully vaccinated tests positive for Covid-19. The good news is that breakthrough infections are rare, and the vast majority of the cases are mild. More than 161 million people in the U.S. have been fully vaccinated, and fewer than 6,000 fully vaccinated people have been hospitalized or died from breakthrough infections. The CDC has stopped collecting data on asymptomatic breakthrough infections, meaning people who have tested positive but don’t have any symptoms. “The fact that people are getting breakthroughs with the Delta variant and not having symptoms is something to celebrate,” says Dr. Amesh Adalja of Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security. “That means our vaccines are robust against the Delta variant.” People who do get more severe breakthrough infections are likely to be elderly or immunocompromised. Of the people who had severe breakthrough infections, 75% were over the age of 65. It is still extremely rare to get severe Covid-19 after being vaccinated, especially if you are young and healthy.[11]

The current COVID surge fueled by the Delta variant will likely continue throughout the summer and fall, peaking in mid-October.  At the peak, there will be around 60,000 new cases and 850 deaths each day, Justin Lessler, an epidemiologist from the University of North Carolina who helps run the data hub, told NPR. “By the time you get to October, these resurgent epidemics have burned through a lot of the people who are susceptible.”  Lessler explained. He added that, at that point, “herd immunity starts kicking in a little more aggressively and we start to see things going down again.”  By Jan. 2022, the data bub projects that the number of deaths will come back down around the current level of about 300 each day.”[12]

The longer the pandemic continues, the greater the chance that the virus continues to mutate.  If you let the virus replicate itself 900,000 times, odds are that the advantageous mutation will occur. But if you limit the overall replication of the virus to 1000 times, then it’s much less likely that the random advantageous mutation is going to occur. And that’s where public health interventions really help us a lot during this pandemic – by reducing the total amount of virus replication and therefore reducing the chances that the virus can improve or adapt.[13]   

I believe that the three great tenets of our Fraternity are simple rules to follow to help one live as an upright Mason. 

In the First Degree, Freemasons are taught that the first great tenet of our Fraternity is Brotherly Love. The tenet teaches us “to regard the whole human species as one family; the high and the low, the rich and the poor, who, as created by one Almighty Parent and inhabitants of the same planet, are to aid, support and protect each other. On this principle, masonry unites men of every country, sect and opinion, and conciliates true friendship among those who might otherwise have remained at perpetual distance.”  

The second tenet taught in the First Degree, Relief, teaches us: “To relieve the distressed is a duty incumbent upon all men; but particularly on Masons, who profess to be linked together by an indissoluble chain of sincere affection.  To soothe the unhappy, to sympathize with their misfortunes, to compassionate with their miseries, and to restore peace to their troubled minds, is the grand aim we have in view.”  

The final tenet taught in the First Degree, Truth, tells us that: “Truth is a divine attribute and the foundation of every virtue.  To be good and true is the first lesson we are taught in Masonry.  On this theme we contemplate, and by its dictates endeavor to regulate our conduct.  Hence, while influenced by this principle, hypocrisy and deceit are unknown among us, sincerity and plain dealing distinguish us, and the heart and the tongue join in promoting each other’s welfare and rejoicing in each other’s prosperity.”  

In the First Degree Charge, when we are told: “As a citizen, you are enjoined to be exemplary in the discharge of your civic duties, by never proposing or countenancing any act which may have a tendency to subvert the peace and good order of society; by paying due obedience to the laws under whose protection you live, and by never losing sight of the allegiance due to your country.”  The importance of the Tenets and Virtues are emphasized directly after the above, as the Charge states: “As an individual, you are charged to practice the domestic and public virtues.  Let temperance chasten, fortitude support, prudence direct you, and justice be the guide to all your actions.  Be especially careful to maintain, in their fullest splendor, those true Masonic ornaments – brotherly love, relief and truth.”         

In our Third Degree obligation, we promise that each of us individually: "Will not cheat, wrong, nor defraud a Master Mason's Lodge, nor a brother of this Degree, knowingly, nor supplant him in any of his laudable undertakings, but give him due and timely notice, that he may ward off all danger."  

There is most likely a percentage of our membership that has not been vaccinated.  There are also those of you that are vaccinated who are not wearing a mask indoors after the new CDC guidance to do so.  I’m writing this article to try to appeal to you. This is my attempt to whisper good counsel to you to consider vaccination if unvaccinated. It is my attempt to whisper good counsel to you to consider wearing a mask while around others in public spaces regardless of your vaccination status.  I'm asking you to remember the above lessons and to contemplate them as they apply to Covid-19.  

My hope is that by appealing to you as a Brother, you will let Brotherly Love fill your heart and you will decide to change your mind.  My hope is that you will see such a decision as a way to give relief to others.  My hope is that you will let Truth guide your decision to promote each other's welfare.  My hope is that you will see this decision as one of civic duty.  As a favor, from one brother to another, I would ask you to contemplate my last point. The danger that Covid poses is unseen.  Are you able to give a brother due and timely notice to ward it off if you are potentially transmitting it to him? Please remember the obligations that you promised and swore to. My hope is that if I can change one mind, and in doing so potentially save you, another brother, or another person from catching this virus and/or dying from it, then I believe the article has done what it was designed to do.  May Brotherly Love prevail and every moral and social virtue cement us.  

~DAL

---

[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/leahrosenbaum/2021/07/27/how-good-are-covid-19-vaccines-at-protecting-against-the-delta-variant/?sh=25dcfe1b1a6f

[2] https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/coronavirus/illinois-coronavirus-updates-latest-state-data-lollapalooza-to-return-as-covid-cases-rise/2565424/

[3] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/29/health/cdc-masks-vaccinated-transmission.html

[4] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/29/health/cdc-masks-vaccinated-transmission.html

[5] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/29/health/cdc-masks-vaccinated-transmission.html

[6] https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/herd-immunity-and-coronavirus/art-20486808

[7] https://www.mayoclinic.org/coronavirus-covid-19/vaccine-tracker

[8] https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home

[9] https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#demographics

[10] https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccination-demographics-trends

[11] https://www.forbes.com/sites/leahrosenbaum/2021/07/27/how-good-are-covid-19-vaccines-at-protecting-against-the-delta-variant/?sh=25dcfe1b1a6f

[12] https://bestlifeonline.com/news-delta-variant-surge/

[13] https://hub.jhu.edu/2021/07/19/andrew-pekosz-delta-variants/

WB Darin A. Lahners is our co-managing Editor.  He is a Past Master of St. Joseph Lodge No.970 in St. Joseph. He is also a plural member of Homer Lodge No. 199 (IL), where he is also a Past Master. He’s a member of the Scottish Rite Valley of Danville, a charter member of Illinois Royal Arch Chapter, Admiration Chapter No. 282 and is the current Secretary of the Illini High Twelve Club No. 768 in Champaign – Urbana (IL). You can reach him by email at darin.lahners@gmail.com.  

It Matters

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

Darin A. Lahners

Three weeks ago I was sitting with a candidate about to undertake his Entered Apprentice degree at historic Homer Lodge #199 in Homer, Illinois. Something happened that evening that I don’t recall ever happening to me previously in Freemasonry. Granted, I’ve only been a Master Mason since 2011, so my Masonic experience is less than 10 years. However, I was so caught off guard by it, that I felt it necessary to discuss it. The candidate, Tyler and I were eating dinner prior to his degree, and he looked around the dining room and asked me: “Are all these guys here for me?” My reply, was: “Yes, they’re all here for your degree tonight.” To which his reply was: “That’s awesome.” It was in this moment, which only shared between the two of us, that I realized that it displayed the power of our fraternity. He was the first candidate that I had ever heard recognize the effort that these men, who were for the most part essentially still strangers to him, were putting forth for him and express that he felt gracious for it.

On a grander scale, what the candidate acknowledged was something many of us already know, our strength lies with our active membership. According to the Masonic Service Association of North America, in 2017 the Grand Lodges of the United States of America had a combined 1,076,626 members. Extrapolating this number further, let me argue that 10% of that membership is active. For the purpose of this article, I’m defining active as a member that is attending regular stated meetings and degree work more often than not. That leaves 107,662 members that are responsible for keeping their lodges going, and participating in degrees, for the whole of the United States as of 2017. I would suspect that the number maybe down to around 100,000 members in 2019 as well as close to a million total members given attrition.

Furthermore, I’d be willing to wager that the average age of the active membership is somewhere in the mid 50’s to mid 60’s. What does this mean? Personally I take it as a challenge to step up my game. I turned 46 on Saturday, October 19. While I consider myself a decent ritualist, there is still much that I need to learn. Why? Because at some point, the brothers that are currently doing it won’t be there to do it anymore. I don’t mean to be morbid, but that’s the reality. They’ll either be physically unable to do it, or they will be dead. When that happens, who is going to carry the torch? The answer needs to be the rest of us. Participation matters.

If we want to impress upon our candidates the importance of being active Freemasons, then we need to stop telling them that “you get out of Freemasonry what you put into it.” We can’t keep setting the bar low for the members we’re bringing into the fraternity. We’re only contributing to the population of those that will go through the degrees and never attend a meeting. Worse yet they might attend a meeting, but we either run them off due to sheer boredom at hearing the minutes read, bills paid, debates over giving the Rainbow Girls an extra five dollars this year, or grumpy past masters “Helping” them after the meeting since they were forced to be Junior Deacon due to lack of participation of the other members who also don’t want to attend the meeting due to the same experiences. Sound familiar? If we had active membership, then we wouldn’t be in a situation where a new Master Mason would have to sit in a chair with five minutes of instruction prior to a meeting, and then have him humiliated, err I mean “Helped” by a past master that thinks they’re doing the new guy a favor.

Albert Einstein is attributed with saying, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.” Because we keep repeating the same mantras like “You get out of Freemasonry what you put into it.” or worse yet, “We’ve always done it this way”, we are practicing insanity. While we set expectations for how a candidate should act as a Mason during the degrees, we don’t lay out the lodge’s expectations for them after they progress through them. We need to start stressing the importance of involvement, not only for our continued success, but for their own growth as Masons.

How do we do this? The answer is really quite simple. We need to set the expectations of the candidate from the beginning. We shouldn’t be waiting until a candidate is through all of their degrees to set the expectations that they should be active. We need to indoctrinate them to the idea. We need to set the expectation as part of our investigation process. We need to ask the investigation committee if they set this expectation with the candidate. If they didn’t, then propose delaying the vote on the candidate’s membership until the expectation is discussed. Yes, I know that I’m only human, and Yes, I have missed Masonic Events due to sickness, family issues, and work. I’m not asking to create an army of automatons that do nothing but attend stated meetings and degree work. The candidate will be human also. There will surely be times when he will have life happen, and cause him to be absent from a meeting, degree, etc. We still need to make sure that Family and Work are prioritized over Freemasonry, and that the candidate knows this. Obviously we don’t want to cause someone to have marital problems over Freemasonry, or to lose their job due to their participation in Freemasonry. However, we should be able to set the expectation with them.

When you’re interviewing a prospective member, it’s important to invite them non-tyled lodge events. If they show up for these, and more importantly show an excitement to be participating; then you should be able to view this as an indication that they will continue this activity after they are raised. You see, sitting down with a man in his own home to investigate him doesn’t help you gauge how he interacts with the members of your lodge. It doesn’t allow for a situation where he has to put effort forth to be investigated. If he wants to be a Freemason, he will show desire to be one. He will come to meet you at your lodge prior to a meeting; or go bowling with your lodge, my point is that he won’t mind putting in the effort to interact with his future brothers. If you have any doubt that they will be an active member, then we need to make sure to throw the black ball. We need to devote our time to bringing in members that are actively participating in Freemasonry, instead of being so desperate for membership that we don’t care if they participate or not. To borrow from a popular ad campaign: Just OK is Not OK.

Tyler being awestruck at the display of the men showing up for his 1st degree tells me that he’ll be one of them someday. I don’t have fears about him being inactive. He’s shown up for every dinner before our meetings while he was a candidate, and experienced his first meeting as an Entered Apprentice this past Monday night. I feel confident that I did the right thing by voting for his admission into Homer Lodge. I have volunteered to be his intender as he goes through the degrees. You see, if you want to set an expectation of participation, then you have to be an example of it. Participation matters. It matters.

~DAL

WB Darin A. Lahners is the Worshipful Master of St. Joseph Lodge No.970 in St. Joseph and a plural member of Ogden Lodge No. 754 (IL), and Homer Lodge No. 199 (IL). He’s a member of the Scottish Rite Valley of Danville, a charter member of the new Illinois Royal Arch Chapter, Admiration Chapter No. 282, and is the current Secretary of the Illini High Twelve Club No. 768 in Champaign – Urbana (IL). He is also a member of the Eastern Illinois Council No. 356 Allied Masonic Degrees. You can reach him by email at darin.lahners@gmail.com.

If Not Us Then Who?

by Senior Midnight Freemason Contributor

WB Gregory J. Knott

The Scoutmaster by Norman Rockwell

Midnight Freemasons Editor Robert Johnson, recently wrote an outstanding piece titled “Shadows Burned Onto the Walls – Addressing Freemasonry’s Biggest Problems”. This article expressed in very clear terms the thoughts and concerns that I and so many other brethren have had over the years. If you have not read this article, stop reading now, click on the link above and go read it. Seriously.

If you are like me, the article left me shaking my head and thinking “yes this is spot on”. Brother Johnson ends the article with some very frank and wise words about what is needed in this fraternity:

“If we don’t work to make our experience better, to get ourselves in the seats, to read the books, to bring those things to the lodge, to make men better, it’s going to continue to be an empty experience both literally and figuratively. We gaze at the shadows of the great fraternity, burned into the walls with wonder. Like an archaeologist looks upon the dead language, we are reminded that while we respect the past, we cannot be a slave to what was. It’s time to work harder on what you want.”

Let me reflect further on Brother Johnson’s conclusions. I have been in the fraternity since 2007. In that 10 plus years, I have been extremely active, joined numerous masonic bodies, served as Worshipful Master of a lodge, brought one lodge back from the verge of extinction and helped charter two new masonic bodies a High Twelve club and a new Royal Arch chapter. I received the Mason of the Year award from the Valley of Danville (IL) in 2015.

I don’t list all these activities to brag on myself, but merely to illustrate that I have been an active mason. But I must be honest, there have been numerous times that I have wondered, why bother anymore? There are many ways to spend my time and I am active in numerous other organizations including serving as an elected community college trustee, attending my sons track meets and my long-time passion, being a scout leader. If others don’t care about masonry then why should I?

But then I pause and think about the impact we are making. I recently met with two Fellowcraft masons and worked with them on learning their catechism. They were nervous, but excited about joining the craft and progressing through the degrees. In that short meeting we had, they did nicely on learning their work and are ready to prove up at the next lodge meeting. It left me thinking, perhaps I was making a small impact on their lives. Helping them develop themselves into better men by understanding what our fraternity stands for and giving them a framework for self-improvement.

I do not have the answers for what the long-term solutions are for building this fraternity and ultimately building better men. But I do know this, if someone doesn’t work on it, or more precisely if WE don’t work on it, then who will?

Honestly, what keeps me motivated and an active freemason are the men like the contributors here at the Midnight Freemasons, individuals like Brothers Denver R. Phelps and Stephen C. Hooper of my home lodge Ogden No. 754 (IL) and countless others who put in their time and effort to make freemasonry happen.

In many ways it is like the efforts I put into Scouting. I don’t see the full return today, but I know somewhere down the road, what we are doing in Scouting will make a difference. I think back to the men who stepped up to be my scout leaders. Many of them have passed away. But in their day, they put in countless hundreds of hours to ensure that myself and all other fellow scouts had opportunities to grow and learn. Ultimately, I earned my Eagle Scout badge in 1981 and it was a special honor. Clearly however, as a 15-year-old I did not understand the full impact of what scouting had given me.

37 years later being an Eagle Scout, means much more to me today than it did then. Not because of the badge or the Eagle Scout medal, but because of the life lessons and core values which have helped shaped my life and ultimately who I am. This was made possible because of those volunteers that came every week to ensure that we could have a troop meeting, a campout or canoe trip.

I believe that freemasonry operates in much the same way. The time spent working with a brother on a catechism, playing a part in a degree, reading some of great works of masonic authors or providing some lodge education at a meeting might not yield an immediate return on our time investment. But we keep working in the quarries because we have the hope and knowledge that what we are doing will make a difference down the road on improving our individual lives and the lives of our brethren.

Let me close by saying this, what we do matters. Our impact is real. The values we stand for are timeless and needed by society more than at any point time in our history. We should not rest on our magnificent history or laurels of the past. Freemasonry is about building for the future.

If you won’t step up, who will? If not us then who?

~GJK

WB Gregory J. Knott is the Worshipful Master of Ogden Lodge No. 754 in Ogden (IL) and a plural member of St. Joseph Lodge No. 970 (IL), Homer Lodge No. 199 (IL) and Naval Lodge No. 4 in Washington, DC.