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aedifico42| In Case of Emergency - Break Glass

Posted at: 12:51 pm

This blog is proof that, although we have great people wanting to contribute to this site…I am totally incompetent when it comes to running the site well. 

The following excellent (and funny) Blog is from our good friend Emeraldi42.  Enjoy!

In Case of Emergency Break Glass

July 19th, 2007 by emeraldi42

We see these signs everywhere usually on the outside of a compartment containing a fire extinguisher, fire hose, axe or some other tool or instrument that may be useful in an emergency situation.  This same helpful suggestion might have well have been on not only my lodge’s but many other lodge’s “libraries” that I have had the opportunity to see.  When I first became a member of my lodge one of the first things I wanted to do was to read, read, read but I was surprised to find out that our bookcase was locked.  And to make it worse nobody knew who owned the key.  I inquired as to why in the world would anybody lock up any book especially in a place that is supposed to be a repository for a vast amount of knowledge.  The response that I got was that some of the brethren were concerned about the books getting damaged or stolen (stolen by your own Brothers?).  This point in my opinion was moot and soon realized that the books are locked up because NOBODY READS THEM, EVER!!  I of course was very disappointed in this situation and tried numerous times to gain access to the library so I just might learn something about this fraternity I just joined.  It wasn’t until after I was raised, appointed to an office and elected the Chairman of the Board of Trustees a few years later that I obtained the lost keys (no Hall pun intended) and explored the volumes that my lodge was in possession.  I was visiting another lodge in the area a few months ago to purchase some duplicate books that they had and come to find out……..wait for it……………….THEIR BOOKCASE IS LOCKED, TOO!  Not only that but the majority of their books were in a storage area away from the probing minds of the eager brethren.  We had to go through the storage collection to get at what I came to buy and while in there we found a first edition Morals and Dogma (nobody knew was there) a copy of Josephus so old that there was no copyright date on it (nobody knew that was there either), and many other books and sets of books that deserve a better resting place than next to the box with regalia from the 50’s.  On another occasion I visited a different lodge than the two mentioned above and this visit was exciting for me because it would be the first time that I would meet Rex R. Hutchens (the Past Grand Master of Arizona).  I had read A Bridge to Light twice, studied his Glossary and followed his articles in the local publications and I was ready to see what I could learn from this guy.  After I shook his hand and made the proper introductions I asked a little bit about the Scottish Rite degrees, but he immediately cut me off and asked “Do you know the Hebrew alphabet?” I said no. “Well, you need to learn the Hebrew alphabet!”  He then took me over to a very large bookcase and looked for a book, he found it and tried to open the door and………….you guessed it, it was locked.  That ended my first lesson on the Hebrew alphabet with Dr. Rex R. Hutchens. 

So what is it with locking up books?  I don’t get it.  I come to realize that the lack of Masonic education, motivation to learn and perpetual disregard for the search of light and truth are not attributed to declining membership, lack of money, or unpopular public opinion.  IT IS THE CAUSE OF IT!  If we have lodges full of men who don’t know how to spell GRAMMAR correctly (yes, Grammar is misspelled on our staircase) then how in the world can we consider ourselves Brethren to men such as Ashmole, Twain, Franklin, Washington or any other trivial names that come up when someone asks “who are the Freemasons”.  I am glad to see that all over the country Freemasons are finally starting to think, investigate and ask questions.  I know this is a long rant of a blog, but I would like to wrap it up by pointing out the fact that we as Freemasons are the Olympians of fraternal societies.  We are not the Elks, Moose, Eagles or some other drinking club named after an animal.  We were at one time in history honored and revered for the reputation of being a society of civically responsible, philanthropic and enlightened men who were at the forefront of spiritual and philosophical exploration and somewhere along the line we dropped off the charts.  Let us not have to keep referring to our highly esteemed Brothers of centuries ago to retain our place as Freemasons.  Instead let’s make our own mark in Masonic history so maybe one day in the year 2100 instead of mentioning Washington, Franklin and Revere some young Mason will recite a report on the works of Rex R. Hutchens, Chris Hodapp, G. Cliff Porter, Adrian P. Fontes, or any other Brother who at this present time may be only a Stewart or Deacon but with the right education and access to the proper resources may be the next (enter another trivial name here).

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