March 13, 2025 • 19 mins
Reed sits down with Past Grand Master and current Regional Director (South), Ethan Seaberg. They discuss the social media echo chamber, the paradox of technology, and the power of silence and circumspection.
When it comes to our Masonic core values, there’s a big difference between simply talking about them at lodge versus living them: “… how can you use those as a touchstone and ignore them the minute you log on to a social media account?”
Let’s road trip to Red Wing…on an all-new Minnesota Masonic Histories & Mysteries.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
In 2024, the average personspent approximately five hours a
(00:05):
day on their phone.
Totaling about 76 days over theyear.
This represents a significantincrease from previous years
with individuals checking theirphones over 205 times a day.
Where does this happen?
Waiting in line for coffee,sitting all alone in a room, in
(00:26):
an elevator with strangers,between texts, social media,
emails, you name it.
The average is now over.
I heard it recently describedsocial media is the laboratory
for the things on earth thatmake you miserable.
Another TV commentator calledsocial media the mouth of the
(00:49):
river from which the BS flows.
Well, of course it is.
We have spent, uh, as a GrandLodge, as a fraternity, uh, much
of the period, uh, since theadvent of, of social media and
easy access to the technology,struggling with our responses to
(01:09):
it.
Arguing with a stranger onFacebook or any other platform,
The side that you don't like oragree with.
Are we posting that really forothers?
Or is it more of a post forourselves?
It gives us that of a almostmoral high ground and it affirms
(01:31):
to others that, Hey, no, no, I'mon the correct side of this.
But is that really, let's behonest, is that really changing
anyone's mind?
No.
And of course it's not, we needlook no further than, uh, the
reactions to it.
It's a, it's an echo chamber.
It's a place for us to say thosethings that we would never have
said publicly before.
(01:53):
Out loud to people we careabout, and shame on all of us
for, uh, for losing that filter.
It's a coarsening So we canagree that nobody's changing
anyone's mind about anything,especially with the inflammatory
commentary.
Perhaps you're actually furtherentrenching people who don't
agree with you.
(02:14):
The fuse has now been lit andofficially that makes one a
conflict entrepreneur.
Does it not?
Of course it is.
And you can, uh, I, I think wecould almost get certifications
in, in conflictentrepreneurship.
why can't we work to the goodinstead of work for a
certification like that?
That's really well put, Well,how about use the platform for
(02:36):
things that make us happy,things that are going well,
celebratory things, kids,grandkids, sporting events, a
life.
Milestone, but instead it'sreally become that dumping
ground for things that make usunhappy.
Yes, and I'm blessed in myparticular case to have had my
social media set up by a friendand brother who ensured that
(03:00):
what I see are birthdayannouncements, to your point,
anniversaries, invitations tothings I would love to go to.
And, um, I've been, beendelighted, uh, to see that
rather than, uh, those thingsthat are, are so terribly
objectionable.
Although it takes a lot of work,and it takes a lot of filtering
to keep those out of the stream.
(03:20):
But it's, uh, it's worth theeffort.
It's a wonderful tool usedproperly.
which brings us to today'squestion, how did we get to a
place where the things we holddear as Freemasons, the tenets
of our profession, our corevalues, Things like silence and
circumspection have too oftenbecome buzzwords, if not
(03:42):
outright platitudes.
The core ethical principles ofFreemasonry are about
compassion, tolerance, and openmind to something we may not
agree with.
Something we might not be happyabout.
But that extended to all ofmankind, all of humanity.
Can we get back into that placeto agree to disagree?
(04:05):
To not make it?
Viral to not hit post or send, Iwould really like to share a
surprise from my term.
And it was, of all the things wedealt with during COVID
restrictions, and the statedeciding when we could and
couldn't meet and those, all themyriad of issues, the most The
(04:28):
severe reaction that came my waywas the reaction to what I
would, what I thought was themost innocuous Masonic thing I
could find.
It really was a response to manyof the things we were seeing
online from Masons.
But it was a quote from ourfirst Grand Master, A.
(04:50):
T.
C.
Pearson, who was dealing withbrothers who were arguing about
the Civil War, and at the annualcommunication in the fall of
1861, in his remarks which We'rebrief, Most Worshipful Brother
Pearson said this, A brother whohas a proper appreciation of our
ancient institution, of itsbeauties, its ties, its
(05:13):
requirements, or its privileges,will under no circumstances give
utterance, even outside thelodge, to opinions or sentiments
that will make him obnoxious tohis brethren, or wound their
feelings.
And I simply added in an articlein our newsletter, that if you
object to A.
T.
C.
Pearson's directive, I wouldsubmit that Minnesota
(05:35):
Freemasonry is not a good fitfor you.
That seems so profoundlyobvious.
And we had men quit.
Quit because they objected tothe notion that they had no
responsibility not to beobnoxious.
And that was really my first,uh, entree into, we'll call it
(05:56):
the darker side of, of socialmedia.
A passage from 1861, basicallysaying, Hey, don't be that guy.
Don't be, don't be that guy.
Right.
In today's terms.
And you multiple members walkedover that, over that
encouragement, that invitationto not be that guy.
To be who we say we are.
And, uh, you and I chatted atsome length about this subject.
(06:20):
Uh, you know, Freemasons hold upsome wonderful.
Old tenets, historic tenets, wetalked about Plato's
transcendentals, those thingsthat transcend our lives and the
lives of all the people we careabout.
The old measures of, of, issomething good, is it true, and
is it beautiful?
(06:40):
Those are the things that last.
We talked too about, cardinalvirtues, masonry holds those up,
as I was saying, the cardinal,uh, from the Latin for hinged,
those things about which ourlife.
Uh, turns, uh, were supposed tobe temperate and, and be filled
with fortitude, have, um,prudence and justice.
(07:01):
And then, you know, St.
Paul introduced us in, in myparticular denomination, but
it's a classical thought thatthe theological virtues of
faith, hope, and love are, wetalk about them all the time in
this fraternity.
And how in the world can you usethose as a touchstone and then
seem to ignore them the minuteyou log on to Instagram or log
(07:23):
on, uh, to a, a Facebookaccount?
And I, I think one of the thingsthat's so surprising to me isn't
that there's a gap between howwe wish we behaved.
And, and how we actually do, um,I think that's often referred to
as sin.
But rather that we becomedefenders of that sin, in these
(07:45):
kinds of comments, that I haveevery right to say anything I
want, and isn't it wonderful tolive in a country where that's
absolutely the case, but therehave to be, and there are
consequences, just like youcan't yell fire in a crowded
theater, there have to beconsequences when you engage in
things that are, to use A.
T.
C.
Pearson's term, obnoxious.
(08:08):
I think the bottom line is.
Are we even trying?
Yes, and to your point, we livein a country where we are
blessed with the firstamendment.
You can say a lot of things and,and thank goodness for that.
But for us as masons who standfor these tenets, these core
(08:29):
values.
This comes up on a recurringtheme on this podcast.
If the words of our timelesslectures and our value teachings
are nothing more than platitudesthat we barely attempt to live
up to outside of the lodge, whatdoes that make us?
Where does that fall on theauthenticity scale of what we've
(08:51):
set out to do in becoming Thatbetter version of ourselves and
being less static in the world.
Well, I have to say, I'm so gladyou brought up the First
Amendment, uh, in a presentationthat was made a number of years
ago, we quoted, um, adistinguished professor of law
from the University of Chicago,who was trying to describe the
First Amendment, uh, really asit related to private
(09:14):
organizations, which we are, weare not a government agency.
We don't operate with governmentfunds.
And so, a man by the name ofJeffrey Stone.
said this about the FirstAmendment, that Congress shall
make no law bridging the freedomof speech, quoting from the
amendment.
But, he went on to explain, itmeans that the government may
(09:35):
not jail, or fine, or imposecivil li uh, excuse me,
liability on people ororganizations based on what they
say or write.
Except in exceptionalcircumstances, again think fire
in a theater, but he concludedby saying the First Amendment
restrains only the government.
As a private organization, andwe hear this so often, you can't
tell me what to say because ofthe First Amendment, you're
(09:56):
right, but what you say candetermine whether or not you're
right.
We want you to be in theorganization.
One of the analogies we werechatting about earlier is, is if
you were, for example, someonewho just happened to be a vegan,
and there's little chance thatyou'd serve well on the dairy
board.
It's not that you wouldn't beexcellent at the work and have
(10:16):
all the skills necessary, butthat might not be a place for
you.
Well, if you honestly thinkthat, going back to Pearson
again, that being objectionablein public, And not looking at
those things that transcend thegood, the true, and the
beautiful.
This should not be anorganization for you.
And if it is, and if you feellike it is, uh, I would argue
that we're, we're failing.
(10:38):
There's a lot of unnecessarydrama within our ranks over
divisive topics, politics,religion, take your pick of the
hot button aspect happening insociety.
But as a result, thisconversation we're having today,
what would feels like aninnocent social media post to
someone creates.
(11:00):
Or lack of a better term,unnecessary enemies.
It's, it's us against them.
It's, You know, I think you andI, yes.
Uh, and speaking of names, andthis is what made me think of
it, you and I are old enough toremember Tip O'Neill and Ronald
Reagan, certainly.
Yes.
And to long for a time when twoleaders of opposition parties
(11:21):
played golf after work.
Uh, we can talk about, uh,Supreme Court justices who, uh,
were personal, good friends, butargued vehemently on opposite
positions on the court.
We need to know how to argue.
We need to learn how to argue.
And to know that.
(11:43):
You know, while our opinions maybe different, we have a common
goal in mind, again going backto those foundational things
that we talk about.
We want society to functionwell.
We want masonry to functionwell.
We want our communities tofunction well.
And there are classic ways thatpeople have done that for
thousands of years.
(12:03):
And in this time, we seem to beIgnoring them, uh, with
enthusiasm.
in hindsight, looking at yourtime in the grand east, you had
multiple factors of massivechallenge.
you were deputy grandmaster fora very short time, ended up
serving two years as grandmasterCOVID happened.
(12:25):
It's so easy to look back andthink, well, we could have done
this maybe, but at the timegoing by the guidelines of what
we were given as far as meetingand being together and safety
for our members, especially ofwhich any of whom were, you
know, vulnerable demographichealth wise, that was, that had
to be quite a crucible add tothat, the social media aspect,
(12:47):
you know, I have to say that inthis particular jurisdiction, it
should come as no surprise thatwe have.
Uh, wonderful relationships withleaders in, in other states, and
they would often say.
and I think they're, they'reright that Minnesota had it a
little easier, uh, because thestate told us, uh, how we needed
(13:08):
to respond to COVID inparticular.
now you can hear again, there'sa wonderful, uh, point of
disagreement, but the fact ofthe matter is we didn't have to
make a lot of decisions becausethey were made.
Um, so much, much more difficultwas the reaction of members and
their inability to havedisagreements and maintain
(13:34):
civility, to, to be kind to oneanother, uh, to, uh, here's that
old turn of phrase, to objectwithout being objectionable, um,
that trying to navigate.
That was one of the, I, I thinkthe bigger challenges and I have
to say in a nod to a past GrandMaster now in another
(13:55):
jurisdiction, there's a story Iwould love to share.
Uh, there was a brother inMinnesota who, uh, uh, objected
vehemently, uh, to therestrictions that were put on,
on lodge meetings.
And so he wrote, uh, thisbrother, uh, an application for
a petition for affiliation withanother jurisdiction and
(14:15):
complained in that documentabout, those of us who were in
the Grand Lodge and thedecisions we were allowing the
state to make.
And despite the fact that inthis foreign jurisdiction, this,
the restrictions were completelydifferent, uh, the Grand Master
there, uh, responded and saidthat that letter and the
(14:36):
sentiment behind it was the mostun Masonic thing he had ever
been exposed to.
That now was not the time, tobehave in that regard.
And there was no chance, uh,that that brother was going to
become a member of, of thatGrand Lodge.
and I, I still have to tip myhat to, to this day.
Uh, there were all kinds ofthings we wished would have been
different.
Um, and I think, you know, Ithink about the, the Spanish flu
(15:00):
as it was discussed in the early20th century.
There would have been all kindsof restrictions and things that
people dealt with, but to yourpoint, the challenge of having
social media and dealing withthe easy ability to say
horrible, terrible, hurtfulthings about people who are just
trying to navigate a crisis.
Really made it much moredifficult than it, than it
(15:21):
already was.
Looking back on cabin fever ofCOVID.
There are so many factors thatpiled up at that time too.
And it affected every aspect ofour lives working.
Although it did give way to ahybrid work arrangement, which
nobody's complaining about now,but that was a big adjustment at
the time.
And, uh, flying and going biganywhere.
Everything was so obviously justovernight different and then it
(15:46):
affected the lodge experience.
keep in mind the hotter thetopic, the cooler, the tone, and
especially when it comes tobeing online, being a good
steward of social media, being aMason and making an effort to
have the tenets of ourprofession.
Verbs outside of the lodge roomand not just nouns, not just
(16:08):
just abstract things we talkabout and memorize and recite.
Certainly not advocating thatour members or anyone listening
somehow sacrifice their opinionson things, but how about
Practice your devotion offline.
Don't make a spectacle of it.
Go out to lunch.
Go out to coffee with friends.
(16:29):
Get into a text thread with, youneed to vent about something
that frustrates you in theworld?
Absolutely.
But the, knowing immediatelythat pressing send and pressing
post on social media willimmediately alienate 50 percent
of your friends, your familymembers, and are you really
changing anyone's mind anyway?
(16:49):
You may well, uh, cut this storyfrom, from the podcast, but I
can't help, uh, it popped intomind as you were speaking.
When I was a kid, I wasconvinced that there was a girl
in junior high, uh, that causedthe sun to rise in the morning
and set at night.
And she, you know, obviously wasconfused, because she was
(17:10):
enamored with, uh, uh, anotheryoung man in, in the junior high
school who was about, you know,I think conservatively ten times
my size.
And so one morning, uh, after hehad engaged in some unfortunate
behavior, I decided to publiclyshame him.
Because I thought that, youknow, made sense.
I was young.
I found myself, um, right afterthat, airborne across the lobby
(17:35):
of Tumbluff Junior High School.
And I discovered at that point,when you talk about, um, when
things are tense and difficult,you know, cool that conversation
down.
I was obviously being criticalof him for all the wrong
reasons.
Uh, but it taught me animportant lesson that there was
a consequence Social media haskept us from learning those
(17:59):
consequences, and, and to ourgreat detriment.
I saw it written that silence isa gift we give not only to
ourselves, but to those aroundus Many of you may recognize,
uh, what I'm about to share.
Either from a table lodge.
Or some other source, but Iwould like to turn you to what
(18:21):
we call the charge at, at theclose.
And it's, it's printed neatly inplain English in our Masonic
manual and in the list of wayswe think as Freemasons, we
would, we would hope we wouldbehave until we met again.
The one that rings so true in,in the ear and the one that, uh,
we try to share with somefrequency is this, every human
(18:45):
being has a claim upon your kindoffices.
Do good unto all.
And that wonderful quote doesn'tsay, do good unto the people you
agree with, do good unto thepeople who think like you, or do
good unto the people who reactas you think people should
react.
It says, do good unto all.
(19:05):
And we would do well toremember.
As always, thanks for listening.
This has been another episode ofMinnesota Masonic Histories and
Mysteries.
In 2024, the average personspent approximately five hours a
(00:05):
day on their phone.
Totaling about 76 days over theyear.
This represents a significantincrease from previous years
with individuals checking theirphones over 205 times a day.
Where does this happen?
Waiting in line for coffee,sitting all alone in a room, in
(00:26):
an elevator with strangers,between texts, social media,
emails, you name it.
The average is now over.
I heard it recently describedsocial media is the laboratory
for the things on earth thatmake you miserable.
Another TV commentator calledsocial media the mouth of the
(00:49):
river from which the BS flows.
Well, of course it is.
We have spent, uh, as a GrandLodge, as a fraternity, uh, much
of the period, uh, since theadvent of, of social media and
easy access to the technology,struggling with our responses to
(01:09):
it.
Arguing with a stranger onFacebook or any other platform,
The side that you don't like oragree with.
Are we posting that really forothers?
Or is it more of a post forourselves?
It gives us that of a almostmoral high ground and it affirms
(01:31):
to others that, Hey, no, no, I'mon the correct side of this.
But is that really, let's behonest, is that really changing
anyone's mind?
No.
And of course it's not, we needlook no further than, uh, the
reactions to it.
It's a, it's an echo chamber.
It's a place for us to say thosethings that we would never have
said publicly before.
(01:53):
Out loud to people we careabout, and shame on all of us
for, uh, for losing that filter.
It's a coarsening So we canagree that nobody's changing
anyone's mind about anything,especially with the inflammatory
commentary.
Perhaps you're actually furtherentrenching people who don't
agree with you.
(02:14):
The fuse has now been lit andofficially that makes one a
conflict entrepreneur.
Does it not?
Of course it is.
And you can, uh, I, I think wecould almost get certifications
in, in conflictentrepreneurship.
why can't we work to the goodinstead of work for a
certification like that?
That's really well put, Well,how about use the platform for
(02:36):
things that make us happy,things that are going well,
celebratory things, kids,grandkids, sporting events, a
life.
Milestone, but instead it'sreally become that dumping
ground for things that make usunhappy.
Yes, and I'm blessed in myparticular case to have had my
social media set up by a friendand brother who ensured that
(03:00):
what I see are birthdayannouncements, to your point,
anniversaries, invitations tothings I would love to go to.
And, um, I've been, beendelighted, uh, to see that
rather than, uh, those thingsthat are, are so terribly
objectionable.
Although it takes a lot of work,and it takes a lot of filtering
to keep those out of the stream.
(03:20):
But it's, uh, it's worth theeffort.
It's a wonderful tool usedproperly.
which brings us to today'squestion, how did we get to a
place where the things we holddear as Freemasons, the tenets
of our profession, our corevalues, Things like silence and
circumspection have too oftenbecome buzzwords, if not
(03:42):
outright platitudes.
The core ethical principles ofFreemasonry are about
compassion, tolerance, and openmind to something we may not
agree with.
Something we might not be happyabout.
But that extended to all ofmankind, all of humanity.
Can we get back into that placeto agree to disagree?
(04:05):
To not make it?
Viral to not hit post or send, Iwould really like to share a
surprise from my term.
And it was, of all the things wedealt with during COVID
restrictions, and the statedeciding when we could and
couldn't meet and those, all themyriad of issues, the most The
(04:28):
severe reaction that came my waywas the reaction to what I
would, what I thought was themost innocuous Masonic thing I
could find.
It really was a response to manyof the things we were seeing
online from Masons.
But it was a quote from ourfirst Grand Master, A.
(04:50):
T.
C.
Pearson, who was dealing withbrothers who were arguing about
the Civil War, and at the annualcommunication in the fall of
1861, in his remarks which We'rebrief, Most Worshipful Brother
Pearson said this, A brother whohas a proper appreciation of our
ancient institution, of itsbeauties, its ties, its
(05:13):
requirements, or its privileges,will under no circumstances give
utterance, even outside thelodge, to opinions or sentiments
that will make him obnoxious tohis brethren, or wound their
feelings.
And I simply added in an articlein our newsletter, that if you
object to A.
T.
C.
Pearson's directive, I wouldsubmit that Minnesota
(05:35):
Freemasonry is not a good fitfor you.
That seems so profoundlyobvious.
And we had men quit.
Quit because they objected tothe notion that they had no
responsibility not to beobnoxious.
And that was really my first,uh, entree into, we'll call it
(05:56):
the darker side of, of socialmedia.
A passage from 1861, basicallysaying, Hey, don't be that guy.
Don't be, don't be that guy.
Right.
In today's terms.
And you multiple members walkedover that, over that
encouragement, that invitationto not be that guy.
To be who we say we are.
And, uh, you and I chatted atsome length about this subject.
(06:20):
Uh, you know, Freemasons hold upsome wonderful.
Old tenets, historic tenets, wetalked about Plato's
transcendentals, those thingsthat transcend our lives and the
lives of all the people we careabout.
The old measures of, of, issomething good, is it true, and
is it beautiful?
(06:40):
Those are the things that last.
We talked too about, cardinalvirtues, masonry holds those up,
as I was saying, the cardinal,uh, from the Latin for hinged,
those things about which ourlife.
Uh, turns, uh, were supposed tobe temperate and, and be filled
with fortitude, have, um,prudence and justice.
(07:01):
And then, you know, St.
Paul introduced us in, in myparticular denomination, but
it's a classical thought thatthe theological virtues of
faith, hope, and love are, wetalk about them all the time in
this fraternity.
And how in the world can you usethose as a touchstone and then
seem to ignore them the minuteyou log on to Instagram or log
(07:23):
on, uh, to a, a Facebookaccount?
And I, I think one of the thingsthat's so surprising to me isn't
that there's a gap between howwe wish we behaved.
And, and how we actually do, um,I think that's often referred to
as sin.
But rather that we becomedefenders of that sin, in these
(07:45):
kinds of comments, that I haveevery right to say anything I
want, and isn't it wonderful tolive in a country where that's
absolutely the case, but therehave to be, and there are
consequences, just like youcan't yell fire in a crowded
theater, there have to beconsequences when you engage in
things that are, to use A.
T.
C.
Pearson's term, obnoxious.
(08:08):
I think the bottom line is.
Are we even trying?
Yes, and to your point, we livein a country where we are
blessed with the firstamendment.
You can say a lot of things and,and thank goodness for that.
But for us as masons who standfor these tenets, these core
(08:29):
values.
This comes up on a recurringtheme on this podcast.
If the words of our timelesslectures and our value teachings
are nothing more than platitudesthat we barely attempt to live
up to outside of the lodge, whatdoes that make us?
Where does that fall on theauthenticity scale of what we've
(08:51):
set out to do in becoming Thatbetter version of ourselves and
being less static in the world.
Well, I have to say, I'm so gladyou brought up the First
Amendment, uh, in a presentationthat was made a number of years
ago, we quoted, um, adistinguished professor of law
from the University of Chicago,who was trying to describe the
First Amendment, uh, really asit related to private
(09:14):
organizations, which we are, weare not a government agency.
We don't operate with governmentfunds.
And so, a man by the name ofJeffrey Stone.
said this about the FirstAmendment, that Congress shall
make no law bridging the freedomof speech, quoting from the
amendment.
But, he went on to explain, itmeans that the government may
(09:35):
not jail, or fine, or imposecivil li uh, excuse me,
liability on people ororganizations based on what they
say or write.
Except in exceptionalcircumstances, again think fire
in a theater, but he concludedby saying the First Amendment
restrains only the government.
As a private organization, andwe hear this so often, you can't
tell me what to say because ofthe First Amendment, you're
(09:56):
right, but what you say candetermine whether or not you're
right.
We want you to be in theorganization.
One of the analogies we werechatting about earlier is, is if
you were, for example, someonewho just happened to be a vegan,
and there's little chance thatyou'd serve well on the dairy
board.
It's not that you wouldn't beexcellent at the work and have
(10:16):
all the skills necessary, butthat might not be a place for
you.
Well, if you honestly thinkthat, going back to Pearson
again, that being objectionablein public, And not looking at
those things that transcend thegood, the true, and the
beautiful.
This should not be anorganization for you.
And if it is, and if you feellike it is, uh, I would argue
that we're, we're failing.
(10:38):
There's a lot of unnecessarydrama within our ranks over
divisive topics, politics,religion, take your pick of the
hot button aspect happening insociety.
But as a result, thisconversation we're having today,
what would feels like aninnocent social media post to
someone creates.
(11:00):
Or lack of a better term,unnecessary enemies.
It's, it's us against them.
It's, You know, I think you andI, yes.
Uh, and speaking of names, andthis is what made me think of
it, you and I are old enough toremember Tip O'Neill and Ronald
Reagan, certainly.
Yes.
And to long for a time when twoleaders of opposition parties
(11:21):
played golf after work.
Uh, we can talk about, uh,Supreme Court justices who, uh,
were personal, good friends, butargued vehemently on opposite
positions on the court.
We need to know how to argue.
We need to learn how to argue.
And to know that.
(11:43):
You know, while our opinions maybe different, we have a common
goal in mind, again going backto those foundational things
that we talk about.
We want society to functionwell.
We want masonry to functionwell.
We want our communities tofunction well.
And there are classic ways thatpeople have done that for
thousands of years.
(12:03):
And in this time, we seem to beIgnoring them, uh, with
enthusiasm.
in hindsight, looking at yourtime in the grand east, you had
multiple factors of massivechallenge.
you were deputy grandmaster fora very short time, ended up
serving two years as grandmasterCOVID happened.
(12:25):
It's so easy to look back andthink, well, we could have done
this maybe, but at the timegoing by the guidelines of what
we were given as far as meetingand being together and safety
for our members, especially ofwhich any of whom were, you
know, vulnerable demographichealth wise, that was, that had
to be quite a crucible add tothat, the social media aspect,
(12:47):
you know, I have to say that inthis particular jurisdiction, it
should come as no surprise thatwe have.
Uh, wonderful relationships withleaders in, in other states, and
they would often say.
and I think they're, they'reright that Minnesota had it a
little easier, uh, because thestate told us, uh, how we needed
(13:08):
to respond to COVID inparticular.
now you can hear again, there'sa wonderful, uh, point of
disagreement, but the fact ofthe matter is we didn't have to
make a lot of decisions becausethey were made.
Um, so much, much more difficultwas the reaction of members and
their inability to havedisagreements and maintain
(13:34):
civility, to, to be kind to oneanother, uh, to, uh, here's that
old turn of phrase, to objectwithout being objectionable, um,
that trying to navigate.
That was one of the, I, I thinkthe bigger challenges and I have
to say in a nod to a past GrandMaster now in another
(13:55):
jurisdiction, there's a story Iwould love to share.
Uh, there was a brother inMinnesota who, uh, uh, objected
vehemently, uh, to therestrictions that were put on,
on lodge meetings.
And so he wrote, uh, thisbrother, uh, an application for
a petition for affiliation withanother jurisdiction and
(14:15):
complained in that documentabout, those of us who were in
the Grand Lodge and thedecisions we were allowing the
state to make.
And despite the fact that inthis foreign jurisdiction, this,
the restrictions were completelydifferent, uh, the Grand Master
there, uh, responded and saidthat that letter and the
(14:36):
sentiment behind it was the mostun Masonic thing he had ever
been exposed to.
That now was not the time, tobehave in that regard.
And there was no chance, uh,that that brother was going to
become a member of, of thatGrand Lodge.
and I, I still have to tip myhat to, to this day.
Uh, there were all kinds ofthings we wished would have been
different.
Um, and I think, you know, Ithink about the, the Spanish flu
(15:00):
as it was discussed in the early20th century.
There would have been all kindsof restrictions and things that
people dealt with, but to yourpoint, the challenge of having
social media and dealing withthe easy ability to say
horrible, terrible, hurtfulthings about people who are just
trying to navigate a crisis.
Really made it much moredifficult than it, than it
(15:21):
already was.
Looking back on cabin fever ofCOVID.
There are so many factors thatpiled up at that time too.
And it affected every aspect ofour lives working.
Although it did give way to ahybrid work arrangement, which
nobody's complaining about now,but that was a big adjustment at
the time.
And, uh, flying and going biganywhere.
Everything was so obviously justovernight different and then it
(15:46):
affected the lodge experience.
keep in mind the hotter thetopic, the cooler, the tone, and
especially when it comes tobeing online, being a good
steward of social media, being aMason and making an effort to
have the tenets of ourprofession.
Verbs outside of the lodge roomand not just nouns, not just
(16:08):
just abstract things we talkabout and memorize and recite.
Certainly not advocating thatour members or anyone listening
somehow sacrifice their opinionson things, but how about
Practice your devotion offline.
Don't make a spectacle of it.
Go out to lunch.
Go out to coffee with friends.
(16:29):
Get into a text thread with, youneed to vent about something
that frustrates you in theworld?
Absolutely.
But the, knowing immediatelythat pressing send and pressing
post on social media willimmediately alienate 50 percent
of your friends, your familymembers, and are you really
changing anyone's mind anyway?
(16:49):
You may well, uh, cut this storyfrom, from the podcast, but I
can't help, uh, it popped intomind as you were speaking.
When I was a kid, I wasconvinced that there was a girl
in junior high, uh, that causedthe sun to rise in the morning
and set at night.
And she, you know, obviously wasconfused, because she was
(17:10):
enamored with, uh, uh, anotheryoung man in, in the junior high
school who was about, you know,I think conservatively ten times
my size.
And so one morning, uh, after hehad engaged in some unfortunate
behavior, I decided to publiclyshame him.
Because I thought that, youknow, made sense.
I was young.
I found myself, um, right afterthat, airborne across the lobby
(17:35):
of Tumbluff Junior High School.
And I discovered at that point,when you talk about, um, when
things are tense and difficult,you know, cool that conversation
down.
I was obviously being criticalof him for all the wrong
reasons.
Uh, but it taught me animportant lesson that there was
a consequence Social media haskept us from learning those
(17:59):
consequences, and, and to ourgreat detriment.
I saw it written that silence isa gift we give not only to
ourselves, but to those aroundus Many of you may recognize,
uh, what I'm about to share.
Either from a table lodge.
Or some other source, but Iwould like to turn you to what
(18:21):
we call the charge at, at theclose.
And it's, it's printed neatly inplain English in our Masonic
manual and in the list of wayswe think as Freemasons, we
would, we would hope we wouldbehave until we met again.
The one that rings so true in,in the ear and the one that, uh,
we try to share with somefrequency is this, every human
(18:45):
being has a claim upon your kindoffices.
Do good unto all.
And that wonderful quote doesn'tsay, do good unto the people you
agree with, do good unto thepeople who think like you, or do
good unto the people who reactas you think people should
react.
It says, do good unto all.
(19:05):
And we would do well toremember.
As always, thanks for listening.
This has been another episode ofMinnesota Masonic Histories and
Mysteries.
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