January 3, 2024 • 64 mins
Have you ever wondered how Masonry has woven itself into the fabric of American history? Join Chris and me as we share tales from our Masonic journey, including a heartfelt look at life transitions within the brotherhood and the impact of our rituals and governance on the nation's founding. From a memorable trip to the Masonic hotspots of Washington DC to the inspiring ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, we offer a firsthand account of the fraternity's enduring legacy and its contemplative influence on our democracy.
Technology may have given us a run for our money, but it didn't stop us from unpacking the challenges and triumphs of Masonic life. We tackle the parallels between Masonic leadership and the accountability we yearn for in modern governance while addressing the need for lodges to flourish internally as a prelude to community engagement. The discussion turns introspective as we reflect on the moral compass Masonry provides young men, the revitalization of our lodges, and the continual cycle of leadership that promotes personal growth and integrity.
As our conversation steers towards the future, we're excited about the potential for Masonic bus tours and the dissemination of our rich heritage. A fundraiser for Liberty Lodge 31 brings our focus back to the present, where we blend our passion for Masonry with a cause close to our hearts. We round off with an invitation to upcoming events and the anticipation of a strong New Year, encouraging listeners to engage with their local lodges and discover the extended family that the brotherhood offers. Join us for a journey through the cornerstone of American principles and the promise of what can be achieved when we live by the values that Masonry instills.
Technology may have given us a run for our money, but it didn't stop us from unpacking the challenges and triumphs of Masonic life. We tackle the parallels between Masonic leadership and the accountability we yearn for in modern governance while addressing the need for lodges to flourish internally as a prelude to community engagement. The discussion turns introspective as we reflect on the moral compass Masonry provides young men, the revitalization of our lodges, and the continual cycle of leadership that promotes personal growth and integrity.
As our conversation steers towards the future, we're excited about the potential for Masonic bus tours and the dissemination of our rich heritage. A fundraiser for Liberty Lodge 31 brings our focus back to the present, where we blend our passion for Masonry with a cause close to our hearts. We round off with an invitation to upcoming events and the anticipation of a strong New Year, encouraging listeners to engage with their local lodges and discover the extended family that the brotherhood offers. Join us for a journey through the cornerstone of American principles and the promise of what can be achieved when we live by the values that Masonry instills.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hey, chris, yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Fred, what's a Mason?
That's a really good question,fred.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
You've reached the internet's home for all things
masonry.
Join Chris and I as we plumbthe depths of our ancient craft,
from the common gavel to thetrowel.
Nothing is off the table, sograb your tools and let's get to
work.
This is On the Level.
Wow, we're here.
There, it is the Rebel Yellfrom the Rebel State no doubt
(00:37):
South Carolina.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
In the south from the Southern Boy.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
He's a Southern Boy from the south.
Wow, chris, this is different.
The tech side of it is a littlesketchy here.
I'm still working through someissues, but for those of you
listening, I'm going to be backwith another video.
This intro was probably ourworst ever, and there's a reason
(01:02):
for that.
And the reason is is that mypartner, chris Burns, is in
South Carolina calling in downto beautiful Florida.
What's going?
Speaker 2 (01:11):
on with that man.
Hey, your technology skills arebecoming way more important
than they've ever been now.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Okay, I don't have it .
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Well see, you don't know who knows this is.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
I don't know man, there's so much here.
The problem is and I'm going tosay this out loud, okay, the
problem is is that we have a MacOS which does not want to play
nice with our recording deck.
So that's the problem.
I've been on the phone withTascam, with all the different
(01:48):
tech people.
It's the same old thing.
Mac does not want to play withoutside non-proprietary software
.
It just doesn't want it.
It doesn't like, it doesn'twant to do it.
There's a roadblock at everyturn, and I've had it.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
So we're going to get it.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
You made a breakthrough, though I made a
breakthrough.
I did.
I made a breakthrough.
I was able to download thefirmware off the website,
Tascam's website.
You have to do all kinds ofstuff because Mac again doesn't
want to accept it.
So you got to go round andround and round to get it on the
computer.
From the computer it has to bedownloaded onto the SD card on
(02:32):
the deck.
From there it must bedownloaded onto the deck itself,
and Mac just doesn't want to doit.
And they're all telling me thaton a PC this is one click and
it's done, and on a Mac it goesround and round and round and
every single, every processthere's some sort of proprietary
thing that pops up, Doesn'twant to do it, doesn't like it,
(02:57):
doesn't understand it, it's like.
So I am not a Mac guy.
I did not raise my children onMacbooks and I bought this thing
because I wanted to try it andgive it a try, and I so regret
it.
I know there's a lot of Macpeople out there that are just
(03:18):
yelling at me right now, but Idon't care.
Brothers, I don't care, I don'tcare, it doesn't work.
It just doesn't work when itcomes to non-proprietary
applications.
It simply doesn't want to play.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Yeah, well, you got to use the proper tool for the
proper job.
You can't you know?
Yeah, I think it's going towork all the time.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Right, that's right.
I'm going to use the PC withWindows.
That's right, I said Windows,and it's going to work like
magic and I'm pretty excitedabout that.
Anyway, how are you brother?
How's things going?
You moved to South Carolina.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Let me tell you I didn't.
We did a stated meeting onTuesday night.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Right, I was there.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
At a regular state of communication.
Yes, it was a great meeting.
Santa came, we had a lot ofphotos of that and we had our
elections and it was just thisawesome night.
We did a give back and awardedwith aprons.
The guys wanted to go have adrink because everyone knew it
was my last meeting.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
And you had to get on a plane at 3 am.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Well, actually I drove, so we went to the train.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Please explain.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
And one and done was the plane.
And after three shots of theKula and four drinks and many
karaoke songs, I finally got thebetter out in 12.30.
I had to get up at 2.30 to packthe truck for another 45
minutes and then proceed todrive for 11 hours to get here.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
So I had a rough night, but it was well worth it
because we had a great time witheverybody.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
That's awesome and I'm coming back.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
I'll be right back tomorrow we're going to do a
Master Mason degree for 10brothers.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Another one.
It's like the third time thisyear An outdoor Master Mason
degree in Englewood for 10brothers.
Yeah, that's going to beawesome man.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Englewood launch number 360.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
And that's dedication .
I just moved out of the state,drove 11 hours coming right back
two days later.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Coming right back, except you're not driving.
You're flying, which is goingto be just a little easier.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
We will eat up and talk some business and change
some things.
You got to give me some things.
It's a breath here and I needto give you some things for down
there.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Yep, we'll get it together.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
We're getting our stuff together.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Yeah, and just a heads up, and this is a heads up
for anyone listening and aheads up for you, partner.
I got a notification fromFacebook that we are in
violation of their communitystandards.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yeah, I think that's a spam thing that they send to
everybody to try to get you toclick links and do things.
Oh, okay.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Okay, good, good.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
But don't worry about that.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Okay.
So if for any reason we're offof Facebook, guys do not despair
.
It's clearly an error on theirpart and we'll get it fixed.
So I just wanted to make surethat you can always you can
always find us on the website.
You can always go to on thelevel with Fred and Chriscom and
catch our share.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
I'm not sure that will be okay on Facebook.
Here's the thing that I amworried about.
We only have three weeks leftto sell tickets for the Masonic
Education Symposium.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Right.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
We need to stop about a week beforehand because of
the Arvena needs a head count toprepare the food.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
In advance.
We will stop selling ticketsthe week before.
So what is that going to belike?
The third of January yes,correct.
Or the sixth.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Something like that, yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
The sixth, I think, is that Saturday after our
installation on the shift.
Oh yeah, we have three weeks,guys.
Please go to on the level withFred and Chriscom and you'll see
right there on the homepage.
The event that we're doing inSarasota on January 13th starts
at 9 am and goes until 5 pm.
Tickets cost $50 and we havethree guest speakers and a
(07:11):
keynote speaker.
These are amazing lecturersthat are going to be talking
about really cool MasonicEducation topics, yeah, and you
get to talk to them.
You know, part of this wholething is that we are going to do
what we always do have aconversation Right, that's right
With each of these people, eachof these brothers, including
(07:33):
our keynote speaker right, whereshe'll tell you a Tala, who's
one of our Grand Lodge officers,and we'll be talking about the
future of Freemasonry witheveryone that shows up.
I'm sure he'd love to hear yourideas About how the Grand Lodge
could help improve Freemasonryin Florida, so please come out
and tell him right, yeah, yeah,it's gonna be.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
It's gonna be a great time and there's dinner is
included and, yeah, drinktickets.
And it's at Sarasota Sahebshrine, which has a gigantic
tiki hut right out front.
Really nice outdoor bar, niceindoor bar.
The venue is real nice.
I mean it's a great place, it'sgonna be a great time and
Sponsored by the three ruffians.
(08:16):
Premium cigars, that's right,they'll be out there today
during the during the program.
That's right.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Sarasota.
The demolage chapter will bethere assisting, and does anyone
else wants to sponsor?
We have room available fortables.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Yeah, that's right.
So, yeah, we're looking, I'mlooking forward to it.
It's the first one of many thatwe're gonna do and so we're
gonna, we're all gonna kind ofpioneer this thing together this
first time out.
The goal and hope and goal isto do for a year, every quarter,
to do one every quarter.
And then we also kicked around.
(08:49):
We were up in Washington DC forthose of you who didn't see on
the Facebook post, we were up inWashington DC to do the yearly.
What is that?
What?
Officially?
It's the.
It's the refling annual Reflangat the tomb of the unknown
soldier, but it was a three-daything for us that we went.
We went to Arlington, obviouslyfor the, the reflame, and then
(09:13):
we we spent a good amount oftime there, man, it was really
awesome that day.
And then the next day we touredthe Capitol Not my favorite
Part of the part of the trip.
I was not not my house anymore,but I went and it was
interesting.
For sure I learned a few thingswhile I was there and but then
(09:36):
for me, the, the thing thatreally really stuck out to me
was being at Potomac number fivelodge for their installation
and seeing you know how theyopen in a master Mason degree
and how they do their work,which is very different than
ours and but the basics arethere.
(09:58):
You know it's, it's Masonry.
You can see it, you canunderstand it, no matter where
you're from, you can stillunderstand it, but it's
different.
You know it's different andit's cool.
And also there in DC, in thatin that particular Grand Grand
Lodge, they have a bar there atthe at the lodge itself, which
(10:18):
is very interesting.
You can drink at Blue Lodge inDC, which I found very
interesting.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
I Saw that very interesting.
There were several veryinteresting things about it.
Right, the ritual work waspretty fascinating, especially I
think we all agreed that whenthey level at the end.
Yes are more meaningful thanthe way that we level in the
state of Florida right and wecan't really say exactly what
that means.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
If you're amazing, you, you probably know what that
means, but it was a reallymoving, touching moment where
you know where you felt part ofsomething you felt part of it,
right.
Everybody came to this place,you know, and it was.
It was awesome man, it wasreally good.
Anyway, the point is is that wekicked around an idea of doing
doing a summertime DC trip aspart of OTL, as part of on the
(11:06):
level once a year, an annual onthe level trip, doing a tour, a
Masonic tour of DC In 2020, late2024.
So that's something we'll bekicking around as well to kind
of see if we can can do that.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
I just so much history, masonic history right
in that place.
Yeah and we found Residentsthat live there their whole life
didn't even know about theMasonic connections.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Yeah right.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
It's just really amazing it was amazing.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
They had no idea.
The guys right down the streetfrom the George Washington
Memorial, a Masonic Memorial andthere's no idea.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
I took her to the George Washington Masonic
Memorial and she was shockedthat that was there in public
and she's had no idea Her wholelife that he was amazing right.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
And if you walk into that building, if I was blown
away and and for anybody who'sbeen to the thing, the, the, the
Washington Masonic Memorial,it's no small deal, man.
When you walk through thosegiant brass doors and the, the
front doors are our six doorswide and probably four, four
floors in height, of all brass,old-school brass Framing and
(12:18):
glass door system and that'simpressive because it's super
high.
The columns are there.
You walk through and you'rethinking, man, this is amazing.
And then you realize you'restanding in this, this area of
all this marble, and Marblegranite marble columns that
tower over you, man.
(12:39):
They got to be 60 feet high, man, it's just, it's an absolute
marvel.
And it goes on from there.
The elevators which are pitchedfrom outside to inside, seven
degrees each floor.
You go up, they get closer andcloser together till you get to
the very top.
It's all engineered that wayand it's just.
It's just an amazing thing.
But yeah, so for me I'm doing asummertime trip because it was
(13:03):
really cold.
It was.
It was brutal cold for us, fora cold and rainy, cold and rainy
and overcast the whole time.
So doing a summertime trip upthere with a group of guys we
can meet from all over thecountry, and finding a couple of
people who can kind of puttogether an actual Masonic bus
tour when we just we we chartera bus and then we go from
(13:27):
Masonic thing to Masonic thingand do the teaching and stuff on
it.
I really think Jeremy Barnescould be a big help on this.
Shout out to you, brother.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
I know the barns.
I mean, when we visited theCapitol, I literally saw him
chatting with the governmentemployees there.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Yeah, and they knew him and he, yeah, they know him
so, yeah, he's, he's definitelysomebody that we want to get
with on this and and try to tryto put it together and bring
bring people together and andreally start Educating people,
because I need a lot ofeducation on it too.
There's a lot more there.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Then I.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
I think, I think, even as masons, we understand.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
We scratch the surface.
We know the influence this orthat right the whole story.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Yeah, because if you look at, you know, I Haven't
really totally thought thisthrough yet, but what I, one of
the things I noticed was theSupreme Court building.
If you look at the apex, goinginto the grand entrance of the
Supreme Court building, you'llsee the mural above and what you
(14:32):
see is you see Moses in thecenter, a Statue of Moses in the
center, and sitting to his leftand his right is Aristotle and
Socrates and Plato, and it goesdown through all of these
different philosophers,throughout all of history.
Well, that thing was built, youknow, in the 18, in the early
1800s.
So so, yeah, if, if theConstitution of the United
(14:56):
States was ratified in 1777, itwas ratified.
I don't know when I wasratified, shame on me, but 1776
the Declaration of Independencewas was begun and the war for
independence began and wasfought and won.
By the time you get to the early1800s, that thing is being
(15:17):
built on the apex of thatbuilding right there, which is
very Masonic, you know, and Iknow my, my, everyone knows my
Christian brethren, who want tosay that this was a strictly
designed as a Christiangovernment.
I think, I think we we need tostep back and have a
conversation about that because,though most of the men Were
(15:42):
either either declared outright,you know, christian men of
Christian faith, or theycompletely agreed with the
tenants or precepts behind it,like Thomas Jefferson, but they
were, but they were Masonic intheir application of the
constitutional Republic thatthey decide, that they designed.
And if you look at all themonuments, if you look at
(16:03):
everything that you see outthere, that's pretty obvious to
me.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
You, if you think about it.
We know the influence that theMasons had.
We know that the Masons wereprobably Exclusively Christian
there in that place at that timewell, they, they, they under,
if they weren't actual.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
You know, christian men who held to the tenants of
the Christian faith.
They were.
They were, for lack of a betterword, sympathetic to the
teachings, sure, and preceptsbehind the moral code it
represents.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
And I would bet that the majority were Out practicing
Christians, but this is how youknow.
The Masons influenced ourgovernment because, although
they were primarily Christianmen, they were Masons too and
they knew the importance fortolerance of other religions as
(16:55):
part of inclusion and making usone unit, one whole Family.
And I think that that comesthrough in our government
Because, although we werefounded by Christians, I don't
think they intended it to be astrictly Christian nation.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
Well, I mean well, and, and I think when, when we
talk about the word tolerance,that's a modern word Now back
then, they would not have knownanything about that, did the
they were?
Speaker 2 (17:21):
not necessary.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
What would have understood importance of sure
what they were looking for wasthey didn't want to create
another government System thatcould impose its will on the
people that that's what theywere completely intolerant of.
They were intolerant of anotherking, another monarchy.
(17:45):
So they crafted.
So they had to sit down andcraft a government system that
would not allow for this type ofthing, and that's why I think
what they settled for was isthat the people Ie those who go
to church, those who don't go tochurch, those who are strong in
their faith, those who are notstrong in their faith, don't
have a faith at all.
(18:06):
The people are required toforce the state to remain within
its jurisdiction and boundaries.
So we were, we as the peoplewere, to hold this Leviathan in
distrust and not let it grow andnot let it get out of control,
and hold it accountable.
Now we have miserably failed Inthis day in that, in that area.
(18:30):
But that's what they craftedand I think that is a very
Masonic idea.
If you look at our Masonicgovernment, the Grand Lodge of
Florida, when you go there, it'sa.
It's a representative Form ofdemocracy.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
It's exactly like our government.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Absolutely, is everything about it, yep.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
We've got our legislators with the vigilance
committee yeah, these are thelegislators.
And then we've got the House ofRepresentatives, that's us,
yeah, and vote.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
We have all the members.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
It's, it's completely representative.
So it's not mob rule.
It's not every one man one votewhich is mob rule and of course
Plato, he explained that veryclearly to us that it's a failed
system.
It is a constitutionalrepresentative Republic and it's
brilliant In its crafting.
(19:18):
But anyways, we're down alittle bit of a rabbit hole here
.
But the truth is is that whenyou tour, when you drive around
DC and you start to take it inand you start to see this stuff,
you realize that this, this,this, this entire system was,
was Masonic at its core, man andand there's lodges all over the
(19:39):
place out there and there'sthere's all kinds of symbolism
and and stuff all over the place.
And it's just interesting to mehow how in our, our day and age
today, masonry can be held insuch suspicion.
You know, having we have, Iguess.
So I guess we we've forgottenall of it.
(19:59):
I mean we've completely been.
We have not been diligent Inany, any of the things the
founding fathers told us weneeded to be diligent in.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
No, and Masonry as a whole isn't particularly good at
claiming credit for things.
Right, yeah, we'll be taking tolike to just stay in the
background and do our thing andnot take credit.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
As individuals and as an entity, and I think that's a
good thing in most cases.
But you know, we do have amonument in Arlington.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Right.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
To Washington.
So the fact that it's there andpeople still have no idea is a
little scary.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Yeah, right, it just it kind of shows and, like the
bartender, we were talking toyou know who's in the heart of
his whole life.
He lived his whole life therein the heart of DC and he had no
earthly idea what Masonryreally was.
He's just one of those guyswhat do you mean?
Like bricklayers?
You know, he's one of thoseguys.
You know it's like, and it wasjust.
That was shocking to me.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
It was just, it was like wow, we really I think
we've got to do some reeducationto our citizens about the
importance of Masonry and ourrole in the formation of this
country.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
I agree.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
We can still play.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
And I, you know, and it goes back to that, putting
together that yearly, thatannual trip to, you know, to, to
DC, the, the, the, the, on thelevel, on the level Masonic
education trip to DC annually.
I'm going to be a bulldog on it.
So we'll try to put thattogether, guys, and keep the,
(21:35):
keep the costs down as best wecan and get everybody to come,
you know, to come and put and,and my thing is going to be to
find a tour guide who reallyknows this stuff and maybe, year
after year, kind of build thistour to the point where it is so
informative and it is so deadon, dead on.
You know that that it becomes.
(21:57):
It becomes a a must you knowfor for every Mason to to either
actually experience it or maybewe can do publications of it
and do you know broadcasts fromthere to help people.
But the other thing is is thatit goes to what you and I are
going to be talking about at thesymposium on January 13th.
Get your tickets go online towhat is the?
(22:20):
What is the online thing?
It's the.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
No, no that's we could just go to on the level of
Fred and Chris.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Yeah, that's it, yeah get your tickets right away,
don't, don't wait.
They're going to start sellingreally fast, especially when, as
the holidays wind down,everybody's going to want to get
their tickets at the same timeand there is a limited amount.
So please get on, get onlineand get it and get it, get those
tickets.
But the the talk that we'regoing to do, that we're it's
(22:47):
going to be a very we're goingto be very brief, the two of us,
because we're going to let ourguests do most of the speaking
and we're going to let our our,the people who come in the
audience, do a lot of thequestions and answers and
speaking.
Anyway, it's going to be an openforum idea, but our talk is is
a basic theme, is the basictheme for OTL for 2024.
(23:10):
And that is a question.
And the question is doesmasonry have something to offer
to this hurting country?
And we think the answer is yesand we're going to try to
develop that more and more, thattheme for 2024 throughout the
year.
Does it does?
Does masonry have something tooffer the young man?
a young man who doesn't know whohe is, doesn't know, you know,
(23:32):
what to do in this world, has nopurpose, feels like he has no
purpose, feels like he's lost oror wants to become something
you know, part of somethingbigger than himself.
Well, I think, I think and Iknow you do too, chris.
I think masonry has somethingto offer in that area.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Yeah, what we need are engaged masons.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
That's right and informed, informed and engaged.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Yeah, we need to be active, we need to be
contributing and we need to bevisible and we haven't been some
of those things for a littlewhile now.
And, you know, credit to rightwishful catsalists and silverman
for what they've been doinghere the last six or seven years
, because I think it is doingall those things.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
It really is.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
We went around as a group of masons dressed nice,
acting right in public.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
And I know a lot of people were looking at, looking
at us and asking questions andeveryone there was a great
representative to the communityas mason's.
We were there visible doingthings right.
Touring the capital is mason's.
That was pretty impressive.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
It was a trip.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
I had not been to the capital building since I was
very young, so I really didn'tunderstand we had to basically
bind you and blindfold you andgag you to get you in there.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
Yeah, it's well, you know it does not represent us
anymore.
Those two houses representthemselves and that's pretty
obvious in their behaviorsanymore.
But that doesn't mean we'regoing to give up.
It's worth fighting for, that'sfor sure.
And I know I'm not alone.
I'm absolutely not alone inthat, in that idea.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Those old men and the other guy on the street.
No, that's not who we should befighting.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
That's right yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
And yeah, these corporations controlling our
government, those corporationsand the politicians that sold
out.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
The corporations and the politicians that sold out to
them is really the enemy.
And those people are in their80s, late 80s.
Hello, you know they're veryold Now, they've turned.
You know the grift goes totheir children, but there's
still not that many of them.
There's a lot more of us and Ithink we can begin.
Masonry can be pivotal inhelping people to put away the
(25:54):
left versus right lie.
You know and I think you and Iare a perfect example that we
talk about it all the time.
You know I would be consideredmore of a center right person
and you would be considered moreof a center left person, but
we're able to be productive.
We're very productive in whatwe do together.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Well, we share the same desires.
That's right At the end of theday and it's true, I think of
everyone on the left and theright that are so passionate and
hating each other.
They both want their governmentto be good.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
That's right, that's right.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
They take these tiny little details that we have
differences on to keep usquarreling with each other about
the nonsense.
Well, the big stuff just slidesright out the door while we're
fighting and it's working.
So the only way to stop this isfor us to stop bickering with
each other about the nonsenseand look at the back door and
watch all the stuff they'recarrying out, because we can
(26:48):
stop them together, and I thinkwe both want that stuff to stay
in the house.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
We both want the government that we started with.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
That's right.
Yeah, both of us.
Very limited in its scope andpower, right and very much
answerable.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
We're a generation of individuals who prided
ourselves on our strength, ourtenacity, our individualness.
We've prided ourselves on thatat one point and we've gotten a
little bit dependent on thingsover time.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
We have, we have.
And the founding fathers?
Their opinion of governmentemployees would have been very
different than ours.
Oh, totally.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
We hold them up.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
We hold them up as these heroes that can do no
wrong and somehow they're alittle better than we are kind
of idea they were trying tobasically deify that man Right
and he was.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
He saw many instances where their attempts were being
made to make a deity out of theperson Right.
Well, that's the.
It's a time he would not be whohe was.
That's right and he wasfighting against it.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
Absolutely.
And if you look at the capitalRotunda so they wanted to bury
him and the center point of theRotunda, and if you stand in the
center and look straight up,you will see, you will literally
see a picture mural, a wholemural system of Washington as a
deity and the idea was is thathe was supposed to rise up from
(28:21):
his grave where he was buried atthe bottom of the Rotunda,
right there, right, and he wasgoing to glory to be this deity.
They really, really wanted aking man and they wanted him to
be the king.
You know and you can see all ofthis and it just, and we, we as
, as as people who actually makethis country work, we need to
(28:44):
fight against that.
And my the point I was makingwas that our founding fathers
would not have treated theaverage you know government in
air quotes employee with muchrespect.
They would not have understoodthem.
They would not have understoodthe deep the lady behind the DMV
counter who treats you like apiece of garbage.
They would not have understoodthat.
(29:06):
They would not have understoodthat they were in America.
You know the ideal withbuilding.
I'm in the trades dealing withbuilding department officials
all the time who treat you likeyou're an absolute moron and
have no time for you and lie toyou and about you and hold up
jobs just for their own ego'ssake.
Our founding fathers would havetaken up arms had they seen
(29:29):
something like this Leviathanthat that holds us in contempt,
you know, every day of our life.
They would not have understoodsuch a thing.
Now I don't know what theremedy is.
I say you know you, you changehearts and minds one person at a
time, and I think that's whatMasonry does.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
And I agree, you've got to be, you've got to show
them.
People don't believe thingsunless they see it with their
eyes.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
Yeah, that's right, yep.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
And you know, it's like those people that built our
country.
They built the house.
They built their own house,right, and the the respect, the
reverence they had for the thingthat they built was probably
off the charts.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
But when you get to a house that you built with your
bare hands, three generationslater, the great grandkids are
ripping everything out.
They don't care about thehistory of that house, they
don't care that it was the first, this, this or that.
They're like no, take it out,it's old.
I want new, new new.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
I want new yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
And they lose their history.
Yeah, and that's what'shappened to us.
We're generations, generations,generations, and a large
portion of our population havelost its history because they
just don't care.
And so, as masons, I think webenefit from the fact that we
revere our history and we teachit Right, and not just American
(30:50):
history, but our history is aspecies on the planet.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
That's right, Like I think, the more that you try to
lift up history, I think, themore successful your
civilization is going to be.
Yeah, we need not like the factthat you have to always live
the way you did thousands ofyears ago, but just
understanding why they lived theway they did will help you live
better life today.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Yeah, they wrote, they wrote a lot.
Thomas Jefferson left us a lotof the why he did what he did,
why he believed what he did.
You know he was, he was a deist.
He didn't hold to themiraculous but he held to.
He was very much into theenlightenment, you know that was
, that was his thing.
But he understood human nature.
(31:36):
He totally understood thechecks and balances that are,
that are built into this system.
He, they're there for a reasonand now they're gone.
You know, and the checks andbalances, it's all one lump of
grift going on.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
you know, and and it's just Well, they're playing
to our base instincts.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
Yeah right.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Yeah, they're playing to our higher selves, right,
and we've revered virtues andthings that you know were hard,
difficult, but now it seems likeall politicians play to your
most base primal instincts,right.
Yeah, and all the while, whichis a dangerous thing.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
All the while getting richer and richer.
And that's why you know you,you, you vote a guy into into
national office who says who'swho's got a a life of exemplary
service.
You know I think of.
There was a, a senatorialcandidate that I helped support
in Denver in Colorado, um, uh,back in the late nineties and uh
(32:38):
, he was just a straight shooter.
He everything, I mean hisentire career.
He'd been in government since,you know, from out of high
school, for goodness sakes, andthe guy had exemplary marks of a
guy that really did what hesaid he was going to do along
the way, and literally his firstyear in Washington DC, he just
reversed everything he'd everbelieved in and became another
(32:59):
grifter and to this day he's oneof the biggest grifters up
there.
And uh yeah, and it's justamazing to me that, uh, there's
something about the unfetteredability to take to, to line your
pockets, that just the itdoesn't matter who you are,
You're a human being, and thattemptation is going to get you
man.
And that's the problem withwith what goes on up there.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
We drove around, oh yeah, we drove around.
There's no IQ test to get intoyour government.
First of all, there's norequirement that you have any
knowledge of history or even theworkings of government or our
own constitution.
There's no test.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
No, that's right.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
Give it government.
I mean anyone can get in there.
All they have to do is becomepopular enough.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
That's right, that's right.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
I'd sure like to see some like let's make them take a
test and exhibit that theyunderstand our Constitution and
that they know some importantthings that happen in our
history before they go work inthe government that represents
us.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
I think yeah, well, that would make them accountable
to it.
So they don't want to knowanything about that.
And once you get into thatposition, once you're in the
position, then you surroundyourself with people who do all
the work and keep you out of theloop, so you're not accountable
for any of the things you do,and that's kind of the way it
works.
They have these giganticentirges of people that surround
(34:25):
them, that they put themselvesin the center of this massive
entourage.
I think at one point Harry Reid, who was a senator from Nevada,
had 380 people under him, 380people working for him.
I mean, that's a government.
(34:47):
He was a government untohimself.
I could be wrong about thatnumber, but I seem to remember
380 of the people.
And he was sponsored by everysingle defense contractor in the
state of Nevada and he was justone of those guys.
Like Mitch McConnell Same thing.
(35:08):
If you look into the man'sfinancial past he and his spouse
you would be outraged.
I was outraged.
It's like are you kidding me?
This man is worth hundreds ofmillions of dollars on a civil
service salary and hasconnections all over the world,
especially tight connectionswith China.
(35:28):
It's like come on, man, andhe's held up.
Now he's a right-side guy, sohe's held up by the right as
this stall worth of freedom, buthe's a grifter man, he's a
total crook.
And if you look at a ChuckSchumer, same thing, man.
If you look into ChuckSchumer's life and where he's
gotten his money, he's worthhundreds of millions of dollars.
(35:50):
And if you look at their life,it's like you'd be shocked, man,
that this is not the way it was.
All right, we're going downthis rabbit trail.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
Don't get me started.
Like in most jobs, you have atleast an annual review.
It's not a quarterly review, ora whole over Our successes and
our you know, are we gettingbetter?
How about we do that for ourpoliticians?
Yeah, well, can we do a littlereview, because once they're in,
they're in.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
They're in.
Yeah, they're in, there's noreview.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
There's no way to get them out, not really, other
than taking extreme measures andwasting a lot of money to try
to get it done.
But even that's becomepolitical stunt now.
I think pretty much everypresident to the end of time.
This impeachment proceedingswill begin on day one of his
inauguration.
Oh yeah, what's that you're on?
Speaker 1 (36:38):
That system is so broken it's banana republic.
It's a banana republic kind ofidea anymore.
So if you're listening rightnow and you're thinking, well,
it's too big, it's too broken,there's nothing we can do,
that's not true.
There is something you can doand you can start.
It always starts grassroots.
All politics is local.
You can go to your lodge, youcan begin to educate yourself.
(37:04):
You can begin to live your lifein a way that promotes liberty
and freedom and fair trade, andbegin to educate yourself, your
brothers around you and yourchildren and those who are
younger than you, those who arecoming up, and we can do that
one person at a time.
We have a network of lodges allaround this country, all around
(37:28):
this country, and we couldaccess that network and begin a
movement.
Like I said, does Masonry havesomething to offer to this
hurting country?
Speaker 2 (37:36):
I think we have, and I think we do what I suggested
that we do in government in ourlodges in Florida.
If you want to get to anelected position, you have to do
a certain amount of educationand prove that you are educated
enough to get the basicinformation you need to be one
of those elected officers.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
Yeah, that's right, that's right.
Yeah, it's not a popularitycontest.
We've got to get away from thatman.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
Yeah, that's a cheery note to end on.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
Cheery note to end on .
Well, all right, so.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
You know what's cool, though?
Going back to the DC trip, wesaw the.
When we toured the Capitol, weactually saw the display case
that the Washington Devil sitsin in the Capitol building here.
Just tourists can come and seeit and it's on loan from Potomac
Lodge to the Capitol.
And this is a Masonic artifact,but it's also a government
(38:28):
relic.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
Yeah, it's a national treasure.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
Correct With the people as masons and we saw the
trowel belongs to another lodgein the area and they also give
their relics the Capitol todisplay to the people.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
Right.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
So we're visible.
We're right there in front ofeverybody.
It's just crazy that peoplejust still have no idea what's
happening.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
I know, I know, but that is our call and mission
right there.
There it is.
So if you are, in fact, abrother listening to the On the
Level podcast with Fred andChris, then you know what to do.
You know what to do.
Go back to your lodge and getinvolved, educate yourself.
(39:14):
Come to the symposium.
If you're in the state ofFlorida, if you're anywhere
within the sound of our voiceand you could make it, please
come and begin to get charged up, Get yourself excited and get
passionate about educatingyourself about this country's
Masonic history, and thenprepare to do something, to get
(39:35):
out there and do so.
One of the things that we offerto the young men of this country
is a moral code.
We are a system of morality.
We have a system of living yourlife in such a way that is
productive and beneficial toyourself and all those around
(39:55):
you, and that's huge.
We lack that in this country.
Our young men are lost.
They have no moral compass,they have no direction, and
Masonry, in a very real way,offers that to the young man who
comes in.
We hold ourselves accountable.
Generally speaking, we're men,we're flawed, but we hold
(40:17):
ourselves accountable to ahigher standard, and that is
something that's very muchlacking and that is something
that Masonry does have to offerto this hurting country.
Again, you're going to hear mesay that on the show over and
over again.
That's our theme for 2024.
Do we have something to offer?
And if we do, how do we get itout there?
Speaker 2 (40:36):
right, I think we've been saying from day one you
have to fix your house beforeyou can go out a side of it and
start trying to fix anythingelse.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
It really for us as a fraternity starts with fixing
ourselves.
I think We've been bleeding outthrough time a little bit and
maybe a lot, and we need toreconstitute ourselves.
And it starts at eachindividual lodge, not any grand
lodge.
No jurisdiction is going to dothis.
The Grand Lodge of Floridahelped by sponsoring a program
(41:09):
for the lodges, but ultimatelyit's the lodges that decide to
do it or not do it.
And a lot of lodges are mergingand some are going under, and
that's going to be your lodgetoo if you don't get on it.
Speaker 1 (41:22):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (41:23):
You've got to start fixing your own house.
You've got to build up yourmembership, fix up your lodge,
get yourself financially healthyand then you'll be in the place
to actually do some good andhelp people.
Speaker 1 (41:33):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (41:35):
But most lodges are just trying to help themselves
at this point.
They themselves need charity.
How can you do charity when youneed charity?
Speaker 1 (41:43):
Yeah, right, yeah, first when the mask, like they
say on the airplane, you knowwhen the mask comes down, secure
your own before you helpsomebody else with theirs.
The assumption there is thatyou're going to be helping
somebody else with their mask.
That's the assumption.
But the task at hand is makesure yours is first on correctly
(42:07):
, so you don't die.
Speaker 2 (42:08):
Even your baby.
They're like leave the childalone, put your own mask on, get
your own mask on and then theimperative.
Speaker 1 (42:15):
The imperative in that statement is then you will
go help others, right?
It's not a suggestion.
It's not a suggestion, andthat's the way.
I love the way it's worded.
You know, it's always.
It's always.
It always struck me wheneverI'm on a plane and they say that
I'm one of the geeks who arelistening to them, because I'm
always listening for that.
But I'm a geek anyway.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
You're one of two people on the plane listening.
Speaker 1 (42:35):
I'm one of two people on the plane listening because
that's what they say.
The assumption is that you willbe helping others, but first
secure your own mask, and that'sexactly what you were just
talking about right there.
Speaker 2 (42:47):
And we have the.
We have a plan for any lodge tohelp themselves.
The oxygen mask is here.
It's falling right out of ourwebsite.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (42:56):
It's got to put it on and do it.
Speaker 1 (42:58):
Secure it first.
Speaker 2 (43:00):
Yeah, Just do it.
Start fixing your lodge.
You know you've got tostrengthen your numbers and it
will happen.
It will happen if you juststart the steps today.
You will start to get newmembers.
Those members are going to beextremely zealous.
They're going to want to learnmore about what pre-masonry is.
And where did all this comefrom?
Speaker 1 (43:20):
Right.
Speaker 2 (43:21):
And then they're going to want to teach it,
because that's what you do onceyou have knowledge.
Speaker 1 (43:24):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
You teach it to people coming up.
And now you've got a stronglodge and you're in a place
where you can start your basemoney, where you can have
influence and do things.
So we hope that you take all ofthat desire to change the
government we just talked aboutand go change your lodge with it
first.
Speaker 1 (43:41):
Change yourself, change your lodge, change your
community and maybe, just maybe,if we're work by the grace of
God and by a lot of hard work,maybe, just maybe, we could
change the direction of thishurting land.
That would be an amazing thingto see.
Speaker 2 (44:01):
Yeah, it's great truth, man.
If we can start fixing our ownselves and building up our
membership in our lodges, wewill have influence again.
Speaker 1 (44:09):
Right, yeah, that's true.
Speaker 2 (44:11):
Everybody will know who we are again, finally.
Speaker 1 (44:13):
Yeah, and like, I hear people all the time who say
you know, my grandpa wasamazing.
He was such a good man.
You know, he was such a goodman and I really loved him,
respected him.
Yeah, and he didn't talk aboutit much.
Right, he was probablysomething we need to change.
We need to talk a little moreabout it, but I get the point
(44:36):
for the old timers out there whoare yelling at me right now.
The point is is that if you liveyour life, if you live a life
of integrity, uncompromisingintegrity, if you're an honest,
hardworking person, people willknow that about you, that stands
out in this world, and peoplewill trust you and you will earn
(44:58):
the right to speak into theirlives.
And that's the bottom line.
Each person living the life ofintegrity and honesty and
praying that God would turn thiscountry back to the kind of men
that originally founded itwould be an amazing thing.
(45:19):
So, anyway, let's talk a littlebit about you, my brother.
Speaker 2 (45:24):
Oh geez.
Speaker 1 (45:25):
I know, right, so this is.
Last Tuesday was your laststated meeting as Worshpill
Master of the Mighty 147,Sarasota, Florida.
So now you've got what we'vegot one more meeting the day
after Christmas.
You and I will be the only onesthere, so that'll be your
(45:46):
actual final gavel.
Right, that's it, You're done.
Speaker 2 (45:52):
Well, we have a call of communication on January 5th.
Speaker 1 (45:56):
What's the installation?
Speaker 2 (45:58):
That will be the installation of the 2024 officer
line, so I will open the lodgethere, okay.
Speaker 1 (46:04):
So that's officially it.
Speaker 2 (46:05):
I will get to say some last words and then I won't
get the gavel down, but I willget to pass my gavel to the next
man.
Speaker 1 (46:13):
To Zach.
Speaker 2 (46:13):
Shout out to Zach there, zach, you're meeting me.
Speaker 1 (46:15):
Yep, that's awesome.
So now a lot of people areasking, a lot of people are
wanting you.
You sold your home.
We talked about this on thelast podcast.
You sold your home here inSarasota.
Good on you.
It was a dream that you had anda dream you fulfilled, and I'm
so, I am so blessed to know aman who actually did it.
(46:36):
Well, I shouldn't brag too much.
Speaker 2 (46:38):
I did it too, but anyway, you did it, you did it,
you did it.
Probably do it again.
Speaker 1 (46:42):
You did it, and then you and you bought a really
beautiful property somethingthat you and your wife really
desired up in South Carolina.
That's where you are now.
Yeah, I have heard you say morethan once that you will always
be a member of Sarasota 147 forthe rest of your life.
So how's that going to work?
(47:03):
Tell people exactly what's yourplan as far as that goes.
Speaker 2 (47:08):
Well, my business is headquartered in Sarasota.
All of my employees are there.
Speaker 1 (47:13):
Right.
Speaker 2 (47:14):
Directors in my employees, and so the company
still has regular meetings, andI'll be going to those meetings.
I'm only a one hour flight.
Speaker 1 (47:22):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (47:23):
Right, and so I've already got three planned, three
flights in the next, in thefirst month, to come back, and
one of those is coming to ourinstallation and another is a
degree at another watch for ourbrothers, and one is for this
education symposium.
And so it's my hope that I canmake it to at least one stated
meeting a month and sit as apast master quietly and enjoy,
(47:49):
so hopefully, to watch thefruits of some of my labor and
my predecessors' labor.
Speaker 1 (47:55):
Yeah Well and we're going to need you.
So you're going to sit quietly,but we're definitely going to
need your help and yourleadership.
Now, as far as thereimbursement program goes for
Grand Lodge, John Schaefer,myself and you we're committed
for 2024 to be a part of that.
Speaker 2 (48:18):
So and I know that will continue to move forward-
so, for our lodge, I'm going togo back into making those calls
and scheduling appointmentswhich I have been able to do all
year.
Speaker 1 (48:29):
Nice yeah.
Speaker 2 (48:31):
John Schaefer is going to get some much needed
help.
Yeah, and we brought in I think16 entered apprentices this
year and we raised 18 mastermasons.
Speaker 1 (48:43):
That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (48:44):
Something like that was our numbers, yeah, so next
year planned for more like 25 or30.
Right Entered apprentices and ahealthy amount of master masons
, and so our lodge is in a placewhere it's starting to become
easier, finally, after a fewyears, yeah, and we're getting
more used to the growth and wehave so many.
I wish I could express to youthe level of quality of men that
(49:08):
we're bringing into thefraternity through this program.
Speaker 1 (49:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (49:11):
These are excellent men, young men.
Both of them are in their 30s.
Yeah, and really, really goodmen.
I just see them.
Wow, you really do see that.
It's true that you're made aMason in your heart before you
were in a lodge.
Speaker 1 (49:26):
Yeah, that's very true, that's very true.
Speaker 2 (49:29):
We didn't do anything other than stay visible.
I think that people need andwant what the fraternity has to
offer right now.
Speaker 1 (49:36):
It's absolutely true.
We just need to be visible.
Yeah, no, it's absolutely true.
You're right.
We were last year up inHillsborough and that was one of
our talks.
You know Masonry.
Now what and that was one ofthe things is that we're not
sparking interest that isn'talready there.
All we're doing is we're makingourselves available to men who
(49:59):
have already raised their handand said I need something in my
life that's bigger than me.
I need something in my lifethat's reliable.
I need this and I want this.
Speaker 2 (50:08):
It's a place to feel safe and explore Right.
You know my own thoughts andfeelings.
Speaker 1 (50:14):
And like for me, I just I didn't have any friends.
I literally didn't have anyfriends.
I worked and I came home.
Speaker 2 (50:20):
Possibly the same for me.
Speaker 1 (50:21):
Yeah, yeah.
And now I have thousands offriends all over the world who I
can call my Masonic brothers.
I mean all over the world, whowould do anything for me and I'd
do anything for them, andthat's what the reimbursement
program is doing.
We're not.
We're not creating interestwhere there is no interest.
We're making ourselvesavailable to those who already
(50:44):
raised their hand and said Iwant something more in my life,
and Masonry is there.
We're right there to say, hey,check this out, this might be
what you're looking for.
Yeah, and 2024 is going to beall about that because you me
and John are going to kill thereimbursement program this year.
Speaker 2 (51:02):
Yeah, we want to just make every lodge aware of it,
make sure everyone's tried itand if they're trying it, if
they're doing it right, so thatthey see success and just watch
our state grow.
Speaker 1 (51:13):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (51:13):
And numbers and influence and hopefully save
some lodges.
Speaker 1 (51:19):
Yeah, well, yeah, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 2 (51:21):
And if we don't do something we are going to lose
lodges.
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1 (51:26):
It's just a fact.
There's a lot of lodges outthere that just there was.
Who was telling the story abouta lodge in Florida where
leadership just kept ignoringthe pleas of the secretary over
and over again.
Guys, we can't keep going thisway, we can't keep going this
way.
And then finally, at a meeting,the secretary got up in
(51:47):
desperation and said we need topass a hat tonight, guys,
because if I don't pay the waterbill on Monday, they're going
to turn the water off to thelodge on Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (51:58):
Yeah, got themselves in a place where they literally
had to pass a hat around thehouse.
Speaker 1 (52:01):
But here's the point of the story Nobody, everyone,
was shocked.
They were shocked what?
I had no idea, we had no idea.
Speaker 2 (52:10):
It's like you know, it's like no one's listening?
Speaker 1 (52:12):
No one's listening.
Yeah, so, and you're right,there's a lot of lodges that are
going to end up closing andwe're going to lose them.
They're going to sell off thosebuildings or do whatever
they're going to do, and it's ashame that we're not going to
let that happen, and it doesn'thave to happen.
If you're passionate about thisfraternity and you want to see
(52:33):
it available to your grandsonsbecause I do then get involved.
Get involved this year.
Make 2024 the year that youtake at least one step forward
towards helping Masonry get backto the place where it used to
be in this country.
Speaker 2 (52:53):
That's the key.
And if you're in a place ofleadership, in a lodge or at a
grand lodge, your job isn't topreside over the selling off of
everything you own and making asmuch money as you can as it's
on the way out.
Your job is to save all thatcrap.
Your job is to stop it frombeing lost.
Speaker 1 (53:12):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (53:13):
So you've got to get off your butt and work hard if
you're in a position ofleadership, and do your job and
start saving things.
Speaker 1 (53:22):
Yeah, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 2 (53:24):
Preserving things right, Like bringing them back.
All right, so to recap.
Speaker 1 (53:30):
To recap, everything's good.
If you're out there thinkingChris Warshifell Burns is going
to abandon us for South Carolina, you're wrong.
You're wrong as a matter offact, the way you and I have
talked about this.
I'm thinking it's going to beeven more productive because
when you're here, we're going tohave a limited amount of time
(53:52):
face to face.
We're going to have to get allof our things done.
Right now, we have a luxury oftime where we kind of take
advantage of it when we'resupposed to get together and do
some business.
We don't.
Well, that's not going to be anoption anymore.
When you come into town, we'regoing to have a limited amount
of time.
We're going to have to dobusiness.
We're going to have to getthings set and working, get our
(54:13):
action items going and get outthere and get things done.
So I'm looking forward to that.
It's going to be a great year.
It's going to be a good yearfor OTL.
Speaker 2 (54:19):
It's going to be an amazing year.
Speaker 1 (54:21):
Yeah, we're going to hit it hard.
And also we are dedicated tohelping Three Ruffy and Cigar
Company take its place amongstand be successful this coming
year.
We currently have a fundraisergoing.
Liberty Lodge is doing afundraiser and I don't know
(54:42):
where they're at on their ticketsales.
But if you're local, well,local or not, it doesn't matter.
But if you want to participateand help out, Liberty Lodge 31,.
Right yeah, Liberty Lodge herein 412.
Speaker 2 (54:57):
Liberty Lodge, number 412.
Manatees 30.
Yeah, sorry.
Speaker 1 (55:00):
Same building different lodges.
Speaker 2 (55:01):
Yeah, same building, yep.
Speaker 1 (55:03):
But they're doing a fundraiser.
For a $20 ticket, you can enterthe fundraiser and help Liberty
Lodge out, and the payoff is abox of Three Ruffy and Masonic
cigars which are custom madejust for Three Ruffy and Cigar
Company, and they're really good.
(55:24):
Everyone's raving about them,so shout out to us, email us,
we'll get you in touch with themand you can buy one of them.
I think you can do it on theirFacebook page, if I'm not
mistaken.
Speaker 2 (55:37):
But just shout out to us.
You can go to our website.
Oh, the raffle tickets?
No, you can find somebody inperson, I think.
Speaker 1 (55:43):
Yeah, yeah.
So shout out to us if you wantto help out and buy a few
tickets.
Maybe you want to buy 10tickets?
Sure, we'll sell you 10 tickets.
Speaker 2 (55:50):
If you want to buy, we'll be selling them at the
symposium, I'm sure.
Speaker 1 (55:53):
And then we'll be selling them at the symposium.
The drawing is January 31st andyou could be one of two winners
to receive a full box of ThreeRuffians cigars.
It is 10% of the proceeds ofthat company go to Shriners
International, of course, andit's a great company and we
(56:14):
really want to see it explode.
Full disclosure.
I am part of that company, soyeah, and so is Chris.
We try to keep OTL and thecigar company separate, but full
disclosure is that we are partof it.
But it is just another way forus to advance the cause of
(56:34):
masonry in this country.
And we do love cigars.
Speaker 2 (56:38):
We like premium cigars and sometimes a little
premium, and then we send allthose sales to Shriners
International.
Speaker 1 (56:44):
Yeah, Like I said yeah, Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (56:47):
Something we care about.
Speaker 1 (56:49):
It's just another way .
A fundraiser, you know.
If you're a mason youunderstand fundraisers.
We're always getting the bitefor a dollar here or $20.
They are put on us as masons totry and help out the different
causes that we're all involvedin, and this is just another one
.
So if you're so, inclined,shout out to us.
You can reach us by email Fredat onthelevelwithFredandChriscom
(57:11):
or Chris atonthelevelwithFredandChriscom.
Shoot us those emails I stillfor the last year, I've been
threatening to do.
We have been threatening to doan episode, just reading the
emails that we've gotten overthe year.
I'm going to put that togetherbecause I've gotten some really
encouraging emails lately frompeople from literally all over
(57:34):
the world, and it's just soencouraging and humbling to
think that you guys are outthere listening to us.
You're taking back to yourlodges a lot of the education
and a lot of the stuff thatwe've been getting into and
really fueling your passion forthe fraternity, and we just
appreciate it more than we cansay.
(57:54):
That's for sure.
Speaker 2 (57:57):
Well, I know that people really like the Morgan
Assert episode that we did.
Blue up man.
I would love to do a Taxel Hoaxepisode.
Speaker 1 (58:06):
Let's do it.
Speaker 2 (58:07):
Or we're going to get into maybe gritty it's that
whole thing, Because I think alot of people aren't aware of
how influential that was and howmuch BS it was.
Speaker 1 (58:16):
Yeah, Like I didn't know If you've ever seen that
picture of the goat man sittingon a throne with a bunch of
children at his feet and the.
Masonic emblems, the Masonicemblems.
That's part of the hoax.
That's where that came from anda lot of people think that
picture is actually a Masonicdocument and we get.
(58:38):
But it comes from a hoax calledthe Trexel Hoax which, yeah and
there's one of our brotherswho's going to be at the seminar
teaching at the seminar did atalk on it.
Yeah, daniel Molina did a talkon it.
It was really informative.
Yeah, let's do it, I'll pull up.
We'll pull up some of Daniel'sstuff.
Maybe we'll even talk to him alittle bit about it and we'll
(58:59):
get everybody into it and learnmore about it.
It's more Masonic education.
You can't learn enough aboutthis stuff and, at the end of
the day, if it makes you abetter man, to your wife, to
your children, to your parents,your church, your job, then
Masonry is working, becausethat's where it starts.
(59:21):
Making good men better, makingbetter men in the world to
change the world for the better.
That's really what thisfraternity is all about.
And if you're listening to thisand you're not a Mason, well,
god bless you.
We really thank you for that.
And, like we say all the time,go down to your local, go down
(59:43):
to your local lodge.
Speaker 2 (59:44):
Just Google Free Mason Lodge near me and you'll
find one, go down there and talkto them.
Speaker 1 (59:50):
You heard these two knuckleheads on a podcast called
On the Level and they told meto come down here and talk to
you because apparently you gotsomething I need, so do it.
Do it today.
Speaker 2 (01:00:00):
It was great, great to keep this going.
Speaker 1 (01:00:06):
Yeah, yeah, so we'll still drop them.
Speaker 2 (01:00:09):
You need some semblance of home, which I
needed.
Speaker 1 (01:00:12):
Like I told you last night, you did not lose a home,
you just gained a second one man.
So you're a blessed man, yougot a home here, and you got a
home there, man.
Speaker 2 (01:00:22):
So you are truly blessed.
Lucky.
Speaker 1 (01:00:26):
I'm lucky.
I'm even luckier because now Ihave a friend, a brother, who
lives in a beautiful place inSouth Carolina, so I can come up
and visit you and hang out.
Yeah, oh yeah, I'm ready.
So whenever you're ready, youlet me know I'm coming up.
Speaker 2 (01:00:41):
Buy this lot right next to me yes.
Speaker 1 (01:00:45):
My wife is on my.
My wife asks me about thatalmost every day, so I'm ready,
I'm going to start making myinquiries Do it, do it, man,
let's do that, let's get thatdone that way.
That way we can, we can impacttwo states because South
Carolina look out, baby, we're,we're, we got our eyes on you
next man.
Speaker 2 (01:01:05):
South Carolina, texas .
Oh yeah, texas, yeah, what's it.
Speaker 1 (01:01:09):
Any update on the Texas situation.
I know we can't really talkabout it or talk to anyone about
the Texas situation until aftertheir installation or after
January one.
Speaker 2 (01:01:20):
I know we will be doing an interview with the
primary person that said thatthat's right.
Speaker 1 (01:01:25):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (01:01:28):
I'm really looking forward to that.
Speaker 1 (01:01:30):
I want to see Texas go from this, this tangled up
web, or this mess that they'vegotten themselves into if that's
what it is, we don't reallyknow the truth about it yet, but
I want to see.
I want to see them go from thisto being just absolutely on
fire and passionate about thefraternity going forward.
They got a lot of young menwanting to get up in there and
(01:01:52):
and affect some positive changefor the fraternity and I'm I say
bring it on, man.
I'm, I'm ready, I'm ready tohelp.
Otl is ready to help in any waywe can to make that happen.
Speaker 2 (01:02:02):
Let's hope they take this situation and use it for
positive change in the state ofTexas.
Speaker 1 (01:02:07):
Use your superpowers for positive change.
Baby.
Speaker 2 (01:02:12):
Great responsibility.
Speaker 1 (01:02:13):
Yeah, that's right.
That's right, all right, man,well, I enjoyed it.
We're, you know we're.
We're 500 miles apart, butwe're really not apart.
We've got technology.
When it works, as long as wedon't have any Mac OS involved,
the technology works well.
We'll fix that and we're goingto fix that.
That's right, all right, soyou're flying down, you're
(01:02:34):
flying down.
Speaker 2 (01:02:35):
Saturday morning yeah , yeah, I'll be there all day.
Speaker 1 (01:02:37):
If you, if you need anything from me, you just let
me know.
You need me to pick you up, youneed me to drive you around,
whatever you need, just hollerout, I'm always available to you
, brother.
Speaker 2 (01:02:45):
You know that.
Speaker 1 (01:02:47):
Oh, I've got it.
I've got it.
I'm looking right at it, man.
It's right here at my bar.
Speaker 2 (01:02:50):
Oh, wow so early.
Speaker 1 (01:02:52):
Yeah Well, no, no, I'm not drinking it, I'm just
looking at it.
Okay, sure, but yeah.
So, brother, it's, it's alwaysa privilege, always a joy to do
this with you.
I'm looking forward to 2024.
And if you've listened to theend here, you are definitely one
of our rock star heroes.
We really appreciate youhanging with us to the very end.
(01:03:14):
Yes, thank you Take what you'velearned, take what you've heard
back to your lodge.
Talk to your brothers, talk,tell them about the podcast.
We would like to be able tospeak to as many masons as we
can, and we'd like to be able tohear from as many masons as we
can for this new coming year,2024.
Does Masonry have something tooffer to this hurting country?
(01:03:36):
We worship for, chris Burns andmyself.
We believe it does and we'regoing to do all we can to make
that a reality.
Chris, what do you got on ourway out?
Speaker 2 (01:03:47):
I'm looking forward to talking some more about the
taxal hoax and getting some moreinterested people on this
symposium to come and join us inperson.
I can't wait to be back inFlorida doing a master Mason
degree, doing another lecture.
We have a lot going on.
It's holiday season.
We're just really ready to endthis year with a bang and then
(01:04:09):
come into next year strongerthan ever.
So buckle up and please join usin the adventure next year.
Speaker 1 (01:04:16):
You got it, man.
I will see you on Saturday.
My brother have an awesome dayand you guys listening, you too,
have an awesome day.
Get out there and make adifference.
See ya Please.
Hey, chris, yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Fred, what's a Mason?
That's a really good question,fred.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
You've reached the internet's home for all things
masonry.
Join Chris and I as we plumbthe depths of our ancient craft,
from the common gavel to thetrowel.
Nothing is off the table, sograb your tools and let's get to
work.
This is On the Level.
Wow, we're here.
There, it is the Rebel Yellfrom the Rebel State no doubt
(00:37):
South Carolina.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
In the south from the Southern Boy.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
He's a Southern Boy from the south.
Wow, chris, this is different.
The tech side of it is a littlesketchy here.
I'm still working through someissues, but for those of you
listening, I'm going to be backwith another video.
This intro was probably ourworst ever, and there's a reason
(01:02):
for that.
And the reason is is that mypartner, chris Burns, is in
South Carolina calling in downto beautiful Florida.
What's going?
Speaker 2 (01:11):
on with that man.
Hey, your technology skills arebecoming way more important
than they've ever been now.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Okay, I don't have it .
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Well see, you don't know who knows this is.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
I don't know man, there's so much here.
The problem is and I'm going tosay this out loud, okay, the
problem is is that we have a MacOS which does not want to play
nice with our recording deck.
So that's the problem.
I've been on the phone withTascam, with all the different
(01:48):
tech people.
It's the same old thing.
Mac does not want to play withoutside non-proprietary software
.
It just doesn't want it.
It doesn't like, it doesn'twant to do it.
There's a roadblock at everyturn, and I've had it.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
So we're going to get it.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
You made a breakthrough, though I made a
breakthrough.
I did.
I made a breakthrough.
I was able to download thefirmware off the website,
Tascam's website.
You have to do all kinds ofstuff because Mac again doesn't
want to accept it.
So you got to go round andround and round to get it on the
computer.
From the computer it has to bedownloaded onto the SD card on
(02:32):
the deck.
From there it must bedownloaded onto the deck itself,
and Mac just doesn't want to doit.
And they're all telling me thaton a PC this is one click and
it's done, and on a Mac it goesround and round and round and
every single, every processthere's some sort of proprietary
thing that pops up, Doesn'twant to do it, doesn't like it,
(02:57):
doesn't understand it, it's like.
So I am not a Mac guy.
I did not raise my children onMacbooks and I bought this thing
because I wanted to try it andgive it a try, and I so regret
it.
I know there's a lot of Macpeople out there that are just
(03:18):
yelling at me right now, but Idon't care.
Brothers, I don't care, I don'tcare, it doesn't work.
It just doesn't work when itcomes to non-proprietary
applications.
It simply doesn't want to play.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Yeah, well, you got to use the proper tool for the
proper job.
You can't you know?
Yeah, I think it's going towork all the time.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Right, that's right.
I'm going to use the PC withWindows.
That's right, I said Windows,and it's going to work like
magic and I'm pretty excitedabout that.
Anyway, how are you brother?
How's things going?
You moved to South Carolina.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Let me tell you I didn't.
We did a stated meeting onTuesday night.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Right, I was there.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
At a regular state of communication.
Yes, it was a great meeting.
Santa came, we had a lot ofphotos of that and we had our
elections and it was just thisawesome night.
We did a give back and awardedwith aprons.
The guys wanted to go have adrink because everyone knew it
was my last meeting.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
And you had to get on a plane at 3 am.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Well, actually I drove, so we went to the train.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Please explain.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
And one and done was the plane.
And after three shots of theKula and four drinks and many
karaoke songs, I finally got thebetter out in 12.30.
I had to get up at 2.30 to packthe truck for another 45
minutes and then proceed todrive for 11 hours to get here.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
So I had a rough night, but it was well worth it
because we had a great time witheverybody.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
That's awesome and I'm coming back.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
I'll be right back tomorrow we're going to do a
Master Mason degree for 10brothers.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Another one.
It's like the third time thisyear An outdoor Master Mason
degree in Englewood for 10brothers.
Yeah, that's going to beawesome man.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Englewood launch number 360.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
And that's dedication .
I just moved out of the state,drove 11 hours coming right back
two days later.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Coming right back, except you're not driving.
You're flying, which is goingto be just a little easier.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
We will eat up and talk some business and change
some things.
You got to give me some things.
It's a breath here and I needto give you some things for down
there.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Yep, we'll get it together.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
We're getting our stuff together.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Yeah, and just a heads up, and this is a heads up
for anyone listening and aheads up for you, partner.
I got a notification fromFacebook that we are in
violation of their communitystandards.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yeah, I think that's a spam thing that they send to
everybody to try to get you toclick links and do things.
Oh, okay.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Okay, good, good.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
But don't worry about that.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Okay.
So if for any reason we're offof Facebook, guys do not despair
.
It's clearly an error on theirpart and we'll get it fixed.
So I just wanted to make surethat you can always you can
always find us on the website.
You can always go to on thelevel with Fred and Chriscom and
catch our share.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
I'm not sure that will be okay on Facebook.
Here's the thing that I amworried about.
We only have three weeks leftto sell tickets for the Masonic
Education Symposium.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Right.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
We need to stop about a week beforehand because of
the Arvena needs a head count toprepare the food.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
In advance.
We will stop selling ticketsthe week before.
So what is that going to belike?
The third of January yes,correct.
Or the sixth.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Something like that, yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
The sixth, I think, is that Saturday after our
installation on the shift.
Oh yeah, we have three weeks,guys.
Please go to on the level withFred and Chriscom and you'll see
right there on the homepage.
The event that we're doing inSarasota on January 13th starts
at 9 am and goes until 5 pm.
Tickets cost $50 and we havethree guest speakers and a
(07:11):
keynote speaker.
These are amazing lecturersthat are going to be talking
about really cool MasonicEducation topics, yeah, and you
get to talk to them.
You know, part of this wholething is that we are going to do
what we always do have aconversation Right, that's right
With each of these people, eachof these brothers, including
(07:33):
our keynote speaker right, whereshe'll tell you a Tala, who's
one of our Grand Lodge officers,and we'll be talking about the
future of Freemasonry witheveryone that shows up.
I'm sure he'd love to hear yourideas About how the Grand Lodge
could help improve Freemasonryin Florida, so please come out
and tell him right, yeah, yeah,it's gonna be.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
It's gonna be a great time and there's dinner is
included and, yeah, drinktickets.
And it's at Sarasota Sahebshrine, which has a gigantic
tiki hut right out front.
Really nice outdoor bar, niceindoor bar.
The venue is real nice.
I mean it's a great place, it'sgonna be a great time and
Sponsored by the three ruffians.
(08:16):
Premium cigars, that's right,they'll be out there today
during the during the program.
That's right.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Sarasota.
The demolage chapter will bethere assisting, and does anyone
else wants to sponsor?
We have room available fortables.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Yeah, that's right.
So, yeah, we're looking, I'mlooking forward to it.
It's the first one of many thatwe're gonna do and so we're
gonna, we're all gonna kind ofpioneer this thing together this
first time out.
The goal and hope and goal isto do for a year, every quarter,
to do one every quarter.
And then we also kicked around.
(08:49):
We were up in Washington DC forthose of you who didn't see on
the Facebook post, we were up inWashington DC to do the yearly.
What is that?
What?
Officially?
It's the.
It's the refling annual Reflangat the tomb of the unknown
soldier, but it was a three-daything for us that we went.
We went to Arlington, obviouslyfor the, the reflame, and then
(09:13):
we we spent a good amount oftime there, man, it was really
awesome that day.
And then the next day we touredthe Capitol Not my favorite
Part of the part of the trip.
I was not not my house anymore,but I went and it was
interesting.
For sure I learned a few thingswhile I was there and but then
(09:36):
for me, the, the thing thatreally really stuck out to me
was being at Potomac number fivelodge for their installation
and seeing you know how theyopen in a master Mason degree
and how they do their work,which is very different than
ours and but the basics arethere.
(09:58):
You know it's, it's Masonry.
You can see it, you canunderstand it, no matter where
you're from, you can stillunderstand it, but it's
different.
You know it's different andit's cool.
And also there in DC, in thatin that particular Grand Grand
Lodge, they have a bar there atthe at the lodge itself, which
(10:18):
is very interesting.
You can drink at Blue Lodge inDC, which I found very
interesting.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
I Saw that very interesting.
There were several veryinteresting things about it.
Right, the ritual work waspretty fascinating, especially I
think we all agreed that whenthey level at the end.
Yes are more meaningful thanthe way that we level in the
state of Florida right and wecan't really say exactly what
that means.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
If you're amazing, you, you probably know what that
means, but it was a reallymoving, touching moment where
you know where you felt part ofsomething you felt part of it,
right.
Everybody came to this place,you know, and it was.
It was awesome man, it wasreally good.
Anyway, the point is is that wekicked around an idea of doing
doing a summertime DC trip aspart of OTL, as part of on the
(11:06):
level once a year, an annual onthe level trip, doing a tour, a
Masonic tour of DC In 2020, late2024.
So that's something we'll bekicking around as well to kind
of see if we can can do that.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
I just so much history, masonic history right
in that place.
Yeah and we found Residentsthat live there their whole life
didn't even know about theMasonic connections.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Yeah right.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
It's just really amazing it was amazing.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
They had no idea.
The guys right down the streetfrom the George Washington
Memorial, a Masonic Memorial andthere's no idea.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
I took her to the George Washington Masonic
Memorial and she was shockedthat that was there in public
and she's had no idea Her wholelife that he was amazing right.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
And if you walk into that building, if I was blown
away and and for anybody who'sbeen to the thing, the, the, the
Washington Masonic Memorial,it's no small deal, man.
When you walk through thosegiant brass doors and the, the
front doors are our six doorswide and probably four, four
floors in height, of all brass,old-school brass Framing and
(12:18):
glass door system and that'simpressive because it's super
high.
The columns are there.
You walk through and you'rethinking, man, this is amazing.
And then you realize you'restanding in this, this area of
all this marble, and Marblegranite marble columns that
tower over you, man.
(12:39):
They got to be 60 feet high, man, it's just, it's an absolute
marvel.
And it goes on from there.
The elevators which are pitchedfrom outside to inside, seven
degrees each floor.
You go up, they get closer andcloser together till you get to
the very top.
It's all engineered that wayand it's just.
It's just an amazing thing.
But yeah, so for me I'm doing asummertime trip because it was
(13:03):
really cold.
It was.
It was brutal cold for us, fora cold and rainy, cold and rainy
and overcast the whole time.
So doing a summertime trip upthere with a group of guys we
can meet from all over thecountry, and finding a couple of
people who can kind of puttogether an actual Masonic bus
tour when we just we we chartera bus and then we go from
(13:27):
Masonic thing to Masonic thingand do the teaching and stuff on
it.
I really think Jeremy Barnescould be a big help on this.
Shout out to you, brother.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
I know the barns.
I mean, when we visited theCapitol, I literally saw him
chatting with the governmentemployees there.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Yeah, and they knew him and he, yeah, they know him
so, yeah, he's, he's definitelysomebody that we want to get
with on this and and try to tryto put it together and bring
bring people together and andreally start Educating people,
because I need a lot ofeducation on it too.
There's a lot more there.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Then I.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
I think, I think, even as masons, we understand.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
We scratch the surface.
We know the influence this orthat right the whole story.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Yeah, because if you look at, you know, I Haven't
really totally thought thisthrough yet, but what I, one of
the things I noticed was theSupreme Court building.
If you look at the apex, goinginto the grand entrance of the
Supreme Court building, you'llsee the mural above and what you
(14:32):
see is you see Moses in thecenter, a Statue of Moses in the
center, and sitting to his leftand his right is Aristotle and
Socrates and Plato, and it goesdown through all of these
different philosophers,throughout all of history.
Well, that thing was built, youknow, in the 18, in the early
1800s.
So so, yeah, if, if theConstitution of the United
(14:56):
States was ratified in 1777, itwas ratified.
I don't know when I wasratified, shame on me, but 1776
the Declaration of Independencewas was begun and the war for
independence began and wasfought and won.
By the time you get to the early1800s, that thing is being
(15:17):
built on the apex of thatbuilding right there, which is
very Masonic, you know, and Iknow my, my, everyone knows my
Christian brethren, who want tosay that this was a strictly
designed as a Christiangovernment.
I think, I think we we need tostep back and have a
conversation about that because,though most of the men Were
(15:42):
either either declared outright,you know, christian men of
Christian faith, or theycompletely agreed with the
tenants or precepts behind it,like Thomas Jefferson, but they
were, but they were Masonic intheir application of the
constitutional Republic thatthey decide, that they designed.
And if you look at all themonuments, if you look at
(16:03):
everything that you see outthere, that's pretty obvious to
me.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
You, if you think about it.
We know the influence that theMasons had.
We know that the Masons wereprobably Exclusively Christian
there in that place at that timewell, they, they, they under,
if they weren't actual.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
You know, christian men who held to the tenants of
the Christian faith.
They were.
They were, for lack of a betterword, sympathetic to the
teachings, sure, and preceptsbehind the moral code it
represents.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
And I would bet that the majority were Out practicing
Christians, but this is how youknow.
The Masons influenced ourgovernment because, although
they were primarily Christianmen, they were Masons too and
they knew the importance fortolerance of other religions as
(16:55):
part of inclusion and making usone unit, one whole Family.
And I think that that comesthrough in our government
Because, although we werefounded by Christians, I don't
think they intended it to be astrictly Christian nation.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
Well, I mean well, and, and I think when, when we
talk about the word tolerance,that's a modern word Now back
then, they would not have knownanything about that, did the
they were?
Speaker 2 (17:21):
not necessary.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
What would have understood importance of sure
what they were looking for wasthey didn't want to create
another government System thatcould impose its will on the
people that that's what theywere completely intolerant of.
They were intolerant of anotherking, another monarchy.
(17:45):
So they crafted.
So they had to sit down andcraft a government system that
would not allow for this type ofthing, and that's why I think
what they settled for was isthat the people Ie those who go
to church, those who don't go tochurch, those who are strong in
their faith, those who are notstrong in their faith, don't
have a faith at all.
(18:06):
The people are required toforce the state to remain within
its jurisdiction and boundaries.
So we were, we as the peoplewere, to hold this Leviathan in
distrust and not let it grow andnot let it get out of control,
and hold it accountable.
Now we have miserably failed Inthis day in that, in that area.
(18:30):
But that's what they craftedand I think that is a very
Masonic idea.
If you look at our Masonicgovernment, the Grand Lodge of
Florida, when you go there, it'sa.
It's a representative Form ofdemocracy.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
It's exactly like our government.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Absolutely, is everything about it, yep.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
We've got our legislators with the vigilance
committee yeah, these are thelegislators.
And then we've got the House ofRepresentatives, that's us,
yeah, and vote.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
We have all the members.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
It's, it's completely representative.
So it's not mob rule.
It's not every one man one votewhich is mob rule and of course
Plato, he explained that veryclearly to us that it's a failed
system.
It is a constitutionalrepresentative Republic and it's
brilliant In its crafting.
(19:18):
But anyways, we're down alittle bit of a rabbit hole here
.
But the truth is is that whenyou tour, when you drive around
DC and you start to take it inand you start to see this stuff,
you realize that this, this,this, this entire system was,
was Masonic at its core, man andand there's lodges all over the
(19:39):
place out there and there'sthere's all kinds of symbolism
and and stuff all over the place.
And it's just interesting to mehow how in our, our day and age
today, masonry can be held insuch suspicion.
You know, having we have, Iguess.
So I guess we we've forgottenall of it.
(19:59):
I mean we've completely been.
We have not been diligent Inany, any of the things the
founding fathers told us weneeded to be diligent in.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
No, and Masonry as a whole isn't particularly good at
claiming credit for things.
Right, yeah, we'll be taking tolike to just stay in the
background and do our thing andnot take credit.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
As individuals and as an entity, and I think that's a
good thing in most cases.
But you know, we do have amonument in Arlington.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Right.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
To Washington.
So the fact that it's there andpeople still have no idea is a
little scary.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Yeah, right, it just it kind of shows and, like the
bartender, we were talking toyou know who's in the heart of
his whole life.
He lived his whole life therein the heart of DC and he had no
earthly idea what Masonryreally was.
He's just one of those guyswhat do you mean?
Like bricklayers?
You know, he's one of thoseguys.
You know it's like, and it wasjust.
That was shocking to me.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
It was just, it was like wow, we really I think
we've got to do some reeducationto our citizens about the
importance of Masonry and ourrole in the formation of this
country.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
I agree.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
We can still play.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
And I, you know, and it goes back to that, putting
together that yearly, thatannual trip to, you know, to, to
DC, the, the, the, the, on thelevel, on the level Masonic
education trip to DC annually.
I'm going to be a bulldog on it.
So we'll try to put thattogether, guys, and keep the,
(21:35):
keep the costs down as best wecan and get everybody to come,
you know, to come and put and,and my thing is going to be to
find a tour guide who reallyknows this stuff and maybe, year
after year, kind of build thistour to the point where it is so
informative and it is so deadon, dead on.
You know that that it becomes.
(21:57):
It becomes a a must you knowfor for every Mason to to either
actually experience it or maybewe can do publications of it
and do you know broadcasts fromthere to help people.
But the other thing is is thatit goes to what you and I are
going to be talking about at thesymposium on January 13th.
Get your tickets go online towhat is the?
(22:20):
What is the online thing?
It's the.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
No, no that's we could just go to on the level of
Fred and Chris.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Yeah, that's it, yeah get your tickets right away,
don't, don't wait.
They're going to start sellingreally fast, especially when, as
the holidays wind down,everybody's going to want to get
their tickets at the same timeand there is a limited amount.
So please get on, get onlineand get it and get it, get those
tickets.
But the the talk that we'regoing to do, that we're it's
(22:47):
going to be a very we're goingto be very brief, the two of us,
because we're going to let ourguests do most of the speaking
and we're going to let our our,the people who come in the
audience, do a lot of thequestions and answers and
speaking.
Anyway, it's going to be an openforum idea, but our talk is is
a basic theme, is the basictheme for OTL for 2024.
(23:10):
And that is a question.
And the question is doesmasonry have something to offer
to this hurting country?
And we think the answer is yesand we're going to try to
develop that more and more, thattheme for 2024 throughout the
year.
Does it does?
Does masonry have something tooffer the young man?
a young man who doesn't know whohe is, doesn't know, you know,
(23:32):
what to do in this world, has nopurpose, feels like he has no
purpose, feels like he's lost oror wants to become something
you know, part of somethingbigger than himself.
Well, I think, I think and Iknow you do too, chris.
I think masonry has somethingto offer in that area.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Yeah, what we need are engaged masons.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
That's right and informed, informed and engaged.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Yeah, we need to be active, we need to be
contributing and we need to bevisible and we haven't been some
of those things for a littlewhile now.
And, you know, credit to rightwishful catsalists and silverman
for what they've been doinghere the last six or seven years
, because I think it is doingall those things.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
It really is.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
We went around as a group of masons dressed nice,
acting right in public.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
And I know a lot of people were looking at, looking
at us and asking questions andeveryone there was a great
representative to the communityas mason's.
We were there visible doingthings right.
Touring the capital is mason's.
That was pretty impressive.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
It was a trip.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
I had not been to the capital building since I was
very young, so I really didn'tunderstand we had to basically
bind you and blindfold you andgag you to get you in there.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
Yeah, it's well, you know it does not represent us
anymore.
Those two houses representthemselves and that's pretty
obvious in their behaviorsanymore.
But that doesn't mean we'regoing to give up.
It's worth fighting for, that'sfor sure.
And I know I'm not alone.
I'm absolutely not alone inthat, in that idea.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Those old men and the other guy on the street.
No, that's not who we should befighting.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
That's right yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
And yeah, these corporations controlling our
government, those corporationsand the politicians that sold
out.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
The corporations and the politicians that sold out to
them is really the enemy.
And those people are in their80s, late 80s.
Hello, you know they're veryold Now, they've turned.
You know the grift goes totheir children, but there's
still not that many of them.
There's a lot more of us and Ithink we can begin.
Masonry can be pivotal inhelping people to put away the
(25:54):
left versus right lie.
You know and I think you and Iare a perfect example that we
talk about it all the time.
You know I would be consideredmore of a center right person
and you would be considered moreof a center left person, but
we're able to be productive.
We're very productive in whatwe do together.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Well, we share the same desires.
That's right At the end of theday and it's true, I think of
everyone on the left and theright that are so passionate and
hating each other.
They both want their governmentto be good.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
That's right, that's right.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
They take these tiny little details that we have
differences on to keep usquarreling with each other about
the nonsense.
Well, the big stuff just slidesright out the door while we're
fighting and it's working.
So the only way to stop this isfor us to stop bickering with
each other about the nonsenseand look at the back door and
watch all the stuff they'recarrying out, because we can
(26:48):
stop them together, and I thinkwe both want that stuff to stay
in the house.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
We both want the government that we started with.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
That's right.
Yeah, both of us.
Very limited in its scope andpower, right and very much
answerable.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
We're a generation of individuals who prided
ourselves on our strength, ourtenacity, our individualness.
We've prided ourselves on thatat one point and we've gotten a
little bit dependent on thingsover time.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
We have, we have.
And the founding fathers?
Their opinion of governmentemployees would have been very
different than ours.
Oh, totally.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
We hold them up.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
We hold them up as these heroes that can do no
wrong and somehow they're alittle better than we are kind
of idea they were trying tobasically deify that man Right
and he was.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
He saw many instances where their attempts were being
made to make a deity out of theperson Right.
Well, that's the.
It's a time he would not be whohe was.
That's right and he wasfighting against it.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
Absolutely.
And if you look at the capitalRotunda so they wanted to bury
him and the center point of theRotunda, and if you stand in the
center and look straight up,you will see, you will literally
see a picture mural, a wholemural system of Washington as a
deity and the idea was is thathe was supposed to rise up from
(28:21):
his grave where he was buried atthe bottom of the Rotunda,
right there, right, and he wasgoing to glory to be this deity.
They really, really wanted aking man and they wanted him to
be the king.
You know and you can see all ofthis and it just, and we, we as
, as as people who actually makethis country work, we need to
(28:44):
fight against that.
And my the point I was makingwas that our founding fathers
would not have treated theaverage you know government in
air quotes employee with muchrespect.
They would not have understoodthem.
They would not have understoodthe deep the lady behind the DMV
counter who treats you like apiece of garbage.
They would not have understoodthat.
(29:06):
They would not have understoodthat they were in America.
You know the ideal withbuilding.
I'm in the trades dealing withbuilding department officials
all the time who treat you likeyou're an absolute moron and
have no time for you and lie toyou and about you and hold up
jobs just for their own ego'ssake.
Our founding fathers would havetaken up arms had they seen
(29:29):
something like this Leviathanthat that holds us in contempt,
you know, every day of our life.
They would not have understoodsuch a thing.
Now I don't know what theremedy is.
I say you know you, you changehearts and minds one person at a
time, and I think that's whatMasonry does.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
And I agree, you've got to be, you've got to show
them.
People don't believe thingsunless they see it with their
eyes.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
Yeah, that's right, yep.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
And you know, it's like those people that built our
country.
They built the house.
They built their own house,right, and the the respect, the
reverence they had for the thingthat they built was probably
off the charts.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
But when you get to a house that you built with your
bare hands, three generationslater, the great grandkids are
ripping everything out.
They don't care about thehistory of that house, they
don't care that it was the first, this, this or that.
They're like no, take it out,it's old.
I want new, new new.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
I want new yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
And they lose their history.
Yeah, and that's what'shappened to us.
We're generations, generations,generations, and a large
portion of our population havelost its history because they
just don't care.
And so, as masons, I think webenefit from the fact that we
revere our history and we teachit Right, and not just American
(30:50):
history, but our history is aspecies on the planet.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
That's right, Like I think, the more that you try to
lift up history, I think, themore successful your
civilization is going to be.
Yeah, we need not like the factthat you have to always live
the way you did thousands ofyears ago, but just
understanding why they lived theway they did will help you live
better life today.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Yeah, they wrote, they wrote a lot.
Thomas Jefferson left us a lotof the why he did what he did,
why he believed what he did.
You know he was, he was a deist.
He didn't hold to themiraculous but he held to.
He was very much into theenlightenment, you know that was
, that was his thing.
But he understood human nature.
(31:36):
He totally understood thechecks and balances that are,
that are built into this system.
He, they're there for a reasonand now they're gone.
You know, and the checks andbalances, it's all one lump of
grift going on.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
you know, and and it's just Well, they're playing
to our base instincts.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
Yeah right.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Yeah, they're playing to our higher selves, right,
and we've revered virtues andthings that you know were hard,
difficult, but now it seems likeall politicians play to your
most base primal instincts,right.
Yeah, and all the while, whichis a dangerous thing.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
All the while getting richer and richer.
And that's why you know you,you, you vote a guy into into
national office who says who'swho's got a a life of exemplary
service.
You know I think of.
There was a, a senatorialcandidate that I helped support
in Denver in Colorado, um, uh,back in the late nineties and uh
(32:38):
, he was just a straight shooter.
He everything, I mean hisentire career.
He'd been in government since,you know, from out of high
school, for goodness sakes, andthe guy had exemplary marks of a
guy that really did what hesaid he was going to do along
the way, and literally his firstyear in Washington DC, he just
reversed everything he'd everbelieved in and became another
(32:59):
grifter and to this day he's oneof the biggest grifters up
there.
And uh yeah, and it's justamazing to me that, uh, there's
something about the unfetteredability to take to, to line your
pockets, that just the itdoesn't matter who you are,
You're a human being, and thattemptation is going to get you
man.
And that's the problem withwith what goes on up there.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
We drove around, oh yeah, we drove around.
There's no IQ test to get intoyour government.
First of all, there's norequirement that you have any
knowledge of history or even theworkings of government or our
own constitution.
There's no test.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
No, that's right.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
Give it government.
I mean anyone can get in there.
All they have to do is becomepopular enough.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
That's right, that's right.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
I'd sure like to see some like let's make them take a
test and exhibit that theyunderstand our Constitution and
that they know some importantthings that happen in our
history before they go work inthe government that represents
us.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
I think yeah, well, that would make them accountable
to it.
So they don't want to knowanything about that.
And once you get into thatposition, once you're in the
position, then you surroundyourself with people who do all
the work and keep you out of theloop, so you're not accountable
for any of the things you do,and that's kind of the way it
works.
They have these giganticentirges of people that surround
(34:25):
them, that they put themselvesin the center of this massive
entourage.
I think at one point Harry Reid, who was a senator from Nevada,
had 380 people under him, 380people working for him.
I mean, that's a government.
(34:47):
He was a government untohimself.
I could be wrong about thatnumber, but I seem to remember
380 of the people.
And he was sponsored by everysingle defense contractor in the
state of Nevada and he was justone of those guys.
Like Mitch McConnell Same thing.
(35:08):
If you look into the man'sfinancial past he and his spouse
you would be outraged.
I was outraged.
It's like are you kidding me?
This man is worth hundreds ofmillions of dollars on a civil
service salary and hasconnections all over the world,
especially tight connectionswith China.
(35:28):
It's like come on, man, andhe's held up.
Now he's a right-side guy, sohe's held up by the right as
this stall worth of freedom, buthe's a grifter man, he's a
total crook.
And if you look at a ChuckSchumer, same thing, man.
If you look into ChuckSchumer's life and where he's
gotten his money, he's worthhundreds of millions of dollars.
(35:50):
And if you look at their life,it's like you'd be shocked, man,
that this is not the way it was.
All right, we're going downthis rabbit trail.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
Don't get me started.
Like in most jobs, you have atleast an annual review.
It's not a quarterly review, ora whole over Our successes and
our you know, are we gettingbetter?
How about we do that for ourpoliticians?
Yeah, well, can we do a littlereview, because once they're in,
they're in.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
They're in.
Yeah, they're in, there's noreview.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
There's no way to get them out, not really, other
than taking extreme measures andwasting a lot of money to try
to get it done.
But even that's becomepolitical stunt now.
I think pretty much everypresident to the end of time.
This impeachment proceedingswill begin on day one of his
inauguration.
Oh yeah, what's that you're on?
Speaker 1 (36:38):
That system is so broken it's banana republic.
It's a banana republic kind ofidea anymore.
So if you're listening rightnow and you're thinking, well,
it's too big, it's too broken,there's nothing we can do,
that's not true.
There is something you can doand you can start.
It always starts grassroots.
All politics is local.
You can go to your lodge, youcan begin to educate yourself.
(37:04):
You can begin to live your lifein a way that promotes liberty
and freedom and fair trade, andbegin to educate yourself, your
brothers around you and yourchildren and those who are
younger than you, those who arecoming up, and we can do that
one person at a time.
We have a network of lodges allaround this country, all around
(37:28):
this country, and we couldaccess that network and begin a
movement.
Like I said, does Masonry havesomething to offer to this
hurting country?
Speaker 2 (37:36):
I think we have, and I think we do what I suggested
that we do in government in ourlodges in Florida.
If you want to get to anelected position, you have to do
a certain amount of educationand prove that you are educated
enough to get the basicinformation you need to be one
of those elected officers.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
Yeah, that's right, that's right.
Yeah, it's not a popularitycontest.
We've got to get away from thatman.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
Yeah, that's a cheery note to end on.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
Cheery note to end on .
Well, all right, so.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
You know what's cool, though?
Going back to the DC trip, wesaw the.
When we toured the Capitol, weactually saw the display case
that the Washington Devil sitsin in the Capitol building here.
Just tourists can come and seeit and it's on loan from Potomac
Lodge to the Capitol.
And this is a Masonic artifact,but it's also a government
(38:28):
relic.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
Yeah, it's a national treasure.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
Correct With the people as masons and we saw the
trowel belongs to another lodgein the area and they also give
their relics the Capitol todisplay to the people.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
Right.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
So we're visible.
We're right there in front ofeverybody.
It's just crazy that peoplejust still have no idea what's
happening.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
I know, I know, but that is our call and mission
right there.
There it is.
So if you are, in fact, abrother listening to the On the
Level podcast with Fred andChris, then you know what to do.
You know what to do.
Go back to your lodge and getinvolved, educate yourself.
(39:14):
Come to the symposium.
If you're in the state ofFlorida, if you're anywhere
within the sound of our voiceand you could make it, please
come and begin to get charged up, Get yourself excited and get
passionate about educatingyourself about this country's
Masonic history, and thenprepare to do something, to get
(39:35):
out there and do so.
One of the things that we offerto the young men of this country
is a moral code.
We are a system of morality.
We have a system of living yourlife in such a way that is
productive and beneficial toyourself and all those around
(39:55):
you, and that's huge.
We lack that in this country.
Our young men are lost.
They have no moral compass,they have no direction, and
Masonry, in a very real way,offers that to the young man who
comes in.
We hold ourselves accountable.
Generally speaking, we're men,we're flawed, but we hold
(40:17):
ourselves accountable to ahigher standard, and that is
something that's very muchlacking and that is something
that Masonry does have to offerto this hurting country.
Again, you're going to hear mesay that on the show over and
over again.
That's our theme for 2024.
Do we have something to offer?
And if we do, how do we get itout there?
Speaker 2 (40:36):
right, I think we've been saying from day one you
have to fix your house beforeyou can go out a side of it and
start trying to fix anythingelse.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
It really for us as a fraternity starts with fixing
ourselves.
I think We've been bleeding outthrough time a little bit and
maybe a lot, and we need toreconstitute ourselves.
And it starts at eachindividual lodge, not any grand
lodge.
No jurisdiction is going to dothis.
The Grand Lodge of Floridahelped by sponsoring a program
(41:09):
for the lodges, but ultimatelyit's the lodges that decide to
do it or not do it.
And a lot of lodges are mergingand some are going under, and
that's going to be your lodgetoo if you don't get on it.
Speaker 1 (41:22):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (41:23):
You've got to start fixing your own house.
You've got to build up yourmembership, fix up your lodge,
get yourself financially healthyand then you'll be in the place
to actually do some good andhelp people.
Speaker 1 (41:33):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (41:35):
But most lodges are just trying to help themselves
at this point.
They themselves need charity.
How can you do charity when youneed charity?
Speaker 1 (41:43):
Yeah, right, yeah, first when the mask, like they
say on the airplane, you knowwhen the mask comes down, secure
your own before you helpsomebody else with theirs.
The assumption there is thatyou're going to be helping
somebody else with their mask.
That's the assumption.
But the task at hand is makesure yours is first on correctly
(42:07):
, so you don't die.
Speaker 2 (42:08):
Even your baby.
They're like leave the childalone, put your own mask on, get
your own mask on and then theimperative.
Speaker 1 (42:15):
The imperative in that statement is then you will
go help others, right?
It's not a suggestion.
It's not a suggestion, andthat's the way.
I love the way it's worded.
You know, it's always.
It's always.
It always struck me wheneverI'm on a plane and they say that
I'm one of the geeks who arelistening to them, because I'm
always listening for that.
But I'm a geek anyway.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
You're one of two people on the plane listening.
Speaker 1 (42:35):
I'm one of two people on the plane listening because
that's what they say.
The assumption is that you willbe helping others, but first
secure your own mask, and that'sexactly what you were just
talking about right there.
Speaker 2 (42:47):
And we have the.
We have a plan for any lodge tohelp themselves.
The oxygen mask is here.
It's falling right out of ourwebsite.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (42:56):
It's got to put it on and do it.
Speaker 1 (42:58):
Secure it first.
Speaker 2 (43:00):
Yeah, Just do it.
Start fixing your lodge.
You know you've got tostrengthen your numbers and it
will happen.
It will happen if you juststart the steps today.
You will start to get newmembers.
Those members are going to beextremely zealous.
They're going to want to learnmore about what pre-masonry is.
And where did all this comefrom?
Speaker 1 (43:20):
Right.
Speaker 2 (43:21):
And then they're going to want to teach it,
because that's what you do onceyou have knowledge.
Speaker 1 (43:24):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
You teach it to people coming up.
And now you've got a stronglodge and you're in a place
where you can start your basemoney, where you can have
influence and do things.
So we hope that you take all ofthat desire to change the
government we just talked aboutand go change your lodge with it
first.
Speaker 1 (43:41):
Change yourself, change your lodge, change your
community and maybe, just maybe,if we're work by the grace of
God and by a lot of hard work,maybe, just maybe, we could
change the direction of thishurting land.
That would be an amazing thingto see.
Speaker 2 (44:01):
Yeah, it's great truth, man.
If we can start fixing our ownselves and building up our
membership in our lodges, wewill have influence again.
Speaker 1 (44:09):
Right, yeah, that's true.
Speaker 2 (44:11):
Everybody will know who we are again, finally.
Speaker 1 (44:13):
Yeah, and like, I hear people all the time who say
you know, my grandpa wasamazing.
He was such a good man.
You know, he was such a goodman and I really loved him,
respected him.
Yeah, and he didn't talk aboutit much.
Right, he was probablysomething we need to change.
We need to talk a little moreabout it, but I get the point
(44:36):
for the old timers out there whoare yelling at me right now.
The point is is that if you liveyour life, if you live a life
of integrity, uncompromisingintegrity, if you're an honest,
hardworking person, people willknow that about you, that stands
out in this world, and peoplewill trust you and you will earn
(44:58):
the right to speak into theirlives.
And that's the bottom line.
Each person living the life ofintegrity and honesty and
praying that God would turn thiscountry back to the kind of men
that originally founded itwould be an amazing thing.
(45:19):
So, anyway, let's talk a littlebit about you, my brother.
Speaker 2 (45:24):
Oh geez.
Speaker 1 (45:25):
I know, right, so this is.
Last Tuesday was your laststated meeting as Worshpill
Master of the Mighty 147,Sarasota, Florida.
So now you've got what we'vegot one more meeting the day
after Christmas.
You and I will be the only onesthere, so that'll be your
(45:46):
actual final gavel.
Right, that's it, You're done.
Speaker 2 (45:52):
Well, we have a call of communication on January 5th.
Speaker 1 (45:56):
What's the installation?
Speaker 2 (45:58):
That will be the installation of the 2024 officer
line, so I will open the lodgethere, okay.
Speaker 1 (46:04):
So that's officially it.
Speaker 2 (46:05):
I will get to say some last words and then I won't
get the gavel down, but I willget to pass my gavel to the next
man.
Speaker 1 (46:13):
To Zach.
Speaker 2 (46:13):
Shout out to Zach there, zach, you're meeting me.
Speaker 1 (46:15):
Yep, that's awesome.
So now a lot of people areasking, a lot of people are
wanting you.
You sold your home.
We talked about this on thelast podcast.
You sold your home here inSarasota.
Good on you.
It was a dream that you had anda dream you fulfilled, and I'm
so, I am so blessed to know aman who actually did it.
(46:36):
Well, I shouldn't brag too much.
Speaker 2 (46:38):
I did it too, but anyway, you did it, you did it,
you did it.
Probably do it again.
Speaker 1 (46:42):
You did it, and then you and you bought a really
beautiful property somethingthat you and your wife really
desired up in South Carolina.
That's where you are now.
Yeah, I have heard you say morethan once that you will always
be a member of Sarasota 147 forthe rest of your life.
So how's that going to work?
(47:03):
Tell people exactly what's yourplan as far as that goes.
Speaker 2 (47:08):
Well, my business is headquartered in Sarasota.
All of my employees are there.
Speaker 1 (47:13):
Right.
Speaker 2 (47:14):
Directors in my employees, and so the company
still has regular meetings, andI'll be going to those meetings.
I'm only a one hour flight.
Speaker 1 (47:22):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (47:23):
Right, and so I've already got three planned, three
flights in the next, in thefirst month, to come back, and
one of those is coming to ourinstallation and another is a
degree at another watch for ourbrothers, and one is for this
education symposium.
And so it's my hope that I canmake it to at least one stated
meeting a month and sit as apast master quietly and enjoy,
(47:49):
so hopefully, to watch thefruits of some of my labor and
my predecessors' labor.
Speaker 1 (47:55):
Yeah Well and we're going to need you.
So you're going to sit quietly,but we're definitely going to
need your help and yourleadership.
Now, as far as thereimbursement program goes for
Grand Lodge, John Schaefer,myself and you we're committed
for 2024 to be a part of that.
Speaker 2 (48:18):
So and I know that will continue to move forward-
so, for our lodge, I'm going togo back into making those calls
and scheduling appointmentswhich I have been able to do all
year.
Speaker 1 (48:29):
Nice yeah.
Speaker 2 (48:31):
John Schaefer is going to get some much needed
help.
Yeah, and we brought in I think16 entered apprentices this
year and we raised 18 mastermasons.
Speaker 1 (48:43):
That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (48:44):
Something like that was our numbers, yeah, so next
year planned for more like 25 or30.
Right Entered apprentices and ahealthy amount of master masons
, and so our lodge is in a placewhere it's starting to become
easier, finally, after a fewyears, yeah, and we're getting
more used to the growth and wehave so many.
I wish I could express to youthe level of quality of men that
(49:08):
we're bringing into thefraternity through this program.
Speaker 1 (49:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (49:11):
These are excellent men, young men.
Both of them are in their 30s.
Yeah, and really, really goodmen.
I just see them.
Wow, you really do see that.
It's true that you're made aMason in your heart before you
were in a lodge.
Speaker 1 (49:26):
Yeah, that's very true, that's very true.
Speaker 2 (49:29):
We didn't do anything other than stay visible.
I think that people need andwant what the fraternity has to
offer right now.
Speaker 1 (49:36):
It's absolutely true.
We just need to be visible.
Yeah, no, it's absolutely true.
You're right.
We were last year up inHillsborough and that was one of
our talks.
You know Masonry.
Now what and that was one ofthe things is that we're not
sparking interest that isn'talready there.
All we're doing is we're makingourselves available to men who
(49:59):
have already raised their handand said I need something in my
life that's bigger than me.
I need something in my lifethat's reliable.
I need this and I want this.
Speaker 2 (50:08):
It's a place to feel safe and explore Right.
You know my own thoughts andfeelings.
Speaker 1 (50:14):
And like for me, I just I didn't have any friends.
I literally didn't have anyfriends.
I worked and I came home.
Speaker 2 (50:20):
Possibly the same for me.
Speaker 1 (50:21):
Yeah, yeah.
And now I have thousands offriends all over the world who I
can call my Masonic brothers.
I mean all over the world, whowould do anything for me and I'd
do anything for them, andthat's what the reimbursement
program is doing.
We're not.
We're not creating interestwhere there is no interest.
We're making ourselvesavailable to those who already
(50:44):
raised their hand and said Iwant something more in my life,
and Masonry is there.
We're right there to say, hey,check this out, this might be
what you're looking for.
Yeah, and 2024 is going to beall about that because you me
and John are going to kill thereimbursement program this year.
Speaker 2 (51:02):
Yeah, we want to just make every lodge aware of it,
make sure everyone's tried itand if they're trying it, if
they're doing it right, so thatthey see success and just watch
our state grow.
Speaker 1 (51:13):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (51:13):
And numbers and influence and hopefully save
some lodges.
Speaker 1 (51:19):
Yeah, well, yeah, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 2 (51:21):
And if we don't do something we are going to lose
lodges.
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1 (51:26):
It's just a fact.
There's a lot of lodges outthere that just there was.
Who was telling the story abouta lodge in Florida where
leadership just kept ignoringthe pleas of the secretary over
and over again.
Guys, we can't keep going thisway, we can't keep going this
way.
And then finally, at a meeting,the secretary got up in
(51:47):
desperation and said we need topass a hat tonight, guys,
because if I don't pay the waterbill on Monday, they're going
to turn the water off to thelodge on Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (51:58):
Yeah, got themselves in a place where they literally
had to pass a hat around thehouse.
Speaker 1 (52:01):
But here's the point of the story Nobody, everyone,
was shocked.
They were shocked what?
I had no idea, we had no idea.
Speaker 2 (52:10):
It's like you know, it's like no one's listening?
Speaker 1 (52:12):
No one's listening.
Yeah, so, and you're right,there's a lot of lodges that are
going to end up closing andwe're going to lose them.
They're going to sell off thosebuildings or do whatever
they're going to do, and it's ashame that we're not going to
let that happen, and it doesn'thave to happen.
If you're passionate about thisfraternity and you want to see
(52:33):
it available to your grandsonsbecause I do then get involved.
Get involved this year.
Make 2024 the year that youtake at least one step forward
towards helping Masonry get backto the place where it used to
be in this country.
Speaker 2 (52:53):
That's the key.
And if you're in a place ofleadership, in a lodge or at a
grand lodge, your job isn't topreside over the selling off of
everything you own and making asmuch money as you can as it's
on the way out.
Your job is to save all thatcrap.
Your job is to stop it frombeing lost.
Speaker 1 (53:12):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (53:13):
So you've got to get off your butt and work hard if
you're in a position ofleadership, and do your job and
start saving things.
Speaker 1 (53:22):
Yeah, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 2 (53:24):
Preserving things right, Like bringing them back.
All right, so to recap.
Speaker 1 (53:30):
To recap, everything's good.
If you're out there thinkingChris Warshifell Burns is going
to abandon us for South Carolina, you're wrong.
You're wrong as a matter offact, the way you and I have
talked about this.
I'm thinking it's going to beeven more productive because
when you're here, we're going tohave a limited amount of time
(53:52):
face to face.
We're going to have to get allof our things done.
Right now, we have a luxury oftime where we kind of take
advantage of it when we'resupposed to get together and do
some business.
We don't.
Well, that's not going to be anoption anymore.
When you come into town, we'regoing to have a limited amount
of time.
We're going to have to dobusiness.
We're going to have to getthings set and working, get our
(54:13):
action items going and get outthere and get things done.
So I'm looking forward to that.
It's going to be a great year.
It's going to be a good yearfor OTL.
Speaker 2 (54:19):
It's going to be an amazing year.
Speaker 1 (54:21):
Yeah, we're going to hit it hard.
And also we are dedicated tohelping Three Ruffy and Cigar
Company take its place amongstand be successful this coming
year.
We currently have a fundraisergoing.
Liberty Lodge is doing afundraiser and I don't know
(54:42):
where they're at on their ticketsales.
But if you're local, well,local or not, it doesn't matter.
But if you want to participateand help out, Liberty Lodge 31,.
Right yeah, Liberty Lodge herein 412.
Speaker 2 (54:57):
Liberty Lodge, number 412.
Manatees 30.
Yeah, sorry.
Speaker 1 (55:00):
Same building different lodges.
Speaker 2 (55:01):
Yeah, same building, yep.
Speaker 1 (55:03):
But they're doing a fundraiser.
For a $20 ticket, you can enterthe fundraiser and help Liberty
Lodge out, and the payoff is abox of Three Ruffy and Masonic
cigars which are custom madejust for Three Ruffy and Cigar
Company, and they're really good.
(55:24):
Everyone's raving about them,so shout out to us, email us,
we'll get you in touch with themand you can buy one of them.
I think you can do it on theirFacebook page, if I'm not
mistaken.
Speaker 2 (55:37):
But just shout out to us.
You can go to our website.
Oh, the raffle tickets?
No, you can find somebody inperson, I think.
Speaker 1 (55:43):
Yeah, yeah.
So shout out to us if you wantto help out and buy a few
tickets.
Maybe you want to buy 10tickets?
Sure, we'll sell you 10 tickets.
Speaker 2 (55:50):
If you want to buy, we'll be selling them at the
symposium, I'm sure.
Speaker 1 (55:53):
And then we'll be selling them at the symposium.
The drawing is January 31st andyou could be one of two winners
to receive a full box of ThreeRuffians cigars.
It is 10% of the proceeds ofthat company go to Shriners
International, of course, andit's a great company and we
(56:14):
really want to see it explode.
Full disclosure.
I am part of that company, soyeah, and so is Chris.
We try to keep OTL and thecigar company separate, but full
disclosure is that we are partof it.
But it is just another way forus to advance the cause of
(56:34):
masonry in this country.
And we do love cigars.
Speaker 2 (56:38):
We like premium cigars and sometimes a little
premium, and then we send allthose sales to Shriners
International.
Speaker 1 (56:44):
Yeah, Like I said yeah, Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (56:47):
Something we care about.
Speaker 1 (56:49):
It's just another way .
A fundraiser, you know.
If you're a mason youunderstand fundraisers.
We're always getting the bitefor a dollar here or $20.
They are put on us as masons totry and help out the different
causes that we're all involvedin, and this is just another one
.
So if you're so, inclined,shout out to us.
You can reach us by email Fredat onthelevelwithFredandChriscom
(57:11):
or Chris atonthelevelwithFredandChriscom.
Shoot us those emails I stillfor the last year, I've been
threatening to do.
We have been threatening to doan episode, just reading the
emails that we've gotten overthe year.
I'm going to put that togetherbecause I've gotten some really
encouraging emails lately frompeople from literally all over
(57:34):
the world, and it's just soencouraging and humbling to
think that you guys are outthere listening to us.
You're taking back to yourlodges a lot of the education
and a lot of the stuff thatwe've been getting into and
really fueling your passion forthe fraternity, and we just
appreciate it more than we cansay.
(57:54):
That's for sure.
Speaker 2 (57:57):
Well, I know that people really like the Morgan
Assert episode that we did.
Blue up man.
I would love to do a Taxel Hoaxepisode.
Speaker 1 (58:06):
Let's do it.
Speaker 2 (58:07):
Or we're going to get into maybe gritty it's that
whole thing, Because I think alot of people aren't aware of
how influential that was and howmuch BS it was.
Speaker 1 (58:16):
Yeah, Like I didn't know If you've ever seen that
picture of the goat man sittingon a throne with a bunch of
children at his feet and the.
Masonic emblems, the Masonicemblems.
That's part of the hoax.
That's where that came from anda lot of people think that
picture is actually a Masonicdocument and we get.
(58:38):
But it comes from a hoax calledthe Trexel Hoax which, yeah and
there's one of our brotherswho's going to be at the seminar
teaching at the seminar did atalk on it.
Yeah, daniel Molina did a talkon it.
It was really informative.
Yeah, let's do it, I'll pull up.
We'll pull up some of Daniel'sstuff.
Maybe we'll even talk to him alittle bit about it and we'll
(58:59):
get everybody into it and learnmore about it.
It's more Masonic education.
You can't learn enough aboutthis stuff and, at the end of
the day, if it makes you abetter man, to your wife, to
your children, to your parents,your church, your job, then
Masonry is working, becausethat's where it starts.
(59:21):
Making good men better, makingbetter men in the world to
change the world for the better.
That's really what thisfraternity is all about.
And if you're listening to thisand you're not a Mason, well,
god bless you.
We really thank you for that.
And, like we say all the time,go down to your local, go down
(59:43):
to your local lodge.
Speaker 2 (59:44):
Just Google Free Mason Lodge near me and you'll
find one, go down there and talkto them.
Speaker 1 (59:50):
You heard these two knuckleheads on a podcast called
On the Level and they told meto come down here and talk to
you because apparently you gotsomething I need, so do it.
Do it today.
Speaker 2 (01:00:00):
It was great, great to keep this going.
Speaker 1 (01:00:06):
Yeah, yeah, so we'll still drop them.
Speaker 2 (01:00:09):
You need some semblance of home, which I
needed.
Speaker 1 (01:00:12):
Like I told you last night, you did not lose a home,
you just gained a second one man.
So you're a blessed man, yougot a home here, and you got a
home there, man.
Speaker 2 (01:00:22):
So you are truly blessed.
Lucky.
Speaker 1 (01:00:26):
I'm lucky.
I'm even luckier because now Ihave a friend, a brother, who
lives in a beautiful place inSouth Carolina, so I can come up
and visit you and hang out.
Yeah, oh yeah, I'm ready.
So whenever you're ready, youlet me know I'm coming up.
Speaker 2 (01:00:41):
Buy this lot right next to me yes.
Speaker 1 (01:00:45):
My wife is on my.
My wife asks me about thatalmost every day, so I'm ready,
I'm going to start making myinquiries Do it, do it, man,
let's do that, let's get thatdone that way.
That way we can, we can impacttwo states because South
Carolina look out, baby, we're,we're, we got our eyes on you
next man.
Speaker 2 (01:01:05):
South Carolina, texas .
Oh yeah, texas, yeah, what's it.
Speaker 1 (01:01:09):
Any update on the Texas situation.
I know we can't really talkabout it or talk to anyone about
the Texas situation until aftertheir installation or after
January one.
Speaker 2 (01:01:20):
I know we will be doing an interview with the
primary person that said thatthat's right.
Speaker 1 (01:01:25):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (01:01:28):
I'm really looking forward to that.
Speaker 1 (01:01:30):
I want to see Texas go from this, this tangled up
web, or this mess that they'vegotten themselves into if that's
what it is, we don't reallyknow the truth about it yet, but
I want to see.
I want to see them go from thisto being just absolutely on
fire and passionate about thefraternity going forward.
They got a lot of young menwanting to get up in there and
(01:01:52):
and affect some positive changefor the fraternity and I'm I say
bring it on, man.
I'm, I'm ready, I'm ready tohelp.
Otl is ready to help in any waywe can to make that happen.
Speaker 2 (01:02:02):
Let's hope they take this situation and use it for
positive change in the state ofTexas.
Speaker 1 (01:02:07):
Use your superpowers for positive change.
Baby.
Speaker 2 (01:02:12):
Great responsibility.
Speaker 1 (01:02:13):
Yeah, that's right.
That's right, all right, man,well, I enjoyed it.
We're, you know we're.
We're 500 miles apart, butwe're really not apart.
We've got technology.
When it works, as long as wedon't have any Mac OS involved,
the technology works well.
We'll fix that and we're goingto fix that.
That's right, all right, soyou're flying down, you're
(01:02:34):
flying down.
Speaker 2 (01:02:35):
Saturday morning yeah , yeah, I'll be there all day.
Speaker 1 (01:02:37):
If you, if you need anything from me, you just let
me know.
You need me to pick you up, youneed me to drive you around,
whatever you need, just hollerout, I'm always available to you
, brother.
Speaker 2 (01:02:45):
You know that.
Speaker 1 (01:02:47):
Oh, I've got it.
I've got it.
I'm looking right at it, man.
It's right here at my bar.
Speaker 2 (01:02:50):
Oh, wow so early.
Speaker 1 (01:02:52):
Yeah Well, no, no, I'm not drinking it, I'm just
looking at it.
Okay, sure, but yeah.
So, brother, it's, it's alwaysa privilege, always a joy to do
this with you.
I'm looking forward to 2024.
And if you've listened to theend here, you are definitely one
of our rock star heroes.
We really appreciate youhanging with us to the very end.
(01:03:14):
Yes, thank you Take what you'velearned, take what you've heard
back to your lodge.
Talk to your brothers, talk,tell them about the podcast.
We would like to be able tospeak to as many masons as we
can, and we'd like to be able tohear from as many masons as we
can for this new coming year,2024.
Does Masonry have something tooffer to this hurting country?
(01:03:36):
We worship for, chris Burns andmyself.
We believe it does and we'regoing to do all we can to make
that a reality.
Chris, what do you got on ourway out?
Speaker 2 (01:03:47):
I'm looking forward to talking some more about the
taxal hoax and getting some moreinterested people on this
symposium to come and join us inperson.
I can't wait to be back inFlorida doing a master Mason
degree, doing another lecture.
We have a lot going on.
It's holiday season.
We're just really ready to endthis year with a bang and then
(01:04:09):
come into next year strongerthan ever.
So buckle up and please join usin the adventure next year.
Speaker 1 (01:04:16):
You got it, man.
I will see you on Saturday.
My brother have an awesome dayand you guys listening, you too,
have an awesome day.
Get out there and make adifference.
See ya Please.
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