Forthright
Registered User
I attempted to summarize everything I saw in 2020 within Freemasonry. Just one Mason's perspective.
Link to the Post
Personally, I think that in times of societal crisis, big dislocations (like COVID-19) rarely fundamentally change the course of society. What they tend more to do is accelerate existing trends. For example, digital work from home was already popular pre-pandemic, but it got a massive shot in the arm in 2020. Social division pre-existed the pandemic, but the virus made it drastically worse. In the Masonic world, we have downward demographic trends which are also being accelerated by the pandemic. The virus makes it harder to bring in new members, and disproportionately kills the elderly, at a time when our membership skews older.
This changes nothing fundamentally, but simply ups the stakes on a discussion throughout the Craft of what we want our future to be. Being decentralized, there's no one place to go to have this discussion. Each lodge will do as they wish; each Grand Lodge the same. But via electronic travel, education, and relationship building over time, and the fundamental goods of what the institution offers, we have a lot to use to our advantage.
Link to the Post
Personally, I think that in times of societal crisis, big dislocations (like COVID-19) rarely fundamentally change the course of society. What they tend more to do is accelerate existing trends. For example, digital work from home was already popular pre-pandemic, but it got a massive shot in the arm in 2020. Social division pre-existed the pandemic, but the virus made it drastically worse. In the Masonic world, we have downward demographic trends which are also being accelerated by the pandemic. The virus makes it harder to bring in new members, and disproportionately kills the elderly, at a time when our membership skews older.
This changes nothing fundamentally, but simply ups the stakes on a discussion throughout the Craft of what we want our future to be. Being decentralized, there's no one place to go to have this discussion. Each lodge will do as they wish; each Grand Lodge the same. But via electronic travel, education, and relationship building over time, and the fundamental goods of what the institution offers, we have a lot to use to our advantage.