I am a fairly new member in our Lodge, as well as Masonry in General, but not young. At least by some standards... I will be 59 in October, but feel much older, and that is due to those "Great Years of the Past". I am often told by folks around this County of the people and offerings of our Lodge in the past. I remember hearing a lot about it, and seeing some of that which was public. I also met many good men who were members of it. We had a Degree Team that would travel around to put on the 3 Degrees when asked to do so. They also held the classes, and offered to assist anyone who needed help in learning ANY of the work. Our Lodge was an active and large Lodge in the 50's, 60's, 70's, and into the 80's. What happened? Some died. Some lost interest. Some moved away, or to another Lodge. At one point, someone brought local politics into the Lodge, and drove many away. Then there was a disagreement between some of the members. This may be looked at as the death of a Lodge. Not by me!!! It was just a way to weed out those who were not dedicated to this Lodge anymore. A harsh outlook?? Maybe, but we have a small core group who comes every meeting, to every event, and to every practice now. We are the one's who come to Lodge, and make the decisions that are making us grow and move again. Was our Lodge to big? I don't think so, but it may not have had people who had the best interest in mind. We now have constant contact with the core group.Oh, and we are using some 21st Century technology, Internet, Cellphones, and..... TEXT MESSAGING!!! We have tried to get dues paying members to come visit with us, and to be active. They are not coming. Maybe feelings were hurt, maybe they never intended to do anything. We would love to have them come to Lodge, but there comes a time to divert that energy to something more promising. We have 3 new candidates. Two have been voted on, and the third coming up next month. Guess what?? We are going to put on these degrees with our own people!! Yeppers, we've been coming in once a week to study, and have a Brother from another Lodge who comes to lead us hen we are stuck. We have taken the mindset that we can do this, just as our past Brothers did. We have a finance committee now, and we have set some goals. if we can keep these goals in site, and continue to move toward them, we will again have a few dollars in the bank, and not have to worry when we have to send dues to GL. It doesn't actually take a BIG number to do this, it just takes a few dedicated folks who will not give up. Some of us are Vets, and have been through combat, and didn't learn how to give up. Some have had personal problems and had to seek help. This help teaches one how to recover, and not give up. Some are just plain hard headed, and don't know when to give up. I used to hear the WM say "Brothers, I don't know how much longer we can hang on.", but now, it's "Brothers, if you have someone in mind who might be interested in Masonry, make sure he knows we are here, we need the extra help for these projects". Most of all, I LOVE Masonry, and am STILL having fun with it !!!!!!!!!!!