SeeKer.mm
Premium Member
I thought I knew what Masons meant by fellowship. After all I have attended lodge meetings over the past few months and have enjoyed the company of Brother Masons. I have helped in the painting and cleaning up of our new lodge building every Saturday for the past three weeks, and heck, I even experienced my first table lodge last Monday and BOY, my brothers really know how to have a good time! With all this I figured, yup, I got it, this is what Fellowship is all about...but I was wrong. This sort of fellowship, while incredibly awesome, is only a part of what fellowship really is, and I learned that this morning. I will explain...
Having not grown up in the town I currently live in, I don't really know a a lot of people outside of my wife's family. Having an eleven year old child, I have found that the PTA and other school groups are a real clique type of group in this area and outside of them asking me for donations, my attempts to be part of the bunch didn't work at all...it's kind of like they looked down on me for whatever reason...not sure if its my skin color, or the big age gap between my wife and I or what... but I couldn't so much as get a hello from them in passing at the grocery store and even their kids tend to stop talking to mine after they meet us (i will say there is one couple who has always been very welcoming and I appreciate them)...pretty embarrassing and not a good feeling to smile wave and say hello to someone you've met and have them just look at you and keep walking like you have the plague or worse! Now I could care less what people think if they want to act that way it's their loss, but it still hits you pretty negatively all the same. I'll admit that it has made me a bit uneasy when going to crowded areas like the grocery store, or local carnivals and things of that nature. Not in my home town or anything but just around here...this is supposed to be my "community".
So today I go to the local deli and I was startled to hear my name yelled from across the store like there was some sort of urgency. I turn around and I see two of the brother's from lodge smiling and waving and jumping around to get my attention (funny site to see two grown men do that by the way lol). Man did I feel special! Other customers were looking at me like as to double check that I wasn't some celebrity or something lol. I've met these guys but once or twice and I am embarrassed that I barely remember their names but that didn't matter to them and I know for a fact that I will remember them from here on in. The feeling of acceptance that came over me, and the joy it gave me to shake my brothers hands outside of the lodge room and outside of any Masonic activity really and truly gave me the sense of what Fellowship really means. The ritual, the table lodge, the Masonic events are all tools to bring us closer together to receive this feeling of fellowship but I never really thought about it in the normal everyday sense of the word.
My Brothers...today the fraternity of Freemasons has once again touched my heart and impressed me to the very point of giving me the chills. As I write this I get the feeling of being all choked up from the simple act of someone saying hello to me. I have to say that I am even more proud to be a Mason today than I was yesterday. Now THAT my Brothers, is Fellowship.
Having not grown up in the town I currently live in, I don't really know a a lot of people outside of my wife's family. Having an eleven year old child, I have found that the PTA and other school groups are a real clique type of group in this area and outside of them asking me for donations, my attempts to be part of the bunch didn't work at all...it's kind of like they looked down on me for whatever reason...not sure if its my skin color, or the big age gap between my wife and I or what... but I couldn't so much as get a hello from them in passing at the grocery store and even their kids tend to stop talking to mine after they meet us (i will say there is one couple who has always been very welcoming and I appreciate them)...pretty embarrassing and not a good feeling to smile wave and say hello to someone you've met and have them just look at you and keep walking like you have the plague or worse! Now I could care less what people think if they want to act that way it's their loss, but it still hits you pretty negatively all the same. I'll admit that it has made me a bit uneasy when going to crowded areas like the grocery store, or local carnivals and things of that nature. Not in my home town or anything but just around here...this is supposed to be my "community".
So today I go to the local deli and I was startled to hear my name yelled from across the store like there was some sort of urgency. I turn around and I see two of the brother's from lodge smiling and waving and jumping around to get my attention (funny site to see two grown men do that by the way lol). Man did I feel special! Other customers were looking at me like as to double check that I wasn't some celebrity or something lol. I've met these guys but once or twice and I am embarrassed that I barely remember their names but that didn't matter to them and I know for a fact that I will remember them from here on in. The feeling of acceptance that came over me, and the joy it gave me to shake my brothers hands outside of the lodge room and outside of any Masonic activity really and truly gave me the sense of what Fellowship really means. The ritual, the table lodge, the Masonic events are all tools to bring us closer together to receive this feeling of fellowship but I never really thought about it in the normal everyday sense of the word.
My Brothers...today the fraternity of Freemasons has once again touched my heart and impressed me to the very point of giving me the chills. As I write this I get the feeling of being all choked up from the simple act of someone saying hello to me. I have to say that I am even more proud to be a Mason today than I was yesterday. Now THAT my Brothers, is Fellowship.