This occured recently in my lodge. A young, newly raised Brother came to Lodge wearing a t-shirt, shorts, and flip flops. An older Brother informed him upon arrival that it's sort of an etiquette thing to always wear pants to stated meetings. This was something many of the Brothers had not heard discussed before and in fact, the young man in question seemed mildly insulted. However, I pose this. If we cannot take such a simple criticism from a Brother without it turning into a bigger problem, are we truly doing our best to work without contention. I understand that the argument can go either way, but if it will ease the mind of an older Brother if you come wearing pants, I say wear pants. If, however, it's common at your Lodge for Masons to show up looking as though they are on vacation, there won't be a problem. There's another point to this subject that we might consider: Several of the Brothers at my Lodge, myself included, work in hard labor/construction. This typically means that there is little or no time between the work day and Lodge meetings and often, we show up in the same, dirty clothes we worked in. This isn't the case at every meeting and certainly not stated meetings if it can be helped, but sometimes, it's the only way we can make it on time.
