Endowments in Texas

I am not saying that we shoudl not plan, and be wise with our funds. I am not saying not to be prudent in our planning. But when financial planning and financial growth is all we focus on, we become in grown.
Yes, plan wisely. But, GET OUT of the lodge and serve the community. GO show others what Masons are about. "Let your light shine". Let our good works be see in the community. DO what we believe.

I know that many times in my life I have had personal financial difficulties. When I sat around doing nothing but trying to find a way out, I only became more distressed. When I step away from my woes, and focused on others around me.... my problems had a funny way of working itself out.

What, as masons are we sowing? That also we shall reap. (Again, this is in our GREAT LIGHT) Where are we planting? What are we planting? If we are only working in our own house, then it is from only our house we can expect to harvest the small crop. If we plant OUTSIDE, then we get to EXPECT to reap from outside. This is from the lips of the GAOTU. It's His philosophy, not mine.

Masonry can't come on the cheap. Not for long. We've got to start paying our way. That takes planning and it takes money.

Today's fees are much less per the cost of inflation than they were n the 1960s. If we paid more, we might value our fraternity more. There are ways to cover those who can no longer carry the load. But, we have a bigger problem if nobody is carrying the load. Too often we count on one or two brothers offering to pay for those big ticket items out of their own pockets. I'm becoming less and less pleased with this practice. It leads to no resolution. It is dependence on a few pocketbooks and will not solve anything in the long run.

Just my opinion. That and five buckets can get us one cup of coffee in Starbucks.

Thanks to Tim for the clarification. I completely agree with the last comments.

And to Jwhoff, above I also agree with this. I've always personally felt that low dues and going through the degrees too fast shouldn't be what masonry is about or what it offers. As on of my Brothers often say "If it's easy to acquire and cheap to maintain you're not going to care about it" and I definitely feel that is true.
I think Masonry should be the exclusive product that few attain and that people really, really care for, and I'm not certain that is the case today.