mos def. i used to drink alone... now i've got buddies that go with me. KIDDING.
seriously though, you put a 23 year old young professional in the midst of some 80 year olds that have every bit of their life together (some of them), some 40 year olds that are going through their trials and tribulations, and some other young professionals experiencing the same thing, and you're gonna get to see every stage of life all at once.
then you realize the mirror between those three stages (there are more, to be sure) and masonry, and you can really learn a lot faster than you could otherwise.
it's like i explained it to a 30 year old guy that was interested in masonry...
now, no matter how good your father was/is or how good a father you are, there's no way that you've learned everything about being a man. masonry helps tie together so many parts of life that i'm sure every man, young or old, can find something that they can learn from, instead of having to learn it the hard way.
people complain about all that's wrong in a lodge, but if there was nothing wrong with a lodge, we wouldn't need masonry. (two of the things) masonry is about life and education. if you were to read about them, and weren't able to witness first hand other peoples' faults and how they deal with it, it would mean so much less.
sure it's a shame that there is racism, envy, politicking, jealousy, and even hatred within a lodge... but dealing with these things makes a man wiser.
again, another parralel, and something i'm sure our ancient brethren knew... witnessing and experiencing these things is much more important than reading it, and that's why i say that it doesn't matter if you go find our ritual and read it. it won't mean nearly as much as the EA in the NE corner, kneeling at the altar, or any number of other things you get to feel and be a part of.
sorry for the poor grammar, awful punctuation, and complete lack of capitalization and run-on sentences (see the irony there?)