Old Teachers
My observation has been that most all of the teaching, prompting and instruction is delivered by the older brethern. Sure there are a few men under 50 but most seem to be retirement age. I went to visit a lodge for an EA. The Chaplain and the Senior Steward both carried around oxygen bottles. I fell out of lodge for about 8 years once(between 1999 and 2007), when I came back I was astonished at the lack of workmanship that goes into degree work. Heck, it wasn't until I visited Solidarity lodge, a predominantly Phillipino lodge, that I saw it done correctly by a bunch of Brothers that speak with very broken english. The passion that they had amazed me. Now this was just opening and closing and receiving the Grand Master of the Phillipines. The pride that they took completely shadows the goofy attempts to just receive a DDGM in any of the other lodges I have visited. See it ain't easy to become a Mason in the Phillipines, so these brethern really appreciate their position. There are no shorts and tshirts and there is a very low bullcrap threshold. The honor that they feel and the gratitude that can never be expressed, glows in their faces. A little more pride and a little more appreciation for the sacred gift that has been bestowed on a Brother is all I would like to see. Why should anyone be proud of being a Mason when I bring a visitor to lodge and he has to sit thru a bunch of ignorance on the verge of giggling just to open lodge. We are different from college fraternities in many ways but sometimes we can be just as childish. Additionally, how is a requirement for knowledge in Freemasonry leading to a lodges demise? It should be just the opposite. Maybe we need to have a degree that bestows whatever the hell light you want to fool with, and to heck with the rest. Sorry for the Ire.