I waited until I was 44 to become a Mason, after which I took my Scottish Rite degrees and Royal Arch degrees and also got in line to work the chairs. I am a fifth generation Mason--I had a British great grandfather who became one in England, and a Russian one who became a clandestine Mason in Russia before the Revolution. Why did I do it? I waited until I was ready. I waited until I thought I was ready to be a good man made better. Of course my father is proud of me. He raised me, both as a child and as a Mason. What I learned in Blue Lodge and later in Red and in Scottish Rite, is that I was raised with Masonic principles and values. It was quite something to realize that. No one ever put pressure on me to become one, and like I have said, I put if off a long time but boy did I discover it. It's important to me that I am a fifth generation Mason. I won't lie that I take pride in that. But the real pride I take in it is how I was raised by Masons and how in my heart it was when I finally decided to join. I know my dad is proud, and his dad and grand dad and great grandad and further would be proud too but what makes it so important to me is that I can now live the way they did. As a Master Mason, a Scottish Rite Mason, and in my own way as a Royal Arch Mason and all those little things--well, big things--that I learned from the men in my family now make not only sense, but give me a sense of obligation to my fellow man. That's what Masonry means to me.