Friday, November 15, 2013

Truckee 200 (or Actual Leadership?)

L to R: Tyler, Clay, Don, Chris, Brian, John, Ted, and Bob
Masonic lodge, Truckee 200, is a small mountain lodge with everything that implies: Small membership, difficulties getting what members exist to make their presence felt (especially in the winter), and so on. That being said, there are select members who are extremely dedicated (and the picture above only shows some of them (enjoying a fine repast at a local pizzaria)) to this lodge. This dedication not only exists to the current membership, but there is a real sense of not failing all the brothers who carried the lodge across the last 150 plus years to this point, nor the fine men we haven't met yet, or the men who we will never meet, but will one day in the future be Truckee 200's caretakers after we have all passed.

I mention this dedication because I witnessed something at the November Elections to elect new lodge officers which I found rather inspiring and I think is a reflection of the aforementioned dedication.

It is, of course, not unusual for small lodges or even larger lodges in trouble, to return a Past Master to the East in service of the lodge for another turn around the sun. This is especially true where membership is slight and there is no one to take the Master's seat. At Truckee 200, however, the current Master, Senior Warden, and Junior Warden all agreed to stay in their current chairs for at least another year. The purpose of this is to provide continuity, strength, and support to the lodge, not because there was a lack of men willing to move up the line.

It is a rather easy thing to vacate the East, take your Past Master's apron and retire to the sideline, letting the next man deal with the ever present difficulties and burdens of lodge management. These men are dedicated to properly learning the ritual (there are few opportunities in small lodges), to get the lodge on solid financial footing, and to grow and make the lodge relevant in the community.

When leadership changes every year, that can not only be difficult to accomplish, but can create a lack of focus and direction...a meandering oddity of history with no significance to the modern man. If Truckee 200 is to survive the next 150 years it will need solid leadership to get there, and I am confident that these men will not, in fact, fail our departed brethren, but will create a strong basis for future success and a solid foundation for the good men we will never meet.

- Bro. Brent

"We represent a fraternity which believes in justice and truth and honorable action in your community... men who are endeavoring to be better citizens... to make a great country greater. This is the only institution in the world where we can meet on the level all sorts of people who want to live rightly." – Bro. Harry S. Truman