Does Charcter Still Matter?

 Does Character Still Matter?

By Senior Midnight Freemason Contributor

Gregory J. Knott, 33°

Editor Note:  These remarks were given by Greg Knott at the 106th Memorial Day Observance at the Grand Army of the Republic Cemetery in Homer, Illinois on May 26, 2025. 

Good morning everyone. Today, as we gather to honor the brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation, I want to talk about something deeply intertwined with their service: character. And I want to ask a simple, but profound question: Does character still matter?

Why do I ask this question today, on Memorial Day? 

Memorial Day is more than just a day off; it's a time to reflect. It's a time to remember those who stood tall in the face of adversity, who displayed courage when fear was overwhelming, and who held onto integrity when it would have been easier to compromise. Their actions speak of a character forged in commitment and fueled by a sense of duty.

Let me tell the story of one such individual who displayed character and has a cenotaph marker here in the Grand Army of the Republic Cemetery.  William Louis Slayton was born October 6, 1922 in Fithian the son of James Calvin Slayton and Flora McClellan Slayton.  After graduating from Homer high school in 1940, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in October 1940, about a year before the attack on Pearl Harbour.  He was first stationed in Iceland and in 1942 was transferred to the south Pacific.   There he fought in the ferocious battles at Guadalcanal and Tarawa. 

While serving with Company F, 6th Marines, 2nd Marine Division he took part in the Battle of Mariana Islands.  The Battle of the Mariana Islands was a significant campaign during World War II, occurring from June to November 1944, where U.S. forces aimed to capture the Mariana Islands, including Saipan, Guam, and Tinian, from Japanese control. This campaign was crucial as it allowed the U.S. to establish air bases for strategic bombing missions against Japan, ultimately contributing to the Allied victory in the Pacific.

Sgt. Slayton’s parents received a letter from their son dated June 6, 1944, where he wrote that he was on a ship headed to a location he could not disclose.  A few weeks later, his parents received a telegram that no one wanted to receive.  On June 14, 1944, Sgt. Slayton was killed in action in Marianas Islands in Saipan. He was temporarily buried in the 2nd Division Marine Cemetery and was later moved to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific and laid to rest on June 15, 1949.

So what does the sacrifice of Sgt. Slayton and thousands of others mean as we observe Memorial Day 2025?  We often think of courage as facing bullets on a battlefield, but it’s also the courage to stand up for what’s right, the courage to be honest, and the courage to care for others. Integrity means upholding our values even when no one is watching. Resilience is about getting back up when we fall. And compassion? It’s about seeing the humanity in everyone around us. These are the building blocks of strong character.

So, does it still matter? Absolutely. Perhaps now more than ever. In our world of rapid change and complex challenges, character provides a steady anchor. It builds trust within our communities, it inspires ethical leadership, and it fosters a sense of stability. On a personal level, strong character leads to fulfillment, stronger relationships, and the resilience we need to overcome life's hurdles.

In today’s world, character manifests as ethical decision-making, active civic responsibility, and empathy. When we honor those who served, we’re not just remembering their sacrifice; we’re acknowledging the values they lived by. We can honor their memory by striving to embody those same virtues in our own lives. By being better people, we honor the best in them.

Philippians 4:8-9 (CSB)says -

Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable ​— ​if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy ​— ​dwell on these things. 9 Do what you have learned and received and heard from me, and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you. 

In closing, let me affirm that character mattered deeply to those we honor today, and it matters just as much now. As we reflect on their sacrifices, let us also recommit ourselves to cultivating strong character, both for our own sake and for the sake of the nation they served. Thank you.

~GJK

Greg Knott is a Senior Contributor to the Midnight Freemasons and has been a Freemason since 2007.

Why Are We Here Again?

 by The Midnight Freemason

Todd E. Creason, 33°

Do you remember the very first time you walked through the doors of your lodge?  Do you remember that feeling? That feeling that this place, these people, were doing something that actually mattered.

Maybe someone personally invited you. Maybe you showed up on your own because you'd heard about the work they were doing in the community. But whatever brought you there, something made you stay. Something clicked with you.

You found a place where you belonged.  And that feeling wasn't an accident. It was the result of an organization operating with a clear, compelling sense of purpose. They knew who they were. They knew why they existed. And that clarity of purpose is what made them strong. 

I want to talk today about what happens when that clarity starts to fade. When we drift from our original purpose.  And more importantly, what we can do together to get it back.

Here's the thing nobody wants to say out loud—most organizations don't drift on purpose. Nobody says in a meeting, "You know what, let's slowly abandon everything that made us great."

It happens gradually. Quietly. One small compromise at a time.  I’m a pastor, and I’ve seen churches make this mistake.  A church (or even a whole denomination) starts to notice the seats getting a little emptier. So they soften the message, just a little bit at first, to make it more comfortable for visitors. Then a little more. Then a little more after that. Before long, the people in the pews are hearing something that feels less like the gospel and more like a motivational seminar. The message that once changed lives has been watered down so it can't offend anyone — but it can't truly transform anyone either. 

Or take a fraternal organization — a lodge, a civic club, a brotherhood built around a specific mission of service and community. Somewhere along the way, they get pulled into a heated internal debate. And suddenly, every meeting, every newsletter, every conversation is about that one issue. The original mission sits quietly on the back burner while everyone argues about everything except the reason they exist. 

So focused on being relevant and current that they miss they’re destroying the very thing they’re trying to build.  And the energy fades.  Members are going through the motions, but the passion was gone. Membership starts to decline. Volunteers are harder and harder to recruit. You have fewer and fewer people involved.  You may even notice the people who've been around the longest start to quietly step back. 

And why?  What brought them to begin with is gone.

And here's the sad truth: when an organization drifts away from it’s purpose, it doesn't just lose members. It loses its voice. It loses its impact. It loses the very thing that made it strong in the first place. 

But here's the good news! That purpose doesn't disappear. That need doesn’t go away.  It just gets buried. And anything that's buried can be uncovered.

Think about a house that's been renovated one too many times. Layer after layer of paint, wallpaper, and new flooring have been added as each generation has tried to modernize it.  But underneath all of that? The original foundation is still solid. The bones are still good. 

That's what I genuinely believe about most organizations that have drifted. The foundation isn't broken. It's just been covered up.  The path back starts with something almost embarrassingly simple: go back and discover the original intent.

Now, I'm not talking about being stuck in the past. I'm not saying every organization needs to do things exactly the way they did them fifty years ago. Times change, and how you fulfill your mission absolutely can, and should, evolve.

But what you're called to do, your core purpose, your reason for existing, that doesn't change with the times. That's your compass. Not your map.  Returning to your purpose isn't nostalgia. It's courage. It takes real courage to look honestly at where you are, compare it to where you started, and say, "We've drifted — and we need to find our way back." That's not weakness. That's leadership. And that kind of honesty is exactly where transformation begins.  Go back to the blueprint. Reclaim your why. And watch what happens when an organization finally remembers who it is.

~TEC

Todd E. Creason, 33° is the Founder of the Midnight Freemasons blog and is a regular contributor. He is the award-winning author of the Famous American Freemasons series.  He is a Past Master of Ogden Lodge No. 754 (IL) and Homer Lodge No. 199 (IL). He is also a member of St. Joseph-Ogden Lodge No. 970 (IL).  He is a Past Sovereign Master of the Eastern Illinois Council No. 356 Allied Masonic Degrees. He is a Fellow at the Missouri Lodge of Research. (FMLR). He is a charter member of Admiration Chapter No. 282 and a Past EHP.  You can contact him at webmaster@toddcreason.org

Cleaning Up the Decades

 Cleaning up the Decades

By Senior Midnight Freemason Contributor

Gregory J. Knott, 33°

The Moving Crew

Items moved to St. Joseph

More items that were moved.

The recent merger of the Ogden lodge and St. Joseph lodge to form the new St. Joseph-Ogden Masonic Lodge no. 970 (name change pending grand lodge approval), came the task of cleaning out the Ogden lodge building.   A small committee had been appointed to coordinate the sale and the move. The building sold quickly and we had to get to work on the clean-up.

Ogden lodge itself was the product of a merger with Broadlands Lodge in 2008, which had merged with  Sidell Lodge 1983.  So within the Ogden building we had items and records from all three lodges that needed to be gone through.

After our passing of the light ceremony, we moved everything in the building into the dining room to use it as a staging area.  At that point we could begin sorting through what was going to St. Joseph and what was not going to be needed.   Furniture, member records, financial records, proceedings, masonic regalia, kitchen ware, tables, chairs, etc.   It was overwhelming.   But methodically we went through everything and began the sorting.   We ordered a dumpster, as there was just a bunch of stuff that had no value or reuse.   

We made contact with the local volunteer fire department and were able to donate a stockpile of tables and chairs, kitchen equipment and more that they will be able to reuse in their events with the community.  I took a load of items to the Salt and Light ministries retail store, which benefits their outreach programs.  Many individual items were given to brothers or other local people that could use them.    But there was still a large amount going to the St. Joseph Lodge.

I went through all of the paper records to ensure that all items of historical value such as petitions, minute books, register books etc were saved.  These include records dating back into the late 1800’s.   At a later time, we will go through all of the records in detail and consider a large digitization project to further preserve the information.  I will also be reaching out to the https://fraternalcenter.iu.edu/index.html Center for Fraternal Collections and Research at Indiana University for advice.

With everything sorted, packed and labeled, moving day was upon us.  We made contact with our local high school football coach to see if they might have any players who could assist us with moving.   Five players came to assist us and they did an awesome job!  We loaded and moved an entire moving truck full and had the items in St. Joseph Lodge all within two hours.   We are making a generous donation to the football program for their assistance.

With the contents taken care of, the closing of the sale of our Ogden building will be taking place in a couple of weeks. Numerous brothers helped in this process and it was truly a team effort.  I want to thank all of them who played a role.  It was a ton of work, but as I mentioned to someone, I have this as part of my Masonic experience now!

I am looking forward to the strong lodge we are forming in St. Joseph-Ogden Masonic Lodge no. 970!

~

Gregory J. Knott, 33° is the Senior Contributor for the Midnight Freemasons.  He is Past Master of both Ogden Lodge No. 754 and St. Joseph Lodge No. 970.   He is also an avid photographer since retiring.  You can see more of his photography at https://whyknottmedia.com/ 

Civility: Can We Talk?

 by The Midnight Freemason

Todd E. Creason, 33°

Can we talk?  Too often in our society today, the answer is no.  Scroll through your social media feed for five minutes. Read the comments on any news article. We even struggle to talk around the table during family gatherings. What you will find, more often than not, is not a conversation—it is a collision. 

I’ve never seen it this bad in my lifetime.  And I can almost hear people reading this assigning blame to one person or another, or this political party or the other, or this news media source or another.  And that’s the problem.  And unfortunately, the world has seeped into some of our Lodges creating debate and dissention amongst the Brethren—in fact it’s a big part of the reason I took a step back for a few years. 

I’m sure it’s not the same everywhere, but in general, I think a step back is what the Fraternity itself needs.  There’s a reason we’ve been around as long as we have.  We have a vital mission.

Freemasonry, and I’m talking traditional Freemasonry, could actually do a great deal of good in promoting the ideas of civility in the world.  Our history and our traditions would certainly show that civility has been important to us going back centuries.  That’s because our primary goal, our main purpose, has been character development.  To encourage and build men of strong character, principles and values.

But we seem to have shifted our focus.  If we want to continue being relevant, we have to get back to building men of good character.  We spend so much time being a charity these days we’ve drift away from our primary purpose, which is being an institution of learning.  In the beginning the charitable side of Freemasonry was the natural result from building men of character.  Now it’s all fund-raising and very little enlightenment or personal development. 

The world has plenty of charities.  What the world lacks is morality, decency, virtue, and character—which would include civility.  What the world needs is what we used to focus on a lot more.

Let’s get back to building.

~TEC

Todd E. Creason, 33° is the Founder of the Midnight Freemasons blog and is a regular contributor. He is the award-winning author of the Famous American Freemasons series.  He is a Past Master of Ogden Lodge No. 754 (IL) and Homer Lodge No. 199 (IL). He is also a member of St. Joseph-Ogden Lodge No. 970 (IL).  He is a Past Sovereign Master of the Eastern Illinois Council No. 356 Allied Masonic Degrees. He is a Fellow at the Missouri Lodge of Research. (FMLR). He is a charter member of Admiration Chapter No. 282 and a Past EHP.  You can contact him at webmaster@toddcreason.org