Disappointment, Burnout, and Knowing When to Walk Away

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

Bro. Erik Geehern

This past Wednesday, as I read WB Lahner's “Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes” post, it resonated with me on so many levels.  Specifically, this; “However, the job of being the Blog's editor is time-consuming, thankless, and sometimes frustrating.”

Two months into my year in the East I sat down and wrote down my thoughts, mostly as a way for me to vent.  I was frustrated and disappointed in the participation levels in my Lodge at the time. As a new Master, I was trying to invigorate our small country Lodge and do things differently than they had been done before. In my eagerness to revitalize our Lodge, I might have set my expectations too high, hoping to see a surge of engagement and renewed enthusiasm.  

I ended that written rant with this; “It may be time to humbly admit that my expectations might have been overly ambitious, and I am dedicated to working alongside all my Brothers to create an atmosphere of unity and purpose within our Lodge.”

It is now about seven months later, and sadly nothing has really changed.  We all know Masonry is a volunteer organization, one that takes a back seat to family, faith, or work commitments.  I agree wholeheartedly with that sentiment and have put things ahead of my attending a meeting or rehearsal many times myself.  Still, I must admit that I find myself feeling disappointed in some of my Brothers.  

Recently I called for a meeting to discuss our Lodges finances as well as a few other items I think could use a revision in our bylaws.  It snowed the morning of the meeting and several Brothers reached out stating we should cancel due to the weather and the road conditions, even though the snow had stopped by 1 pm and the roads were perfectly clear well before our 6:30 pm meeting.  In the interest of ensuring we had maximum participation, I postponed the meeting. 

Several Brothers then reached out complaining about the postponement… To ensure we didn’t have a repeat I decided we would make the meeting virtual, that way if the weather interfered again, it would not be an issue.  Not surprisingly several Brothers reached out to complain they are incapable of joining virtually.  So, I made the meeting hybrid, I would meet at the Lodge and set it up on our big screen, everyone can come in person or attend online, whatever works for them. Including myself, seven Brothers participated. One of the Brothers who reached out to me three times to complain in one fashion or another about this meeting did not come.

Seven months ago, I wrote about how we had a toy drive to benefit the Shriner’s Hospital for Children in Philadelphia.  This is something that our Lodge has done for about three years now. We have one toy drive in July for the Centurion “Christmas in July” event and another in December for the holidays.  We have one Brother who takes all our donations down personally each year and supplies us with pictures for our newsletter.  I’m not sure if it is even worth including in our next issue, we had two or three Brothers contribute, and that’s it.  In total those few Brothers donated about ten full grocery bags filled with toys, so we should be proud that we were able to contribute to a very worthy cause.  Our December toy drive fared even worse.  I just can’t shake the knowledge that we could have and should have, done much more.

We had three worthy Entered Apprentices we were preparing a Fellow Craft Degree for.  In our Lodge, the Senior Warden leads that effort and sits in the East for the Degree.  We had about six rehearsals in total, no more than three or four Brothers were able to attend any given rehearsal night for various reasons.  Pretty hard to rehearse for a degree without the officers that have important roles.  Eventually, we made a difficult decision to have our Brothers be passed in a Fellow Craft Degree at a neighboring Lodge, as we felt it was unfair to hold these Brothers back in their Masonic progress.  We still have one EA we need to prepare a Degree for as he was unable to attend.  I think it looks likely we will be asking for another Lodge’s assistance once again.

In my usual vocation, I have managed small and large teams.  I have had up to ninety direct reports and at one time was responsible for approximately seven hundred employees.  I understand the struggles of motivation in the workforce.  My usual tactics will not work in the Lodge, it's not like I can increase wages for increased performance or offer bonuses to top-performing units.  Every member of our Lodge joined for the same core reasons, to be a part of something bigger than themselves, to become better men, to learn and grow.  Why then is every Brother not giving it his all and holding himself to higher expectations?

But as I reflect on this, I am compelled to question whether my expectations are indeed too high. After all, Freemasonry is built upon the foundation of unity, friendship, and mutual support, and each Brother contributes according to his abilities and circumstances.

I remember early in my career being so frustrated with some of my employees and the condition in which they would leave the store at night.  I would come in and have to re-sweep and mop the floors, clean the glass, empty trash, etc.  Eventually, I learned it was completely unrealistic to expect some team members to care as much about the store as I did.  I was a salaried manager, there fifty-plus hours a week, and ultimately, I was responsible for every aspect of the store.  Why would a high school student, making minimum wage work ten or fifteen hours a week because he needs gas money care as much as I do about the condition of the store?  On average, they won’t, and I really can’t blame them.

I guess Masonry has some of the same dichotomies.  Not every Mason is willing or able to make Masonry a full-time commitment.  My two children are a bit older and largely can take care of themselves.  I highly doubt if I had an infant or a toddler, I would be able to participate at the level I do now.  I’m sure when I am older and have grandchildren if I get a last-minute call on a meeting night to come watch the kids I would jump at that opportunity.  I am sure some Brothers are in very different financial positions than I am, and simply may not be able to contribute to the myriad of fundraisers and donation requests that are put forth throughout the year.  

I have no doubt that anyone who has sat in the East can relate to the feeling of frustration when you put so much effort into something and those efforts simply are not reciprocated, or even appreciated.  I often discuss with one very close Brother, who participates in everything our Lodge does, the ongoing frustration I feel.  Sometimes just being able to vent helps.  Maybe it’s a bit of seasonal affective disorder, but I have thought maybe it is time to affiliate with a more active Lodge and move on.  My Masonic District has thirteen Lodges.  Most are in similar situations as my own, some better, some worse.  A few stand out as active, growing in membership, and generally on the rise.  However, our small Lodge is in a position where the loss of even one active Brother would be devastating. There is no way I can allow our Lodge which has existed and served our community for almost 170 years to fail. 

If seven Brothers could start this Lodge in 1855, surely seven can help get it back on track in 2024.  So, am I disappointed? Yes.  Am I burnt out? A little.  Am I ready to walk away? Not a chance.

~EG

Bro. Erik M. Geehern is currently Master of Goshen Masonic Lodge #365 in Goshen, NY under the Grand Lodge of New York. He was raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason in October of 2019 and since then has served in various progressive chairs along the road to the east. He writes and curates a newsletter for his Lodge quarterly which disseminates education, history, and esoterics. He is also a member of the Grand College of Rites, the American Lodge of Research, and the Kansas Lodge of Research. He works in restaurant operations & consulting, and when not engaged in his usual vocation, or laboring in the Craft, he loves spending time with his wife and two children.

Why Be a Master?

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

Bro. Michael Arce

This is my third attempt at writing this article. They say you are supposed to "write what you know." Outside of a virtual experience in a concordant degree, my time in the Master's Chair has been limited to Blue Lodge degree work. Pursuing the Road To The East is not only a course offered in my jurisdiction; it is almost an expectation for every man who possesses leadership traits. "When you are Master...," is a phrase a new Mason will hear from older members and line officers at dinner, degree rehearsals, and outside of Lodge meetings. My view was that becoming Master of my Lodge was an expectation, one that I have gone back and forth on pursuing during my Masonic career. There have been times when this decision was either a question or a goal.

WHY BE MASTER?
The Master's Chair was the second object that caught my attention the first time I stepped foot in a Lodge room. I am the first man in my family to visit a Masonic Lodge, the first to become a Master Mason. I keep my personal experience in mind every time I give a Lodge room tour. I was 35-years-old at that time. Freemasonry was not the first community group or charity I had expressed an interest in joining. Growing up in southwest Arizona, I was a member of my local 4-H club and high school FFA chapter. As an adult, I have volunteered with the American Heart Association, served on non-profit leadership boards, and am a professional society member. But there was something distinctively different about the Master's Chair the evening of my first Lodge visit.

First, the placement struck me. It's the highest seat in the room. Most Master's Chairs are ornate. I noticed the decoration, distinctive hard carvings, that must relate to the duties of the office. There was a small pedestal, about waist high, with a gavel within arm's length. A set of stairs led up to this seat. Below the station was the alter, situated in the center of the room. The alter was the first object to catch my eye. There aren't many meeting rooms that have an alter!

I was a visitor, a guest, during my first Lodge meeting. There was a handful of other interested men that evening; we all sat in a row together. My second observation about the Master's Chair is the man who occupies it. There was another striking difference between this Mason and the others in the room: he was the only man wearing a hat. He was able to stand and move freely around the room when he spoke. And when he addressed those in attendance, he had their complete attention. I had never seen anything like this! I looked around the room, taking an inventory of the men. They were engaged, not one side conversation or comment was made as he spoke. The way these men revered this leader intrigued me to learn more about the significance of this role.

Years later, when the question is asked, "why be a Master," I point to that first experience as what initially drew me to being the Master of a Lodge. After I was raised, like many new Brothers, the Master of the Lodge approached me to take a position in his line as a Steward. I accepted, and so began my journey to the East. Over the next three years, I advanced through the line to the Junior Warden's station. It was during that time when I began to question my path. "Why be Master" was something I would ask myself after seeing the division and politics that is a part of any organization. My impression of the role began to tarnish; I witnessed the stress that is a by-product of being the top decision-maker, the man ultimately responsible for every aspect of the Lodge. I saw past the cheery greetings and friendly handshakes the Master would extend, to his frustrations and personal fears.

Why be Master when you are the center of attention and the target of criticism? Shakespeare was right. "Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown." Or, in our case, the hat.

WHY BE A MASTER?

This article has taken three attempts to complete because I needed to find my answer — that required time, experience, and perspective. This May marked my fifth year as a Master Mason. I am now a member of my third Lodge. I want to be a Master to contribute to the experience of the Brethern. While that may seem like a simple answer, I realize the complexities. To me, becoming Master is more than having a place in a progressive line — it is the dedication and work invested in improving myself. One must know one's self before offering help to another, right? My focus is on being the best Blue Lodge member I can be right now. I want to learn my parts for ritual, not for perfection, but to be proficient and a resource for others. I need time to understand the challenge that comes in leading a diverse group of like-minded men. That can only be observed by investing the time to work through the chairs. Most importantly, instead of making plans for what I will do during "my year" in the East, I need to sit, watch, and support the Brothers who precede me.

I now know that being a Master is more than learning the word, getting a fancy ring, special apron, or Grand Honors. Being a Master means you are the man your Brothers elect to lead them and care for the Lodge.

There is a reason the Master's Chair is prominent: it is a large chair to fill.

~MA

Brother Michael Arce is a member of Mt. Vernon Lodge #3 in Albany, New York. When not in Lodge, Bro. Arce is the Marketing Manager for Capital Cardiology Associates in Albany, New York. He enjoys meeting new Brothers and hearing how the Craft has enriched their lives. He can be reached at michael.arce@me.com

The Pitfalls Of Being Worshipful Master

by Midnight Freemasons Founder

Todd E. Creason, 33°

I recently ran across some photos of being installed Worshipful Master of Ogden Lodge back in 2010.  I recall that day clearly.  I remember going home after being installed, all wound up about all the things I was going to accomplish during my year in the East.  I told my wife, Valerie, that it wasn't necessary for her to call me Worshipful at home--she could just call me MASTER.  

I was only joking, but it made her so angry, I didn't see her for two solid weeks!  Well, actually after a week, I could see her a little bit out of my left eye.

~TEC

Todd E. Creason, 33° is the Founder of the Midnight Freemasons blog.  You can contact him with complaints about this piece at: webmaster@toddcreason.org

Reflections on a Long Year

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

Bro. Adam Thayer

Brethren, as the year is drawing to a close, I, like many of you, find myself reflecting upon the challenges and achievements of the past year and turning an eager eye forward to see what the new year will bring. While my year has been full of many joys, there have been many trials that I did not believe I was prepared to handle and obstacles that seemed impossible to overcome. I feel relatively safe in saying that when you take the final tally of your year’s events, you will find a similar sentiment.

While I could write pages and pages detailing all of the events of the year, it would only be a useful study for me and you wouldn’t find most of it to be interesting. I had successes and I have had failures; I lost a job and found a better one; I had a child, and haven’t slept since. What I would like to talk to you about instead is the importance of reflecting.

When it comes to education (and what is Freemasonry if not a system of education, albeit a peculiar one), reflection is the one step which has the most powerful lessons, and one that many people overlook. The scientific method places it as a step of high importance: analyze your data, then reflect on what you’ve learned from it. John Dewey stated “We do not learn from experience, we learn from reflecting on experience” and Jack Mezirow called reflection one of the defining conditions of being human.

For many years, the Masonic initiate spent time in a Chamber of Reflection, to analyze himself before being brought into our gentle order. While this practice has died away in most modern lodges, I would like to see a resurgence in the function, but with one change: let the chamber be open to all brothers to reflect upon their lives, and how Masonry has changed them. This period of meditation could be supremely useful for many of us, and should be at least available for those who are interested. (For more information on the controversy, be sure to read the excellent article by Bs. Brian Schimian and Robert Johnson located at here.

I have made many (many, many) stupid mistakes in my life, and the only saving grace I can claim is that I have always endeavored to learn from them and sought to make new stupid mistakes. Every regret and sorrow has molded me into someone that I hope is a better person than I was when I started this journey.

Many sports teams use reflection to improve their scores; they will look at footage from previous games to identify those things that they did well, and look for areas they can improve. In sales, we were taught to spend time each day analyzing what went right and wrong in each meeting, and identify those things that led to us making sales.

True reflection occurs best by letting the mind wander; you can guide it to a point, but you need to allow yourself to relax enough to find functional connections that you may have missed. This can be very easy for some of us (my mind has wandered off multiple times just while writing this), and very difficult for others. The important thing is to try to make connections between your actions and the outcomes, the cause and the effects. It is very easy to make false connections here, so wanderer beware! The fact that you seem to see a yellow car every time it rains does not, in fact, mean that yellow cars cause rain!

Even if you don’t make reflection part of your daily routine, I do hope you will use it during your “year-end inventory”, in the hopes that next year will be more successful for you than this past year.

For those of you who, like myself, have had a very painful year, I hope you can find comfort in the words of Ovid: Perfer et obdura, dolor hic tibi proderit olim. (Be patient and tough; someday this pain will be useful to you.) It is often difficult to identify the positive growth that can come from negative situations, however I have found (at least, in my life) that I’ve grown more during painful periods than during periods of ease. In fact, I see my life as a tree; left to grow wild, it will form a mess, technically functional but far from ideal. When pruned through discomfort and hardships, it is able to be shaped by the master gardener into a shape that is both functional AND aesthetically pleasing. It is my belief, therefore, that I will leave behind an incredibly beautiful life.

As this is my last chance to speak to you this year (and if you’re reading this next year, shame on you!), please let me take this opportunity to thank you for lending me your eyes, your brains, and your hearts over the past year. I love each and every one of you, and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it!

~AT

Bro. Adam Thayer is the Junior Warden of Lancaster Lodge No 54 in Lincoln (NE) and the Worshipful Master of Oliver Lodge No. 38 in Seward (NE). He’s an active member of the Scottish Rite, and Knight Master of the Lincoln Valley Knights of Saint Andrew. Adam serves on the Education Committee of the Grand Lodge of Nebraska. You can contact him at adam.thayer@gmail.com

Planning Your Year As Worshipful Master

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

WB. Adam Thayer

It has been my experience that the difference between a successful year as Worshipful Master and an unsuccessful one is due in large part to advanced planning. As one of my managers taught me early in life, if you fail to plan, you’re planning to fail!

In many states (my own included), we are preparing for installation for the ensuing Masonic year, and as such many of us are setting their sights on putting their plan into place. I myself am moving from Jr. Warden to Sr.Warden in one of my lodges, and have already begun the process of planning to be Worshipful Master in 2017. If you’re in a similar boat, here are some “on the ground” tips I’ve found that have helped me significantly.

First and foremost, decide what you want to do in your year. What do you want it to be remembered for? Pretend you’re in a lodge where you will never be Worshipful Master again (that’s easy for me, as my lodge has not repeated a WM since the late 1890’s); if you only have the one chance to impact your lodge as WM (Worshipful Master), how do you want to do it? Make a list of everything that comes to mind, no matter how outlandish, because at this point of planning there are no limits. The theme for my year is bringing Masons back to the lodge. I’ve found that roughly 10% of our members are active, and I’d like to find ways to bring some of the 90% back.

Now look at the list and add in any traditional or required events from your jurisdiction. My lodge, for instance, traditionally holds a very nice dinner in memory of our Past Masters, perform a full lodge proficiency exam for the degrees early in the year  and a more recent tradition involves the lodge attending a baseball game. I’m sure your lodge has events like this as well; check with your secretary to see if you’ve forgotten some, and add all of those to the list.

Next, ask some of the members who have been there a long time if there are

any events that used to be very successful but have been forgotten in recent years. One that I’ve been told multiple times is a card tournament; our lodge used to hold an annual cribbage tournament, with the winner receiving a nice plaque and a portion of the entry fees. Many of the older members have fond memories of the event, so I added it to the list too.

If you’re like me, at this point you have a few pages of events written out. Don’t let that bother you yet; you’re going to be removing quite a few of them!

The next step I took was to contact our secretary and our treasurer to get a lot of details; I’m a detail person. From our secretary, I got the full membership list, sorted by location. Using this, I can target those members who are close enough to attend lodge, and young enough to be physically able.

From the treasurer, I obtained the total income and expenditures for the past five years. With this, I can set a pretty clear budget, which will tell me how much I can spend without hurting the lodge. This is one of the most valuable pieces of information you can have access to and I highly recommend you make it the largest tool in your planning arsenal!

So, you’re finally ready to start planning! Go back to your list, and start to eliminate events that are too expensive, will require more work than your lodge is able to perform, or will not have any positive impact toward your goals. To aid me in this, I worked out a budget for each event, including mailing costs, food costs, and every other foreseeable expense related to that event. This was perhaps the most difficult part for me, as I had fallen in love with some of the ideas and had a difficult time admitting that the cost to perform them was too high for the benefit we would see in return.

Hopefully, you now have a list which is significantly more manageable. At this point, you should grab a calendar for the year you will be WM and start seeing how your events will fit together.

If you’re really lucky, your lodge owns your building and you are the only tenant, so you may schedule your events whenever you choose. Our lodge shares the building with a number of other lodges, an Eastern Star, and some youth groups. Because of this, we are restricted to one night a week (Friday in our case) without requesting special permission. So, I have 52 nights available to plan events on. You may have more, or less, depending on your situation.

Out of the 52 nights available, 12 of those are claimed by business meetings, and one by our Grand Lodge’s Annual Communication, bringing me to 39 nights left. Our availability for events is quickly dwindling!

In my lodge, and I suspect in yours as well, it is nearly impossible to hold any event after Thanksgiving, as most men are too busy with family events to come to lodge. This removes an additional five nights, and now I’m down to 34! Again, your calendar almost certainly will vary, but the process is very similar.

My next step was to add into the calendar those “unwritten rule” type of events. For my lodge, this used up another 8 nights, bringing me down to only 26 nights left out of an original 52! In those 26 nights, I need to accomplish as much as I possibly can, and let’s not forget that we need to leave some room for degrees and for practices!

So, I narrowed my list further, and chose the five “big” events that I felt will most impact my goal (which, again, is bringing inactive members back to the lodge). You may choose more or less, but whatever you choose you need to be fully committed to them!

Because you don’t want to overload your lodge, it’s important to spread the events out across the year. Looking at the nights you have available to your lodge, you will want to pick dates that are far enough apart that your members won’t feel that you’re putting an undue burden on their time, but still close enough together to keep them excited about what is next!

In addition, remember that your event is almost certainly going to take more than just showing up; you may have performers or lecturers to work with, caterers to line up, and mailings to send out in advance to drive excitement. Now is a great time to start planning these details with your line officers, and getting their feedback on your plans. Not only will they help you see things you may have missed, but it is important to get buy-in from the people who will be supporting your vision when the rubber hits the road.

One big caveat should be mentioned here: let your officers do their jobs, without micromanaging them. Trust your stewards to plan the dinners without asking them what type of napkins they’re using; I promise, they will surprise you at how hard they will want to work to make everything a success, but only if you treat them with respect for their office. My instructions to my stewards was simple; I have one meal that I know specifically what I would like served; everything else is up to their imagination and our budget.

Of course, all of the planning in the world doesn’t mean your year will go perfectly; you will need to make adjustments as you go, all year long. Some unexpected situations will arise, and when these happen, you and your advancing line will need to deal with the situation at that time. With good planning, however, it will be much easier to deal with these situations when they occur, and it won’t leave you in the bad position of constantly playing catch-up!

Hopefully this has helped you to get a handle on the planning of your year, but please don’t let your education on the topic stop here. Your Grand Lodge almost certainly has reference material at your disposal, as will your secretary. Even more important, don’t forget to consult with your Past Masters on this; not only does it make them feel valuable, but they almost certainly can give fantastic advice based on their own experiences. Learn from the mistakes they made, and capitalize on their successes, and everyone will think you’re the genius for it!

Now, how good are you at the ritual work? Maybe you should start practicing…

~AT

Bro. Adam Thayer is the Junior Warden of Lancaster Lodge No 54 in Lincoln (NE) and the Worshipful Master of Oliver Lodge No. 38 in Seward (NE). He’s an active member of the Scottish Rite, and Knight Master of the Lincoln Valley Knights of Saint Andrew. Adam serves on the Education Committee of the Grand Lodge of Nebraska. You can contact him at adam.thayer@gmail.com