We have in some of these articles discussed the impressions we make on the public around us. What impressions are we making on the men in our Lodges? I think sometimes we forget that when we attend Business Meetings, Degrees or Schools of Instruction, I guarantee, we are being noticed.

What are we telling these Brothers about what it means to be a Mason?
Are we part of a group that sits together on the sideline and talks the entire time? Do we constantly look at our phones, texting, or look at social media? Or are we causing some other distractions for the degree team or the instructors? Do we look for the first opportunity to leave early? I guess what I am really asking is why are we at the lodge?

A very large benefit of Freemasonry is socializing with our Brothers. However, would it not be a better discussion and less distracting to the lodge if we were in the dining hall? There is absolutely a time for conversation. It just is not when a new member is being initiated or during a meeting.

Perhaps you are the Lodge Secretary and you need to gather the different items to give to a new member. Would it be possible to do this when the candidate is in the anteroom? Maybe before the Lodge is opened? How about after it is closed?

Are we more interested in whatever is on our phones than the meeting? Several years ago, we had a Grand Master that issued an edict charging anyone whose phone went off a $50 fine. Phones ringing, beeping, playing music, etc. are all very distracting, but so is the blue glow a phone emanates while we are obligating a candidate.

Do we jump up to leave as soon as the Lecture starts? Leave a school as soon as we eat lunch? Is there someplace we would rather be?
Whether you are talking, playing on your phone, plundering through filing cabinets, or leaving at the first opportunity you are telling everyone in the room, especially the new members, that you would rather be somewhere else.

What it all boils down to is something a good friend of mine says: “We may have seen and heard all this a hundred times, but to someone it is all brand new.” Don’t we owe it to our fraternity to do everything we can to guarantee that everyone has the same great experiences we remember when it was new to us?

Fraternally submitted,
Jason Alan Jefcoat, Grand Master
Grand Lodge of Mississippi