Who Brought You Up?

We talk frequently about our mentors, and we talk about our instructors, and sometimes we even talk about various masonic thought leaders and educational speakers, but let me ask you this – who brought you up? I would be willing to bet that the last time you heard that question in any context was by someone older than you and that they were probably referring to your parents. But the question is also valid regarding your masonic journey: “who brought you up” in the craft? I’m not asking about who raised you, instead I want to know if you have thought about those brothers who provided you the essential experiences and living examples of “how to be a mason”.

An instructor taught you necessary scripts and floor movements, and a mentor helped you with symbolism, traditions, and some of the finer aspects of life within a lodge environment. But it’s also likely there were other brothers who took you (symbolically) by the hand and taught you many other important lessons; what organizations lay along the path of a mason’s journey, how do those organizations relate to each other and to the craft, what is brotherly etiquette, how should one behave in the company of more experienced brothers, what new and additional responsibilities may be coming your way in the future, and what might be expected of you as you mature as a mason. These brothers, these critical influencers, showed us how to navigate the many decisions we will eventually face, and they individually demonstrated these lessons through their own living examples. These are the brothers who went far beyond instructing us and well beyond simply mentoring us; they served as parent-figures and taught us how to function in the close and fraternal world of our brothers.

These brothers pointed us towards new doors and then opened them for us when we were ready to knock. They marshalled us through new situations and different organizations, they gave us advice, and they supported us when we first learned to walk among them on our own and as we worked to create our own place among the brethren. Their jobs were still not complete as we reached that undefined and uncertain moment when we first took a young new mason under our own wing and began to teach, to guide, and to show him the way; there will always be a need for those brothers who hover about like nervous parents, standing quietly by, always ready and willing to advise or assist us if necessary as we grow up and go on to eventually take the reins of the craft.  

This realization came to me recently after I heard of the passing of a local brother, one that many of us knew well and one that helped bring up my generation of masons. Brother Jesse’s passing rang some mysterious internal alarm and focused my mind on the unavoidable fact that a generation of masons is passing on to the Celestial Lodge, and we are now inheriting the craft from our fraternal parents – from the brothers who brought us up.

Are we ready? Have we learned the lessons and how to drive this car they are leaving in our care? Are we teaching and inspiring, leading, and showing the generation coming along behind us? Are we bringing up the future elders of our craft?

As I think back on the many brothers who brought me up, I remember them as modest men of consequential achievements; they served our nation, fought our nation’s wars, and taught the students in our schools; they built families, our neighborhoods, and our communities, and they built and ran our lodges. I worry about many things in general and I worry about a lot of things regarding our craft specifically, but recently I’ve come to worry most that I have not acknowledged and thanked the men and the brothers who brought me up and I worry that I haven’t shown the appropriate gratitude for the time and interest they invested in me.

I often joke with friends that I haven’t (quite) reached seventy years, but I can see seventy – and I can see it without squinting. When all is said and done, my masonic career will have been shorter than that of many of my brothers since I wasn’t made a mason until after I turned forty, but I’ve enjoyed a rich journey, one filled with many ups and downs; certainly, it’s been a journey where the ups vastly outnumbered the downs. Was it rewarding because of the time and the effort that I invested in it? Yes, of course, that is a significant part of the whole of my masonic journey and I would never diminish the value of my own labors; but the fact is that I owe many of the rewards from my travels to those great masons who brought me up and I am afraid that the days and times will come when they too will face and receive their ultimate and final rewards, never knowing just how much I appreciate the mystical journey we shared and that they chose to bring me along for the ride.

My brethren, please take some time somewhere in some place of peace and serenity and think about those brothers who invited you to join them on a grand adventure – an adventure that surpasses all things masonic – the adventure we all know and refer to as life itself. It’s easy to get started, you simply ask yourself this simple question – “who brought me up”?

May the blessing of heave rest upon us and all regular masons!

~AMJ