tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2868929508219223321.post2337626803044149445..comments2007-12-04T22:48:47.423-05:00M.M.M. from the North Eastern Cornerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04256800876052840450noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2868929508219223321.post-17298951792966494432007-12-04T22:48:00.000-05:002007-12-04T22:48:00.000-05:00NEC - Nobody reads your blog, or mind, or any of the other blogs, they're all too busy at the free-for-all over on the Taper.<BR/><BR/>WS - You city slickers ain't never lived 'till y'all get drunk with yer buddies and go out orking the cows. <BR/>It's a lot safer than tipping them.Tom Accuostihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07005315193581153959noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2868929508219223321.post-43624423562623286212007-12-04T19:45:00.000-05:002007-12-04T19:45:00.000-05:00Brother NEC,<BR/><BR/>Well thought and well written. I salute you.<BR/><BR/>I agree with most everything Bro. Tom just said.<BR/><BR/>Well, everything except about the cow-orker.<BR/><BR/>How exactly does Sam ork a cow, Tom?<BR/><BR/><BR/>Widow's Son<BR/><A HREF="http://burningtaper.blogspot.com" REL="nofollow">BurningTaper.com</A>Widow's Sonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05135009678671539418noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2868929508219223321.post-6408681481252442982007-12-04T14:52:00.000-05:002007-12-04T14:52:00.000-05:00Thanks again Tom for your supportive comment. I was beginning to think that nobody was reading my posts or that I was being to preachy or something because of the lack of comments on my recent posts!From the North Eastern Cornerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04256800876052840450noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2868929508219223321.post-28741427607897984512007-12-04T12:27:00.000-05:002007-12-04T12:27:00.000-05:00<I>Those old bastards are my brothers. Those brothers who forgot what it is to be a true Freemason, are the same brothers who sat and re-sat in officers chairs to keep what their idea of Freemasonry was alive for young upstarts like me to experience.</I><BR/><BR/>NEC, I think that this is one of the most insightful comments on the entire break-away lodge issue that I've seen in the last month. <BR/><BR/>The old SOBs are not the entire problem, and for others to assume that the GLs are the cause of all the issues that Freemasonry faces today is facile and way over simplified. And as you get around, you'll find that many, perhaps most of the moss-backed old turtles really would like to see the entire fraternity revitalized. It's just that nobody knows what to do or where to start.<BR/><BR/>And we all forget to "think globally, but act locally." While I don't agree with all of Graeter's paper, I do think that he gets it exactly right when he says that change must happen at the lodge level. People on the street don't know the Grand Master from the Grand Poobah, but they do know Masons, be it their Uncle Bob or their neighbor Joe or their cow-orker Sam. We, ourselves, have to commit to making our lodges a place where the brothers <I>want</I> to come; no GL policy will help more than a handful of caring and considerate brothers in the community.Tom Accuostihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07005315193581153959noreply@blogger.com