Don't forget charity at home

Masonic Musings #44

Probably one of the biggest aspects of the Masonic Fraternity, and certainly one of the most visible, is our charity outreach.

There are countless examples of Masons taking time to donate time, energy, and money to support the charities and causes they find important. You can see this all the time, just do a quick search, and you can find stacks of results showing and explaining the charity outreach in action. As a Freemason I do feel that this work is important and am happy to contribute to the effort when I’m able, but I’m also concerned that we often miss the fact that charity is also not just about money and things, but also giving of yourself, and we often forget it needs to start at home.

Photo by Jem Sahagun

Writing a check is fine, but giving of your time is more inline with what charity is meant to be, a selfless act, one born out of the love of your fellow man and not the publicity that our organization seems to be looking for these days.

The other piece we so often miss is that we’re always looking outward, not inward. When was the last time your Lodge thought about the membership and their families before writing that check to a local charity to get your picture in the paper or online? If we constantly look outward, our own house can wither and die.

Freemasonry is about an individual’s journey to improve themselves. It is an internal process, one that requires you to contemplate who and what you are. Why should our charity work only look beyond the Lodge? Why do so many feel that it is more important to celebrate the writing of a check over stopping by a Brother’s house to check in on them and the family?

I know there are Lodges and Brothers out there that take that individual charitable action seriously and very often it goes unnoticed by the greater group but is greatly appreciated by those that receive it.

In my opinion it is these selfless acts that truly drive folks to improve themselves, those that surround the act see the type of individual they want to emulate, to become. It doesn’t matter if the individual becomes a member of the Fraternity or not, they are becoming a better version of themselves, they evolve into someone that could possibly do the same for someone else in their circle and thereby improve society just a bit.

And ultimately, isn’t that what one of our goals should be? To expose others to aspects of our Fraternity beyond the check writing and conspiracies, and make the world just a little bit better.