Trestleboard - October 2005

ELECTED OFFICERS

Master
Theodore E Thomas
(330) 225-6643

Sr. Warden
Fred H Justice
(330) 722-6005

Jr. Warden
Robert D Fenn
(330) 722-4591

Treasurer
Dennis L. Lawson
(330) 225-2868

Secretary
Donald G Moll
(330) 225-6307

Sr. Deacon
Kevin E Askew
(330) 273-6798

Jr. Deacon
Scott E Buell
(330) 220-7370

Tyler
Bob J. Askew
(330) 225-8444

Trustees
Lloyd G. Egbert
William C Thompson
Roger A Thomas

Medina Lodge No. 58
F & A M of Ohio
120 North Elmwood Avenue
Medina OH 44256-1827
(330) 722-0382

STATED MEETINGS
7:30 PM
2nd Thursday Sep thru Jun
4th Thursday Sep, Oct and
Jan thru Jun

WEBSITE
medinafreemasons.org

TRESTLEBOARD

October 2005

From the East

Dear Brethren,

As we enter the home stretch of the 2005 lodge year I would like to express my sincere thanks for all the help and support I have received during my term as Master of Medina #58. It has been a true honor and privilege to do so.

When we resumed our labors in September, the rust accumulated over the summer months was quite evident; however it is being rubbed off as we continue our work.

At the time of this writing (9-27) I have strong hopes of yet doing one MM on 9-29, two FC on10-6 and three EA on 10-20. The EA meeting will be starting at 6:00 PM instead of the usual 7:00 so that one of the candidates can get to work on time that night and those of us going to work or Grand Lodge the next day can get home at a reasonable hour.

The annual meeting of Medina Lodge will be held on November 10th at 7:30 PM. I urge you all to attend as this will be a very important meeting of our Lodge for several reasons. Early in the 2005 year we had two officers drop out of line for personal or work reasons and just about a month ago the Senior Warden had to drop out of line, so there are a number of vacancies to be filled by election. We also need to take a strong look at our dues structure as we face a projected $15,000 to $16,000, or more, deficit in the operating budget through August of 2006.

Sincerely and Fraternally,

Ted Thomas, WM

From the Southeast Corner

The Masonic Assistance Program

The outstanding success which the Masonic Assistance Program, formerly the Masonic Christmas Food Basket Program, has enjoyed for the past 15 years is due entirely to the generous contributions of the Masons in Summit, Stark, Medina and Portage Counties, not only through our financial support but also the many hours of effort donated assembling and delivering food baskets at Christmas time. You are to be congratulated for your past participation in this program, where 100% of the funds donated provides hope and nourishment to deserving families in the four-county area.

Because the Masonic Assistance Program will be active "throughout the year," we are seeking funds to support this endeavor. Who can receive assistance from the Masonic Assistance Program? Any Mason can recommend someone who has a need, such as a family who has fallen on hard times; someone who has lost his job; a family that has suffered through a death or an illness; a family that is new to the area and is looking for a job or a new place to live; someone who does not have enough money at the end of the month to buy prescriptions or make the necessary repairs on the family car; or someone who has endured the anguish of house damage due to fire or other disasters. For these and so many other reasons, these individuals can receive a gift certificate to show our concern and support. By sending some assistance, we convey the message that we do care about what is happening in their lives. For them, tomorrow will be a better day because Masons helped them today.

Just as much as we need funds to purchase food baskets and gift certificates, we are also looking for the names of Masons, their widows, family or friends - - those who are deserving of our assistance. Perhaps a brother who has lost his employment or whose family is experiencing a personal crisis would appreciate knowing that we are keeping them in our thoughts and prayers. One way that we can express our love and concern for them is by our charitable generosity.

We are asking members of Masonic fraternal organizations who know of a brother or family in need of our assistance to please call WB Tom Spencer during the day at his work phone (216) 406-9001 or in the evenings at home (330) 854-5219. Please give your name and phone number along with name, address and phone number of the recipient.
Brethren, our funds are nearly depleted, with only two gift certificates in reserve. As this is truly not just a Christmas project anymore, please don't wait until November to make your tax-deductible contributions. There may be a need to assist a family in the very near future. If you will, please take a moment of your time to send a donation from your heart that will surely touch the lives of deserving families in the area.

Your tax-deductible checks should be made out to:

"Aroba Lodge of Perfection" with the notation:
Masonic Assistance Program

Mail your contributions to:

Valley of Akron
91 Springside Drive
Akron, Ohio 44333

You can expect to learn more about our Masonic Assistance Program and what the Masons in Summit, Stark, Medina and Portage Counties have accomplished through their charitable works. I thank you for your continued and generous support of our program, especially as the Christmas season approaches.

Thomas L. Spencer, Chairman

“On Finding Things Out”
by Carl H. Claudy

"I'm sore," announced the New Brother to the Old Tiler.

"Where?" demanded the Old Tiler. "I'm no doctor, if it's your teeth or your back."

"It isn't. It's my feelings."

"Oh, well, that's different. As a soother of sore Masonic feelings I am the best little doctor in captivity!" smiled the Old Tiler. "Pull out your symptoms and let's look at them."

"Well, it's being jumped on, if you must know," began the New Brother. "I asked a friend of mine to give me his petition to the lodge and Brother Smith heard it and took me aside and walked all over me. How was I to know we didn't go around asking for petitions? A few days ago a fellow 1 know, at lunch, made a lot of slighting remarks about Masonry and I defended it and a Brother who was present took me to task afterwards and told me I shouldn't discuss Masonry with the profane. How was I to know it wasn't done in the best Masonic circles? Just this evening I answered the telephone and a feminine voice asked for Brother Jones and I said he wasn't here, and the Master walked up and down my spine for giving out any information as to who was and who wasn't present. How was I to know that was a secret?"

"Well, how do you usually find things out?" asked the Old Tiler.

"But I think I ought to be told these things. I think I should be instructed, told what to do and what not to do. I think——-"

"I don't think you think,' interrupted the Old Tiler. "I think you think you think but you don't. You just react. Now you listen to me and answer a few questions, like a good patient, and I'll cure your pimpled feelings, relieve the congestion in your inflamed emotions and reduce the swelling in your cranium and you'll feel a lot better.

"In the first place, what's your business?"

"Why, I am in the hardware business — I own the store at the corner of Main and Oak Streets — what's that got to do with it?"

"When you went into the hardware business, did you know all there was to know about it?"

"I'll say I didn't and don't now. But what———"

"I'm doing the question asking!" snapped the Old Tiler. "Did all the other hardware dealers of this town flock around you and give you good advice? Did they all surround you day and night with counsel and assistance? Or did they let you paddle your own canoe?"

"Just that. I learned what I know by asking questions and reading, by listening to others who knew the game, by——"

"Exactly. You hung up a sign and launched out for yourself, and they accepted you at your own value—as a competitor, a man, a business agent, able to fight your own battles. That's what we do in the lodge. We make you a Master Mason. We give you instruction in Masonry. We make you one of us. Then we turn you loose and expect you to act as if you were a man and a Mason, not a school child. If we spent all our time telling every new brother all we know, we'd have no time to practice brotherhood. We expect you to open not only your ears but your mouth. There are seventy-six men in that lodge to-night, any one of whom will answer any question you ask, and if they don't know the answer they will find some one who does. But to expect the seventy-six to come and force information on you is to be unreasonable. They don't know what you know; they have the natural human reluctance to seem to put themselves in the position of teacher, when they don't know if you want to learn or what you want to learn. Just ask a question and you'll hear something. Stick around with your mouth shut and you won't.

"The fraternity has certain customs and usages. Those who denounce it in public can do it no harm but defense can harm it. If a man gets up in public and says he thinks the public school is useless, the church a bad influence, and the government a failure, banks a hindrance to business and the automobile a blot on civilization, do you think you have to defend the school, the church, the government, the bank, the automobile? Every thinking human being knows the public school has made this country what it is, that the church makes men and women better, that this is the best of all governments and that the automobile is the greatest of time savers. These things are self-evident. The man who denies them makes himself ridiculous, not the thing he criticizes. So with criticism of Masonry — it hurts the man who utters the criticism, not the thing criticized. To defend the institution in public is to make yourself of the same class as the man who criticizes."

"All that is true. I admit it, but I didn't know it."

"No, and you didn't know you were not supposed to say Brother Jones wasn't here when he was, or wasn't here. That's his business. But I'm telling you. And I'm telling you because you asked me. I thought you knew all this. How was I to know you didn't? You never told me you didn't."

"Well, er—I thought—I mean——"

"You thought you thought but you thought wrong!" smiled the Old Tiler. "Son, just remember this; don't do anything, don't say anything, don't even think about Masonry while you are new until you have asked. We are old, old; we have customs and usages, ideas, ways of doing, even ways of thinking, which have grown up through the years with us. You will learn them gradually as you attend lodge and as you talk with well-informed Masons. Don't be afraid to open your mouth in lodge. No one will laugh at you, all will help. But don't ask questions outside the lodge and don't talk outside the lodge until you know what you are talking about."

"I know one place outside the lodge where I can, do and shall talk!" defended the New Brother.

"In spite of what I say?" demanded the Old Tiler somewhat tartly.

"Yep, in spite of what you say. And that place is right here in the ante-room," smiled the New Brother. "And thank you."

"Umph!" grunted the Old Tiler.