Arizona Masonry - 1st Quarter 2020

Arizona Masonry Deputy Grand Master Right Worshipful Boyd Robertson Be A Brother Brothers What does this word really mean to you? Do you immediately think of your blood relations? Or do you think of Masonic Brothers? Or do you first think of some other group of men that you call brothers? How are they a part of your day to day life? How have they formed the man that you are today and how are they involved in your everyday life?

My thoughts generally turn to the guys that I grew up with. General friendship and sports were the way that we all met over the years of grade school, middle school and high school. We are extremely fortunate in the fact that we have always been close, and we still are to this day. There are fewer than a hand full of people that I have met in my life that have this strong connection with the people that they grew up with that are not family. This is a group that I still communicate with at the very least once a month.

It’s pretty amazing that with some of them it has been almost 50 years! And if any one of us starts to stray there is a very large group that is not afraid to straighten each other out. These are absolutely my brothers and helped to shape me into the man that I am today!

As for blood relations I had one brother that I lost about 18 years ago. I think of him with fondness, but as time goes by it is not as often. As for any other groups I did not ever join any other fraternity and did not serve in the military, so I do not have brothers in those regards. Those of you that do should think of how they helped to make you the man that you currently are. Are there some of them that you need to take the time to call and catch up with?

And now on to our Masonic Brothers. Do you still communicate with your mentors or coaches if they are still with us? What about the brothers that you have mentored? Any of you that were officers how about your brother officers? Do you check in and see how they are doing or if they need any help? At times I am very lacking in keeping up with by brothers in this regard. Work, family and just life in general sometimes gets in the way of this communication. But we must always strive to keep ourselves active with our brother Masons. Meet with them on a social level. Don’t just show up for a stated meeting or a degree. Generally speaking, we cannot really catch up or talk at these events in any type of a deep or meaningful level. Go to lunch or dinner with them. Visit them at their home. Do some other type of activity with them. These are the things that will make you actual Brothers, not just brothers in the Lodge. Call a brother that you haven’t seen in a while. Find out what is going on with them and see if there is anything that you can help them with. All of this takes time and effort, but it is absolutely worth it to spend time with your Brothers and hopefully improve ourselves at the same time. Share ideas with your Lodge Brothers or around the State that you think can help improve our Fraternity and make us all better men.

In closing all that I am going to say is we can probably all do better and be better so: Be a Brother!

5 Arizona Masonry—A Grand Lodge F. & A.M. of Arizona Publication www.AzMasons.org