CAST THE BALLOT!

CAST THE BALLOT

By: VW JOSELITO P. TAMARAY, PDDGM

(A Masonic Education lecture delivered during the stated meeting of Tayabas Lodge No. 43 on November 18, 2006 as Guest Speaker and Kalilayan Lodge No. 37 before balloting of candidates for the degrees of masonry and other lodges in Masonic District 4-C, Quezon Province)

“ Most of us go through life with our eyes closed to many of the opportunities which we have for working on the Temple of Universal Brotherhood. Struck by the dazzling structure as designed upon the trestle-board, we are blind to the little tasks which lie close at hand. We fail to grasp our trowels to spread the mortar of understanding and good will in the situation right before us…. There is so much bad in the best of us and so much good in the worst of us that it little behooves any of us to criticize the rest of us!”

It is by reason of this indifference that I now stand before you and I dare you to please listen!

I rise Brethren with an avowed purpose to seek guidance from you as I am about to cast my ballot on the fate of a candidate who desires to be conferred the Degrees of Masonry.

I rise my dear Brethren with an avowed purpose that you will give me good counsel that I should cast my ballot wisely. That I may have to be strict but not unreasonable; personal feelings should not stand the way for a candidate’s disqualification and that the yardstick should always be the Fraternity and not myself knowing that only worthy men can be accepted to our fold. That you will not hesitate to admonish me gently by the strong grip of the Lion’s Paw and on the Five Points of Fellowship with the hope to rectify my errors, if there be any.

I rise before you with an avowed purpose that you may enlighten me not to use my ballot as an instrument of vengeance but a tool for wise judgment. That my ballot is sacred and should not be taken lightly knowing that before being conferred the degrees of masonry it was the ballot that sealed my fate and that “No man has a right to become a freemason for it is a privilege controlled at the ballot box.”

I rise with an avowed purpose that you will assure me that I will not unfairly judge any candidate for purely unfounded reasons knowing fully well that the Investigating Committee Reports are all favorable. And that I will have to know all the facts first before making my conclusions so that I may not err in the end, bearing in mind the time-honored tradition that only men with a noble purpose and can keep the faith of our Masonic ancestors and can pass it unsullied to the next generation of masons deserve to be given a favorable ballot.

I rise in front of my Peers with an avowed purpose that you will inform me that a total of Five Masons vouched and staked their professions and reputations on the candidate’s worth before I will cast my ballot. Two (2) recommenders attested by signatures on his application to his fidelity and right to participation in the Fraternal Order, and Three (3) on the Investigating Committee said the same. That I am always mindful that the strength of freemasonry rests upon its discipline, its faith, its example which we possess.

I rise on the Level with an avowed purpose that you should remind me constantly that I should treat every individual as my brother regardless of race or creed and that the Level, one of my principal working tools is not limited only to my brother masons “for all I care to know is that the candidate is a human being – that is enough for me; he can’t be any worse!” That you may advise me that one day the candidate might become Worshipful Master of this lodge or may wear the “the Purple of our Fraternity” and rule the Grand Jurisdiction once he is voted favorably. Or that he will be virtually unknown in the fraternity or seldom attend lodge meetings but faithfully practice the tenets and philosophy of freemasonry and lives his life in full accord with the spirit of our Order.

I rise on the Square with an avowed purpose that my brethren will abide by the wisdom of my judgment in casting my ballot and that whatever may be the result my conscience will not bother me forever and that I can live in peace with that I cannot change. And ever mindful that I will leave all judgments of other’s sins to the Supreme Being and that I will not compromise the interest of our order unless due inquiry has been done on the candidates physical, intellectual, and moral fitness.

I rise to inform you my brethren that I will use the Trowel, the principal tool of a Master Mason to spread the cement of brotherly love and affection. The individual Mason is a builder on the Temple of Human Brotherhood; he is both the trowel and the cement which combine the units of society into a cohesive whole. The brotherly love he extends to others is the trowel; the appreciation and affection he arouses are the cement which helps to bind men closer to each other. But how many of us consciously use the trowel of brotherly love to spread the cement of appreciation and understanding?

I speak of charity, of love. But how do I treat my fellowmen, even my own brethren?

I speak of the Fatherhood of God and yet in my actions in every day life, I often bear no resemblance to the heavenly father.

I am taught to be sincere and to avoid hypocrisy, yet hide my identity for purposes of convenience?

I boast of walking upright in rectitude as by the Plumb, yet in every day life I often see myself very much bent, far from the upright, a disgrace to morality and decency and to Masonry.
I proudly wear the Masonic ring and display Masonic emblems for the world to see but what value does it give me if I do not even know its meaning.

I tell my neighbors and friends that I am member of this Honorable Fraternal Order but what benefit will it give to masonry if I cannot even defend it against insidious attacks.
I might have traveled long and wide and mingled with prominent masons but what good does it give to masonry if my motive is only to establish connections for the promotion of my selfish interest.

Yes, I am a Mason, and for what? I do not know? For honestly, I seldom attend lodge meetings, the least that I wanted to do for after-all I have perfect excuses not to and that I have done nothing to improve myself according to our Ancient Landmarks.

All my inconsistencies, my weaknesses, my hypocrisy, these are strains to the honor and prestige of Masonry. No wonder then that because of my actions Masonry have legions of enemies who take advantage of my own faults and weaknesses which could have been avoided if only I am sincere to my Obligations as a Mason.

Finally, my Brethren, I rise with all humility that you will not judge me of my shortcomings being fully aware that not one of us should know who will cast the Black Cube on the future of the candidate. Let it not be said that the hopes, dreams and aspirations of the candidate be not deemed by the mysterious prerogative of the brother who initiated the ritualistic declaration -“Cloudy in the South, Dark in the West and Black in the East.” Whatever is in the mind of the wielder of the Black Cube as his apron proudly flapped while he dealt the blow is for him alone to know “and whoever that brother is should be prepared to bare his soul at another Lodge someday and explain his deed done while in the body.”

Certainly, my brethren, in times like this, when good, honest and sincere men are rare specimens, as Masons worth our salt, I need you to join me to travel by the Plumb, act upon the Square and meet our fellowmen on the Level. In so doing we shall have live a real Masonic life, ever bearing the blessed fruits of Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth.

In closing, thank you for all the wisdom and I am now ready to cast my ballot for I know that kindness and brotherly affection distinguish our conduct as Men and as Masons!

And
“May the checkered pavement ever remind us of our weaknesses and strengths and help us to be more tolerant of the failure of others. Let us not judge our brothers and fellows; after all we are not God!”

“With faith in Man, hope for the future of humanity, loving kindness for our fellows, Masonry and the Mason must always work and teach….. for it is not a brotherhood until you give it and not freemasonry until you live it!”