Masonic charity must operate outside the Masonic Home as well as within, or we are falling down on the job. Any Lodge that has no one needing help is either quite fortunate or quite blind.

9 - 'Having Eyes, See Ye Not?'

Dear Tom:

EARS and years before our time, Masonic leaders in the U.S.A. were debating the question of whether Masonic charity should be administered on the local level or with large scale custodial care on the jurisdictional level.

"Ours is the hard way, but it's the Masonic way," declared one group.

"Lodges can't carry the load on the local level; you've got to centralize to do the job," insisted the other.

They were both right. The answer wasn't either/or. It was both/and.

Trouble is, our Brethren of long ago went about it in the typical American way by moving from one extreme to the other. How much better if there had been a judicious blend of the two philosophies !

In my last letter I introduced you to an imaginary elderly widow of a Past Master of Acacia Lodge. We called her Aunt Stella. I had something to say about a kindly, thoughtful and humane manner in which Aunt Stella could be taken to the Masonic Home if the need arises and she is accepted as a member.

Now let's think about the numerous opportunities Acacia Lodge can seize upon to put life and meaning into our commitment involving Masonic charity. We can find those opportunities, if we look, on two fronts:

For those persons sponsored by Acacia Lodge who are residents of the Masonic Home;

For other persons bound to us by the mystic tie of Freemasonry who are not members of the Masonic Home, nor desirous of becoming Home residents.

But here's where the cataracts will start growing on the eyes of our officers and Brethren unless we work tirelessly at trying to make them see the needs of those all about us--needs that can be provided by Master Masons with just a little effort and concern.

At this point, Tom, I daresay you can visualize how our Brethren in Acacia Lodge will be alert to the need and react at once to a case that calls for Masonic Home membership, but deaf to the call of distress if it comes from someone who needs only our understanding, counsel, compassion, a sympathetic ear and a helping hand in solving a difficult problem.

The King James version of the Bible on my desk asks the pointed question, "Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not?"

The Living Bible puts it even more bluntly: "Your eyes are to see with--why don't you look? Why don't you open your ears and listen?"

All right, Tom, my lad, now that the Great Light has challenged us, let's look with our eyes and listen with our ears.

Your old Mentor believes that Masonic charity must operate outside the Masonic Home as well as within, or we are falling down on the job.

I can almost hear the Secretary of Acacia Lodge protesting, "But we have no one needing help!"

To which my answer, if I were present, would have to be, "Any Lodge that has no one needing help is either quite fortunate or quite blind."

What do I mean? Very well, let's get down to brass tacks. Here's what I mean:

For the Masonic Home Member

Suppose Acacia Lodge has just elected to sponsor a member at the Masonic Home. Our Brethren have been persuaded that they should open their eyes and unstop their ears. What can we do?

Just as a starter, here are a few ideas:

• Visits. Go as often as possible; several times a year. Go singly or in lots. But go.

• Spending money. Every Home member should have a little now and then, for personal use. And it should come from the old home town. II helps to maintain self respect, if for no other reason. Ten dollars a month from Acacia Lodge should be the absolute minimum.

• The home town newspaper. A subscription renewed annually will do wonders in keeping the Home member in touch with events back in the old familiar haunts.

• Postage stamps. It costs money to mail a letter, and takes more every year, it seems. Stamps are precious to a Masonic Home resident. Keep them coming.

• Stationery and envelopes.

• Transportation to and from Indianapolis for those who are still able to travel about. A trip to the city to see the sights and just window shop has a way of restoring a certain sense of well being.

• A trip back home now and then, with arrangements whereby the Masonic Home member can spend a few days as a guest of the Lodge.

• For the ladies: Potted plants. Materials for needlework.

• For the Brethren: Shaving materials. Cigars and tobacco.

• For both ladies and Brethren: Candy. Cookies. Coins for the soft drink dispensers. Books. Magazines. And personal letters, which are the "staff of life."

• It's all very well to shower the Masonic Home resident with gifts at Christmas. But remember, between Christmases there's a long dry spell.

Keep the remembrances coming, no matter how small or insignificant they may be. Remember the birthdays, too. In a sense, the birthday is more important than any other holiday.

For One Outside The Masonic Home

But Tom, my friend, the real challenge--the one that divides the men from the boys, the Masons from the member s--comes when a Brother is persuaded to open his eyes, take the plugs out of his ears, get off the seat of his britches, and start looking around. If he does that he will find Master Masons and their dependents who are desperately in need of a helping hand--not through membership in a faraway Masonic Home, but in the community of residence. Just down the street, perhaps. Or over in the next block.

And if we aren't on the lookout for those who are bound to us by the mystic tie of Freemasonry, and if we aren't on the job to help them in their need, we are failing miserably in the discharge of our Masonic duties.

Then how do we go about it? Where do we look, and what do we look for?

Much of this letter is adapted from The Indiana Freemason, January, February and May 1972: "Fighting With Dull Weapons," "But We Have No One Needing Help" and "Then What Can We Do?"

• The older couple, once active, now out of the circle of fraternal relations.

• The widow left with small children, who may be working to help support them and could use a few dollars, quietly given, to supplement the budget.

• The older widow with few or no close relatives who may live alone and be barely subsisting on her meager resources.

• The couple or individual whose children may live in distant places and come home to visit only once or twice a year.

• The widow who has been trying to keep up her property, finds it difficult to hire help and cannot afford help in any event.

• The widows of former active members, Past Masters, Tylers, Secretaries, who can at least be invited to Ladies' Night and Family Night functions as guests of the Lodge.

Any member of Acacia Lodge can make a visit to an elderly couple or individual and, in doing so, make casual inquiry as to health and happiness. Such an inquiry may lead to unexpected and tremendously appreciated avenues of service. Even if no immediate help is indicated, the visit is worthwhile. Certainly it is a morale-booster for both visitor and visited.

But suppose you have opened your eyes and found someone who needs a little help over a difficult situation. How do you go about that?

• First, as we used to say in the Army, let's make an estimate of the situation; in other words, identify the problem.

Is it money? (It's surprising how many times money is not the principal item that is required.)

Or is it failing health? Or a housing problem? Or senility? Or indifferent relatives? Or is it a situation where counselling by persons sincerely interested and sympathetic would provide that little boost necessary to "get over the hump?"

Once the extent of the problem is known, you can try to enumerate available private resources.

• At the top of the list would come the Lodge; then explore the possibility of appendant bodies.

• Then look for public resources, such as public welfare assistance, Aid to Dependent Children, food stamps. Perhaps public employment services will be the answer. Or public health services and clinics. Or eligibility for services provided through Social Security.

• Once you find what the available resources are, there comes the opportunity to "go to bat" for the needy person. In a great many cases that alone will solve the immediate problem.

• In the meantime, you can always institute an active program of keeping in touch with the widows of our deceased Brethren.

• You can work out on paper a program of what to do if a Brother, his wife or widow has open heart surgery and there is a desperate need for blood.

• You can determine what to do if a Brother is in a faraway Veterans Hospital and his wife needs transportation in getting there and back.

What can we do? The Living Bible tells us what to do: "Your eyes are to see with--why don't you look? Why don't you open your ears and listen?"

--Your Old Mentor