On February 6th, it was reported in the Hamilton Spectator, a local paper in Ontario, that three Lodge buildings in Caledonia, Cayuga and Hagersville, were defaced by vandals with hate speech. The article states that it may have been teenage vandals but they are not sure. The vandals wrote on the side of the building in Hagersville the words, "F*** your Secrets. We don’t want you anymore. Get out.”
"Get out." No matter how well we do public relations, there still remains in this world some amount of anger towards our gentle Craft. Although it is possible that this could have been teenagers, I am convinced that it was an adult. What could drive a person, an adult, to deliver this kind of hateful message? I really can't answer that question.
When I entered my Lodge, I knew there were Anti-Masons. I have been studying Political Science for years and knew the story of the Anti-Masonic Party. But I really have never met an "Anti" and I can't understand the anger that is aimed towards us. Perhaps the vandal was a former member, maybe he has a religious belief about us or he perhaps could be incapacitated.
As I described in an earlier post, when I speak with the public, I try to explain Masonry as fully as I can. Although I am not sure what to say exactly, I try to explain that we have been members of the community for years. We do good works for our members and the community. Many of the great men in the world have been Masons. Sadly, it seems that although we try to help people understand who we are, there is always someone who believes the conspiracy theories.
Even though I am sad that this event happen and my thoughts are with my brothers in Ontario, I think we can survive events like this. We are strong, this band of brothers and we must soldier on, never looking back when someone attempts throw us off our path. I am certain that the brothers of St. John's Lodge No.35, St. Andrew's Lodge No. 62, Enniskillen Lodge No. 185 and Hiram Lodge No.319 will dust themselves off. They have been a part of the community longer than anyone has been alive and will remain indefinitely into the future. We will not "get out."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
1 comment:
Amazing. As an educator, and an openly visible Mason in a small community, it never ceases to amaze me that there people who could go to such extremes.
I could not imagine living in a community where I may need to conceal my membership in the Craft. Here we walk in parades, sponsor portions of highways to keep clean, and have the S&C on the large welcome sign greeting people to our town just like other organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce.
Post a Comment