The North Carolina Mason

May/June 2009

North Carolina Mason

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T h e m i s s i o n o f fr e e m a s o n r y i n no r T h Ca r o l i n a i s T o r a i s e T h e m o r a l, s o C i a l, i n T e l l e C T u a l, a n d s p i r i T u a l C o n s C i e n C e o f s o C i e T y b y T e a C h i n g T h e a n C i e n T a n d e n d u r i n g p h i l o s o p h i C a l TeneTs of broTherly love, relief, and TruTh, whiCh are expressed ouTwardly Through serviCe To god, family, CounTry, and self under The faTherhood of god wiThin The broTherhood of man. The Mason NORTH CAROLINA (USPS 598-260) is published bimonthly by e Grand Lodge of AF & AM of North Carolina, 2921 Glenwood Avenue, Raleigh, NC 27608. ird class postage paid at Oxford, NC 27565. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to e North Carolina Mason, School Of Graphic Arts, Masonic Home for Children, Oxford, NC 27565. Grand Master Dan C. Rice Board Of Publication John O. Newman Jr., Chairman Gary R. Ballance Don E. Bolden omas A. Pope Jr. Hugh K. Terrell Jr. Editor Ric Carter Good quality pictures, whether color or black and white, are essential for suitable reproduction. e right to reject any submission not suitable for use is reserved. Pictures will be returned to the sender only if accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Submissions and other correspondence should be sent to the editor at PO Box 6506, Raleigh, NC 27628 or rcarter@grandlodge-nc.org. Each North Carolina Mason is a subscriber to e North Carolina Mason. If you know a member who is not receiving the paper, please send us his full name, his complete address and the name and number of his lodge. Masonic widows receive e Mason free upon request. Subscriptions are available to others at a rate of five dollars per year. Subscription inquiries and address changes only should be sent to: e School of Graphic Arts, Masonic Home for Children, 600 College Street, Oxford, North Carolina 27565. Reproduction of articles by Masonic organiza- tions is permitted with proper credits. Opinions expressed are not necessar- ily those of The North Carolina Mason, the Grand Lodge, or Board of Publication. Page 2 The North Carolina Mason May/June 2009 From the editor's desk or is willing to show up and help with every work project at the lodge? How about the Brother that cannot make it to the lodge regularly, but really supports the Masonic charities with financial gifts each year? And then, there is the Brother who does not know any of the ritual, who, because of his age, cannot work at the fund- raisers or the work projects and who cannot give large amounts to the charities, but who lives his life, year after year, as a good and decent man. is man lives Masonry in all areas of his life and gives as he can to the charities and is proud of his Masonry. Are all of these Masons equal? I guess it depends on who is judging and what criteria they are using. ere are certainly peo- ple that would argue on behalf of each of them. After carefully pondering whether all of us are created equal, I have simply concluded that, given my very limited skill set, God given gifts, and personal experiences, I am not even remotely qualified to seriously consider the question. We are all put to- gether so differently that there is no way to compare people by the way they are created by God. On the other hand, there are certainly methods to compare people by the way they live their lives after being created. Some people choose to be mean and selfish while others tend to be nice and charitable. Some people tend to be industrious, while others are lazy. We do get to choose how we live our lives. Some choose well, while others make poor choices. Our Masonic teaching says that we are to judge a man based on his internal and not exter- nal qualifications. A person cannot control what gifts he is given when created, nor how tall he is, nor the color of his eyes or skin, but he can decide whether to be a good man or a bad man. As Masons, it is important that we choose men who are good on the inside regardless of their external appearance. e lesson to be learned here is that everyone has different God-given gifts. It is extremely important that any organization, and especially a Masonic lodge, have a diversity of men with a complete variety of God-given gifts. A lodge will always function better with a wide range of thoughts, skills, and abilities. Har- mony is not having everybody thinking exactly alike. Harmony is when everyone agrees to work together for the common good. I want to emphasize that all of us have been given many spiri- tual gifts by God. We did not get to pick our individual gifts any more than we got to determine our own skin color. No one gift is greater than another. at being said, we do determine whether we utilize our God-given talents for others. An unused gift from God is like a beautiful apple being allowed to rot. On every good team, regardless of the sport, people have different assignments and different skills. A really good coach will analyze his pool of talent and available positions and match them up properly. My challenge to masters and lodge officers is to get all the Brothers in the game. Every lodge has an abundance of talented brothers waiting to be asked to help. May we always meet on the level and judge others only by their internal qualifications — if we have to judge at all. Let charity and love prevail in our lives. e Apostle Paul said in I Corinthians 13:1–3, "If I could speak in any language in heaven or earth but didn't love others, I would only be making meaningless noise like a loud gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophesy, and if I knew all the myster- ies of the future, and knew everything about everything, but didn't love others, what good would it be? And if I had the gift of faith so that I could speak to a mountain and make it move, without love I would be no good to anybody. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn't love others, I would be of no value whatsoever." BOTTOMLINE, from page 1 HAMLET — It's an unusual coincidence for a sitting master to earn a service award during his term in office. It goes into the realm of unbe- lievable when the service award is the Diamond Jubilee Award— that one is given for 60 years lodge membership. Recognizing the rarity of the occasion, Grand Master Dan Rice himself attended Hamlet 532's March 12 meeting to present personally Hamlet Lodge Master Earl Bradshaw his Diamond Ju- bilee pin and certificate. Bradshaw, at 93 years old, is thought to be the oldest master in North Carolina, and one of our oldest ever. It's his second trip to the chair. Raised in Hamlet Lodge in 1949, Bradshaw served a year as tyler before being appointed to the officer line of the lodge. He was master in 1962 at age 47. He went on the serve as lodge chaplain for 25 years before entering the officer line again. Hitting 94 August 8, he is serving his second term at twice his age during his first term. An estimated 100 Masons from around the state attended the event. And, lest you giggle, no, Earl's no "old man in dotage." He's enjoying a capable and energetic year in the east. — William P. Horne Jr. Masonic research loses an old friend FULLERTON, CALIFORNIA — Ralph Herbold, longtime face of the Southern Califor- nia Research Lodge, passed away earlier this year. He was 93. Herbold joined the SCRL in 1959 and was its master in 1963. Ralph's letters to the members became the publication of the educa- tion oriented lodge. You can learn more about his admirable legacy and Masonry at . — Fraternal Review I spend what seems a trivial Saturday. e mower repair was not finished, so I don't bother with the yard. I piddle on the computer with my weekly photo self-assignment. I make trivial comments on a couple of email lists I follow. I do a little work on e North Carolina Mason. To avoid heating up the house, my wife Kitty asks me to do burgers and chicken on the grill. Beth, my teenaged daughter pushes me to go cell phone shopping. Our contract is expiring and so is her phone. I said, "Okay," but am not looking forward to it. I have a beer while I grill and continue to dread the trivial shopping. We eat lunch, and after piddling a bit more on the computer, I go upstairs, lay on the bed, and take more of a nap than I intend. It's an unnecessary nap. Kitty offers to wake me to go cell phon- ing, but Beth says, "Don't bother," giving me a reprieve. I wake late, pour down a Diet Dr Pepper for a kick of caffeine, and offer to phone shop. Beth gets herself together, and I grab a camera bag. Off we go to the cell phone store. We drive an uneventful 20 minutes to Smith- field. We arrive to a locked door — they close earlier than we thought. Just another trivial waste of time. As long as we are out, we head to Selma and take a look around — we cruise by the Amtrak station and through the little down- town. ere's nothing happening, no photos seen — what a waste of time. Loop finished, we head back out toward home. Just before our turn, I notice that the trees on the edge of a cemetery pond work well with that new wide angle lens I just got. We swerve into the cemetery for my shot. Beth is curious about a bunker-like structure, and heads off to investigate. After taking my picture, I grab the car, join Beth to see this odd, modern barrow. We hop back in the car and take the long, circular drive out. I never knew that old burial ground was be- hind the newer cemetery. We go to look. I notice a running car parked behind a line of trees at the back of the cemetery and assume lovers necking in a semiprivate spot. We walk around the old burial ground and talk about what we see. I take a trivial snap or two. Beth asks about the car, we laugh about my guess. We head back to our car. I take a better (snoopish?) look at the parked car. Something bright green peeks through under and behind Is any moment trivial? the car. Odd. As I put cameras in the backseat, Beth asks about the car again. Our curiosity is tweaked for some trivial reason. I stop to take a better look. Yea, green like a garden hose. I move closer as Beth sits in the car texting away on the dying cell phone. e green seems to take on a coil shape and one part seems to go up and toward the back end of the car. I go a little closer. Yep, that's what it is — I'm almost sure. I go back to the car, take Be's phone, dial 911, and tell them what I think I see. In less than five minutes, an ambulance rolls in, sees us waving, and goes to the car. ey snatch a hose lose, jimmy the locked door of the car, and pull a young, semiconscious woman from the vehicle filled with belongings and ex- haust gas. We interrupted a suicide attempt. Shortly, we hear coughing and crying. I counted backward through every trivial, meaningless moment of the day. No mower, too long nap, closed store, a random turn choice based on idle curiosity, a glimpse of trees reflect- ed in a pond... Only those exact accidents and non-events would have added up to being where we were, when we were. We never aimed to be there — trivial things just added up that way. Each moment is trivial. Each moment is momentous. It's a matter of what we choose to do with those moments. Sometimes, it's a matter of what they choose to do with us. Nothing matters. Everything and every tiny detail matters. Grand Master Rice congratulates Bradshaw in his 60 years as a Mason. Sitting Master gets 60-year award Sundays by the sea WANCHESE — Raymond Wescott works on a tug boat. Where does a waterman go to relax? His other boat, of course. Raymond is here to re- pair the radio on his small trawler near the State Seafood Industrial Park. It's a bit of a hobby and a bit of a second job. Wescott has the names of two lodges on the flap of his leather apron. As he was going through his degrees in 1961, Wanchese 521 and Manteo 682 were consolidating into a single lodge. As most Masons, Wescott feels he should be more active in his lodge.. Ric Car ter photo NC Mason Deadlines Issue Deadline January/February .................... January 1 March/April .......................... March 1 May/June................................May 1 July/August.............................. July 1 September/October .............. September 1 November/December ............ November 1 You're invited St. John's Day June 27 OXFORD — e annual celebration at the Masonic Home for Children begins with a meeting of Orphans Lodge at 8:30 a.m. ere's a service in the chapel at 10:00. Tours and other at- tractions run from 11:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. Details are at . Summer Assembly July 12–14 MAGGIE VALLEY — e 187 th Great Smokies Summer As- sembly of York Rite Masons is set for July 12–14. It's a cool spot dur- ing the heat of summer and has lots of events for the whole family. You can get details from York Rite at PO Box 17212, Raleigh, NC 27619 or . Mocksville Masonic Picnic August 6 MOCKSVILLE — e 129 th Annual Mocksville Picnic is set for August 6. Billed as the "oldest and greatest picnic on Earth," it will be held at the Clement Grove Masonic Picnic Grounds here. Speaker is at 11:00 o'clock a.m., and lunch is served at noon. Visit for details.

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