Inaugural Speech

The Future Starts Today!!!

Right Worshipful District Grand Master Bro. Col. Lemuel Lindo, Worshipful Sirs, Distinguished Brethren, Brethren All – Good evening and thank you very much for honoring us with your presence!

I thank our Installing Team, led by our Installing Master, Right Worshipful Martin Ashley Williamson, our Installing Chaplain, our Installing Master of Ceremonies, and Installing Organist
I am also grateful for the attendance of so many Brethren from near and far!

I am also grateful for the association I’ve had with and lessons learned from such Brothers as PM Brother Perkins – whom I’ve known since before either of us were Masons over 30 years ago, PM Howard Ennis my proposer – whose wise counsel is often sought and valued, indeed a big Brother I look up to and my seconder PM Norman Wright.

I look forward to seeing you all downstairs tonight’s Installation Banquet

Brethren – I stand before you in the East both humbled and excited –– humbled by the honor you have bestowed on me, and excited by the opportunity to serve you in this office for the next 12 months.

I must report that, “My goals are not different to those who have gone before me – ie “To improve the position of our Fraternity over all, to serve the Brethren to the best of my ability, and to expound the virtues of Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth.” Realizing not one person can do everything alone I enjoin you my Brethren in these efforts which I have described as a project and, with your support and assistance, leverage on past lessons learned and devise new strategies to improve the state of the Fraternity in our lodge, while implementing programs that will: Revitalize our Brethren, which will in turn be an example to other lodges, Restructure our Lodge, and give our younger Brethren more ‘ownership’ of Lodge affairs, as I believe the future of any organization – especially of ours – lies in the hands of its younger members, and, give our Order more Relevance; we must strive in changing the community’s perception of our Order for the better – and encourage the Brethren to ‘come out’ of the Lodge and get more involved in community affairs.”

This afternoon, I do not want to dwell on the past, for while Freemasonry has a past, it is not passé. I would rather have us learn and grow from, than re-live, those experiences in moving forward to a brighter tomorrow!

The famous Irish playwright, co-founder of the London School of Economics, and only person to have been awarded both a Nobel Prize in Literature and an Oscar – George Bernard Shaw – said, "We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future." I agree, and I say, tomorrow is the future, and the future starts today!

My vision of our Fraternity is that of one with inspired members – so inspired that they make Lodge meetings one of their priorities, one whose members would never even think of demitting from.
During the next 12 months. I will seek to focus on the following critical areas to achieve this, by,
improving good men through mentorship, education, fellowship and leadership, to provoke the thoughts of this extremely intelligent membership - the effect of Post Modernism on Ancient and Accepted Freemasonry to implement new ideas, to strategies to ensure we continue what we have started,
to have fresh ideas to keep us motivated eg a reward system to encourage our Brethren to continue working for the growth of Lodge philanthropy, financial sustainability, to ensure that the sick or distressed Brethren, widows of deceased Brethren are cared for in a manner consistent with our obligations.

research, restoration and securing our rich history
to maintain harmony and resolve disputes and conflicts

I also envision our Craft cultivating and improving the minds of our members in everything they do, which will only cause more free-thinking men to knock at our doors to seek admission.
I see our Lodge doing more community outreach programs, thus serving as a magnet that will attract community and business leaders to our Lodges.

I know you share this vision, Right Worshipful District Grand Master, who is among us today, “we need to be an organization that members want and not just an organization that wants members.”

The strength of Freemasonry in your district is directly proportional to the strength of your Lodges. Now, more than ever, is the time for all of us to pull together with determination to help strengthen our Lodges, the foundation of our Fraternity, so Freemasonry can guarantee a bright future for both our members and society in general.

We will all agree “Masons may err, but that does not make Masonry wrong. Masons may fail, but their failure is not the failure of Masonry”, and, “If Masons fail, it is because of lack of Masonry in them. If Masons do not make a mark, it is because they have lost the marks of Masonry.”

One of my Masonic heroes has always been Benjamin Franklin, one of USA founding fathers, diplomatic statesman, scientist and of course a Mason. His humor and wit were often used to disarm adversaries, make light of a troubling moment and provide advice and directions in times when it was needed most. One of my favorite quotes is certainly.

“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn”.
I firmly believe that a proper and sound Masonic education should be the foundation of a productive life as one goes through his journey in our Fraternity. I submit that knowledge of our eso-teric work in the degrees, lectures and other aspects of our rituals should not, by themselves, be the only focus in building our foundation; a good knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the symbolic meanings of Masonry is what stirs the soul of men to commit themselves to active participation.
Accordingly, Lodge DOE, working hand-in-hand with the Lodge Mentor/Coach – under the guidance of the District Grand Lecturer, should follow this through, and I have no doubt we can only succeed!
We owe it to those who came before us – those who handed this great Fraternity down to us – to, at the very least, keep it in the same state it was left to us, or, even better, to improve it that we may be able to pass it on to those who will come after us in the best shape we can bring it up to! It seems we might have become complacent and indifferent, if not apathetic, perhaps in a rush to ensure we increase our ranks with new members even at the expense of quality! If so, this is unacceptable and a disservice not only to the Craft, but more importantly to those members who might not have been given the proper tools to learn better – our Brothers who will carry on after us when we will later be either too old to attend Lodge or would then be gone to that Celestial Lodge, because, perhaps
they did not know any better, and, those of us who are supposed, to failed to teach them!

“We simply can no longer materialize as Masons when convenient to do so and dematerialize when inconvenient; we cannot be part-time Masons and part-time profane!” Brethren, we must practice those obligations we all took on becoming Masons, and we must, indeed, go beyond the rituals we went through and practice out of the Lodge those great lessons we, hopefully, learned in it.

Masonry must be our way of life!!!

Albert Pike reminds us that “Masonry is action, not inertness. It requires its initiates to work actively and earnestly for the benefit of their Brethren, their country and mankind…If we but eat and drink and sleep and let everything go on around us as it pleases; or if we live to amass wealth or gain office or wear titles, we might as well not have lived at all ... Remember that life’s length is not measured by its hours and days, but by that which we have done for our country and our citizenry”

As a final note, I would like to remind my brothers of the Mason’s tool: the trowel. It is used by stonemasons to unite many stones into a single building, and symbolically used by us to unite our members in mutual support and fellowship. I urge our new generation of Masons to create strong associations with each other and learn from the collective knowledge of our veteran members. Also, I urge more experienced Masons to pick up the phone, call one of our new brothers, get nosy, and check-in with them. Oftentimes, a new brother doesn’t know how to ask for a mentor, and needs someone to initiate contact and create the opportunity. In this spirit, I ask the Past Masters to contact me, give advice, get nosy, and tell me how it was done in their year, that I may have stronger footing as I stand on the shoulders of giants.”

In closing – to our Masonic forebears, I say: Thank you for this great Institution and your legacies; to future Masons, I say: We will make ourselves worthy of your emulation to the best of our abilities; to the present Masons, I say: Although we must not forget the past, let us not dwell in it; remember, there is no future in the past! There is work to be done, and we must do it if we are to ensure our future.

The future starts here. It starts now, and it starts with us.
“The future starts today!”
Thank you very much!!!
God bless us all!!!