My Masonic Journey - Part I

(Post does not contain actual secret handshake)

I've decided that I am to busy to write an "Introduceyourself" post. Not that I will not make time to do that very soon, but the issue is that I have too much content within my everyday life and too many roles for one introductory post to encompass very much of who I am as a person: Father, Musician, Tech-Junkie, Crypto Evangelist, Special Police Officer, VR Addict......

Skipping ahead to the status I look to when looking inward, I am a Freemason.
That's a relatively simple 3 words: I AM A FREEMASON

It has been just over ten years since I was "Raised" and made a full-fledged Brother of the Order. In this first post on the subject I am going back to before that time. Back to when I was not a parent, had given up music for a few years, and was on hiatus from unnecessary tech. Wish I could say I was into crypto back in 2005 or 2006, namely because I'd be a zillionaire.

I had heard very little about Freemasonry. My lawyer was in what was to become my mother lodge. I had grown up with his son and they always kept me out of trouble, or respectively from getting caught by the law. That's what lawyers are good at. My grandfather was a Mason, but he had passed on 2001, so I could not ask him questions. A benevolent older man from the neighborhood I grew up in, who went around picking up bread and delivering it to the needy, was also a Mason.

I had asked my lawyer's son, and old bestie a few questions and he ended our conversation with this: "I can tell you are not ready to join right now, I can get you in if you decide later. No hurry, we're not going to fold anytime soon."

I carried that around with me for a while. The man was "in" but he was not so educated as to have a very long talk. I honestly thought that he must be pumping it up a little. He signed his name on the first line of a blank petition. I did not know that he could not "ask" me to join, because Freemasonry is predicated upon one's free will.

I was working at the largest drapery plant in the DelMarVa area, loading and unloading the trucks. It was hard work, but the pay was good and it kept me in peak physical condition. One of the drivers from Richmond VA came up after his son was born and brought the good news along with a picture of the boy. He was elated in the surreal way only a new parent can understand. It is, as I would learn soon, an overwhelming experience.
Six months later he brought the boy up for a visit. Fun visit and the glow of filial love was still very abundant. 7 or 8 moths later, after the first birthday we heard something was wrong with the boy. Mr. Richmond had discovered the boy was more than deaf in one ear. He had been hospital to hospital, med center to med center, and specialist to specialist to find out the boy also had no balance and might never walk correctly. I saw how hard he was working, how his truck was falling into disrepair, how he was aging faster and faster. This man was slowly breaking from the inside out. His son was almost 3, his condition worsening each week. The man and the boy disappeared for 6 months. (This is when the Freemasonry happened)

Right around the time of the son's 4th Birthday, we met him again. He was fine. He was walking, he was talking, and more importantly he was laughing and playing. I had to know how this worked out? He had went to a special hearing center at Shriner's Hospital in South Carolina https://www.shrinershospitalsforchildren.org and came back with a gyroscopic cochlear implant. After an explanation of the tech, I had to ask, namely to see if he needed anything (he would never ask) "How much did that set you back?" His answer- Zero Dollars. The Hospital, which had created the tech, was giving it away as much as possible, to help those in need.
I probably cannot make world peace, but if some group is making so much good in the world, I want to be a part of that group. I ended up filling out that same petition, my friend never moved it, he knew I would eventually come back. I know being a Freemason is the only way into the Shrine, all Shriners are Masons. Once I was made a Mason, I began to become involved in a lot of good community movements. This ends "Part I" but spoiler alert I STILL HAVE NOT JOINED THE SHRINE

Note: Every jurisdiction I am aware of Masons are forbidden to enter into argument with anyone who has a negative opinion of the institution. If you are wearing a tin-foil hat plz respectfully, question someone else.