PEP
It's a wonderful idea! I'm strong for
it, strong!" cried the New Brother to the Old Tiler in the anteroom.
"Tell me about it!" begged
the Old Tiler. "Wonderful ideas are rare!"
"A lot of us think the old lodge
needs pepping up. We go along in the same old way, never doing much of anything
different, just making Masons and having little lodgeroom talks and all. So we
thought - Smitty and Bunny and Wilmot and a few others and I – that we'd start
something. We plan to hire a boat and take the lodge down the river and have a
special dispensation to hold a third degree and feed out on the water. We'll
hire a band, all Masons, of course, and probably have an entertainment
afterwards; maybe we can get some high divers and hold a swimming race,
too."
"It is a wonderful idea,"
commented the Old Tiler, "but you don't carry it far enough."
"I thought maybe you could add to
it," said the New Brother, enthusiastically. "What would you
suggest?"
"I think a small boat in the river
is undignified. Why not hire an ocean liner? Why not go halfway to Europe, and
instead of having diving and swimming matches, get a couple of whales and have a
real whale of a time? Or you might be able to get Uncle Sam to lend you a couple
of submarines.
''I wouldn't hire just a Masonic band.
Get three or eleven bands, and have a competition to see which can blow the
loudest. Hold all three of the degrees at once; the first in the hold, the
second on deck and the third up in the crow’s nest. That would be different
and exhilarating. Don't be a piker! If you are going to innovate, innovate right!"
"Why, you are laughing at me!
Don't you think it's a good idea to put pep in the lodge? Didn't the Shriners
hold an initiation in a cave, and another in the locks at the canal, and didn't
our ancient brethren hold their lodges on hills and in valleys and . . ."
"The Shrine did, and does, and
will again, more power to it. The Shrine is a modern organization, with no need
to uphold ancient traditions. The Shrine is a fun-loving organization, the
playground for Masonry and Masons; it thrives on the new, the different, the
novel, the startling, I love the Shrine, and everything it does. I love a good
comedy, too, but I don't like to see a minister pulling funny stuff in the
pulpit. And what is fine for the Shrine is poor for the lodge.
"If our ancient brethren held
their meetings on hills and in valleys, it was because they had no buildings.
Had we no temples we would do the same. But our ancient brethren didn't go out
under the stars to be 'peppy,' nor should we."
"Somewhere or other in Shakespeare
(I think it's Henry IV) are the lines, 'Fickle changelings and poor discontents,
which gape and rub elbow at the news of hurly-burly innovations.' There are
'poor discontents' who are dissatisfied unless they are amused, but they are not
devoted lodge members.
"I can't say much for your idea.
Trying to put ‘pep’ into Masonic degrees is like painting a statue or
putting perfume on a flower, or having red fire and a brass band at a funeral.
''Masonry is sacred and beautiful. It
is beautiful with age that has mellowed and softened it, and given it the tints
and colors of the glory of service. Could you improve the Grand Canyon with
better colors than nature gave it? How can you improve a lodge meeting with a
boat, a brass band and a diving contest? When you go on your knees to your
Creator, do you play the phonograph, dance a jig arid tell a funny, story to put
‘pep’ in the performance?
"Masonry is much more than lodge
meetings. It is selflessness, brotherhood, charity, toleration, veneration; it
is the sweet and quiet influence which makes a brother more than a mere lodge
member; it is an expression of the divine will to make men better. You cannot
aid it with a boat trip or a brass band, my son; you cannot help it by
innovations. You must take it or leave it as it is; that which has endured for
centuries needs no such artificial stimulation."
"But don't you believe in
entertainment or excursions or play?'' asked the New Brother,
"Of course! Hire a boat, get a
band, hold a diving contest, make merry, by all means. Have a lodge picnic,
blowout, whatever you will, and I'll help you. But don't spoil it by trying to
make it into a lodge meeting, and don't spoil a good meeting by trying to make
it a picnic.
"We are taught to have
refreshment. But we are not taught to mix labor and refreshment. It is first of
the ancient laws that it is beyond the power of any Mason to change ancient
laws. Find me any authority in the ancient laws for holding a third degree in a
boat with a brass band and a diving contest and I'll help you. Otherwise, I'll
try to keep the old lodge just as she is and save your pep for the excursion you
want to give and don't know it!"
"Something tells me this
proposition will not be popular if I bring it up in lodge, unless I make it
plain it's an excursion and not an attempt to put 'pep' in the degrees,"
answered the New Brother.
"Something tells you right,
son," answered the Old Tiler.
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