The Mountain to Mohamed

Well once again Zetland took the Mountain to Mohamed. Or at least that is the best way to describe it. It is something that we started last year, and that I am very proud of. As many of our fraternal brothers are entering the yellow leaf of their lives, some are unable to travel to lodge, because of their health, and are living in assisted residences. Luckily these homes are extremely modern facilities complete with meeting rooms large enough to facilitate a meeting.

So last night for the second time in as many years, the officers and brethren packed up our pillars, gavels, staffs, and collars and headed to the Beverly Centre in South Calgary. Our guests of honor were two esteemed brethren and residents of the centre. I will not disclose their names but I will tell you a bit about them because it was awesome to sit with these gentlemen in open lodge.

The first gentleman was born in 1912, and raised in 1944. And get this he was a DDGM in 1957. Ya 1957, which means he was a Grand Lodge Officer ten years before my father was even born. He was a military man, and even at 94 his mind is as sharp as a tack, even got up to address the lodge, with a little speach and a little poem. The other brother was again an x grand lodge officer. A member of Bow Valley lodge whom his fellow brethren spoke of fondly. He is 98, and many of the bow valley brethren were able to circulate stories from his exploits in lodge. If I remember correctly both have recieved their 60 year jewel.

Now for most of you out there that are not members of the fraternity, much of what I just said will not make sense, and you might not have any context to put it in, so let me take a few sentences to shed some light on the practical side of things.

These gentlemen belong to a club, a club that we call a fraternity. And in the prime of their lives both excelled to a place of prominence within that club. They did that through their charity in big and small things. Now some people dont really understand the word charity. For in modern times this word has come to mean something other than what its original meaning reflects. We think of charity as handing out money to faceless people. This I must argue gives a false idea of what the word really means. The word "charity" comes from the greek word "agape". Agape basically means "a selfless love from one person to another". Its doing things for someone because we want to do it, not because we feel obligated or we feel pressured. It is actually WANTING to do it.

So in closing I am grateful for the charity these gentlemen showed to us last night, by allowing us into their lives and their home. And in sharing their history, so that all of us might have a better life-blueprint to emulate, as we try to decorate our own lives with things like Benevolence and Charity.