busterboy

[QUOTE=rugbymatt]
I meant that I typed something ...submitted it and couldn't see anythnig that I had typed and therefore had to type it again!

poollounger

Gosh......I feel I sort of resurrected this thread and then it went off on a tangent....thats why I prefer this forum to so many others.
Fascinating to think that this is true, as you say it could be....my local dustmen giving the mayor secret handshakes ...
I know that every organisation accords favours and privileges to its members, but the distrust of many comes from the perceived attitude that many of the members are those in positions of power, and the occasional media comments in cases of corruption that the persons concerned were able to continue with deceptions etc because of contacts within the masons. So often people bemoan the lack of values, morals etc etc in Britain, but if the peception is that those in the upper echelons and positions of control can do as they please, why should the rest of the country behave differently ? I know nothing is really very different from the so called good old days, but the difference is that Joe Blogs never knew what the so called great and good were really up to!! I have just returned from a weekend in Rome, and was amazed at the blind belief of the Catholics at St Peters. To be faced with so much opulence and wealth, most of it acquired by dubious means..Yikes. And the quaint ritual of confession......I suppose like the masons we have to disregard the side which craves power wealth and control and focus on the many quiet ones who use the apparatus to make the lives of ordinary people more tolerable.
Now if Wendy received some real help with her elderly mother, and it was revealed that this help could also be extended to those with non masonic links then they could possibly go some way to achieving a change in their public perception.

rugbymatt

[QUOTE=busterboy]

Now that is weird!

Wendy Nesbeth

I would like to thank Graham Gray & Rugbymatt for there help concerning my elderly mother.

If you both can come up with any other ideas to help her I would be very grateful.

Rugbymatt I went on the website you gave me, thank-you for that, but mum doesn't need any monitory help only someone to visit her, so she just doesn't sit all day staring into space. Her brain needs stimulating with some conversation.

Wendy x

olivia

They do also run some very nice retirement homes. I know of several people who have gone and been very happy. One couple went together and were able to have an apartment. They also have nursing homes for those who need care.

Wendy Nesbeth

Thank-you Olivia, I feel that t 93 & a half a move would kill her, all of her memories of dad are in that house, she has lived in that house since were thown out of Persia. Also she doesn't want to move. I found a lovely live in carer for her, but she wont have anyone living in.

She is a Very proud, extremely stubborn & lovely lady.

Wendy x

vox populia

Do gooder, it appears, can I ask how many various ethinicitys and religions are in your current masonic ? Go on give us a clue!!!

Gray C

So you think I am a do gooder eh? If so what is wrong with that?

vox populia

It would be nice if you actually answered the question? It was you that said you were doing all these good deeds!!

Gray C

I am not going to respond to you, with an attitude like yours.

olivia

Well to support the Masons....I myself know of Jewish and Christian [including Roman Catholic] members of the craft. My father belonged to one that was temperance. I know it attracted many Methodists. It is a worldwide organisation. I feel sure that wherever the British have been there will be masons. In the U.S.A. and Canada they are far less discrete and wear the badge on their sleeves.

poollounger

Peace everyone !! Peace !!
I am sure that there are good Masons and bad Masons like anywhere else in the world. I never had a partcularly high opinion of Jehaovah's Witnesses, primarily from the way they spent hours trying to pesuade and even bribe with the offers of gifts to convert to their thinking,regarding them as another money making cult like the American Evangelists. Then a friend of mine who is Head of an inner London primary school and a person with very liberal attitudes told me how they offer concrete help to mothers in her school earning a living from prostitution, pointing out it would be better for their children to earn a living in a different way, and helping them find a way to do it. Just one example. People do charity work for many reasons, some for self aggrandisement, some guilt at their own lives of privilege, some from a genuine desire to help, and most somewhere in between. As long as someone benefits, and those offering the charity are not able to do so because the money they possess is acquired at the misery and expense of others, then so be it. Amen.

rugbymatt

Not sure why this has become such an emotive issue!

If you know the fraternity then dont get defensive, you know the truth and this kind of defensiveness reveals a bit more about you than the Masons.

If you dont then dont judge just because you are not invited to the party. In my experience that tends to be the main reason for animosity, people say that its because of the whole secrecy and conspiracy thing but it boils down to our human nature, we want to belong, want to be part, and when something is seemingly off limits and exclusive we turn quickly to hate, suspicion and animosity.

poollounger

The bit about being defensive makes sense Matt, but not sure about the latter part. As I said my father was a mason until he retired. I have absolutely no interest in being one. I think animosity grows because of the perception that favours are granted, promotions are made, corruption is concealed because of the brotherhood. Do we say that those who criticise the mafia do so because they really want to be members?? I use the mafia but as an example and am not infering that the masons are on a par, substitute if you wish the Royals, footballers and their wives, Hollywood stars or the Cardinals of Rome !!
On a lighter note, does anyone remember a great TV play many years ago about the teenage girl whose father drops dead, and she takes possession of the secret box with his lodge accoutrement?? The aprons etc etc and, a packet of condoms. As she and her best friend enact imagined rituals they wonder what part these latex baloons played !! Their gradual realisation of their true purpose, the discovery that not every Thursday night was spent at the lodge, and their growing up was funny and touching. Wish I could watch it again or even remember what it was called..

rugbymatt

Poollounger i think that we do!

OK not the Mafia bit since it is an illegal organisation that has been responsible for the death of thousands, but for the rest then yes!

We all want fame and fortune, not necessary in that order but we want it, the idea that someone else gets more than us is an intrinsic part of why we build people up, only to pull them down. Its known as the Sandcastle Syndrome.

You see it all the time in the tabloids. For years they hounded Diana, then when she died they ran massive tributes to her. Its human nature, people say it is British nature but i dont believe that.

Jealousy is a vile emotion, it drives us to hatred and resentment, we see that someone else gets something and the green eyed monster rears its ugly head.
Its true that members of the brotherhood get special privileges, they get preferential treatment, but from other brothers, thats the point of being in a brotherhood!

I know of one brother who lost everything in a very bitter divorce, the others rallied and made sure he wanted for nothing. I have to ask, whats wrong with that?