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Issue No. 60 June 22, 2007 |
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R:.W:. Joseph R. Leo R:.W:. David L. Blasch V:.W:. John W. Cola V:.W:. Scott A. Klein Lodges of the Athelstane Cornerstone Goshen Hoffman Hudson River Jerusalem Temple Naurashank Port Jervis Stony Point-Wawayanda Wallkill Warwick West Point Archives No.
1 5/5/06 |
The Installation season ended last night at West Point Lodge which now boasts no Past Masters in its progressive line of officers. Congratulations to the officers of Warwick, Cornerstone, and Port Jervis Lodges who were also installed last week. I would also like to thank the Officers and Brethren of Athelstane Lodge for the courtesies extended to R:.W:. Dave Blasch, our ladies, and I at their annual awards dinner last Tuesday. It was a wonderful evening, a DeWitt Clinton Award was resented to two worthy members of the Rockland County community, and the Lodge recognized 1165 years of service by some of its 5 to 65 year members. That’s an awesome achievement when you think about it. I know I’ve been. 1165 years of service. Not membership, service. There’s a lot more to be recognized than paying your dues for sixty-five years. While some Brothers may be more active at our meetings and activities than others, we should never forget that every day that we walk out into the world, we are performing a service to our Craft, Our Lodges are recognized for their Child ID and scholarship programs, but even the Brother who hasn’t been to Lodge in ten years furthers the lofty goals of our Fraternity simply by living each day as a Mason. Remember, the world regards Masonry by the rectitude of conduct of its individual members. Every Brother is an emissary of our Craft every day and so every day is one of service to our beloved Fraternity. Congratulations to all of you who uphold our principles in your daily lives and share our values with your community by your example. The annual St. John’s Day festivities will be held on the beautiful campus of our Masonic Care Community in Utica. Your District Leaders will be Invested and receive their commissions on Saturday afternoon, and the day will be filled with food, fun, and family activities for all to enjoy. We encourage everyone to take a ride up on Saturday and join us! Today (Friday), we will also attend another round of training in preparation to deliver the new Grand Lodge programs that we will learn about in the Grand Master’s Message on Saturday. We will return to the District with new ideas and marching orders from our Grand Master for our District Committee Chairmen and ourselves, and will begin planning next year’s visits. It is imperative that every Lodge be represented at our next Masters and Wardens meeting on Monday July 9th. Please be sure to bring complete contact information for your Lodge Communications, Community Service, Education, Awards, and Membership Chairmen. If you’re interested in working with one of these committees in your Lodge, please let your Worshipful Master know! One of the advantages of being the Editor-in-Chief is the privilege of shameless plugs and product placements. We’re getting down to the wire for ticket sales for Jerusalem Temple Lodge’s renegades baseball outing. If we don’t sell some more tickets soon, we may have to cancel. Please contact Wor. Wayne Flavin ASAP if you wish to attend so he can at least get a head count. Remember, $25 gets you into the game and all the hamburgers, hot dogs, salads, and soft drinks you can eat or drink. We’re also hoping to bring over and sponsor 20 disabled veterans from Castle Point if we can make this event happen, but we can’t do that without sufficient ticket sales! OK, end of shameless plugs. I will be working out of state next week, but will be available by e-mail. As always, I look forward to seeing you next week! DISTRICT NEWS
Renegades Baseball Night Masters and Wardens Meeting 2007-2008 Individual Development Course (iDC) Orange-Rockland Central Chapter, Order of DeMolay UPCOMING CHILD ID PROGRAMS
Child ID System Thank You ORDMA! Upcoming Programs ORDMA NEWS
2007-2008 Calendars DATES TO REMEMBER
2007-2008 DDGM Visits
SCHOOL OF INSTRUCTION
The Orange-Rockland District School of Instruction is on a hiatus for the summer. We will re-open in August to review the Opening and Closing, and should you wish to hold other rehearsals for your new officers over the summer, your AGLs will be glad to attend provided you give them sufficient notice. The School will recommence in September, rotating on a different evening each month throughout the District at the invitation of individual Lodges. More details will be provided as the time draws closer, Have a great summer! If you have any questions, please contact the DDGM. Leadership Essentials
MAKE YOURSELF USEFUL Benjamin Franklin once wrote, "I would rather have it said, 'he lived usefully' than 'he died rich.'" This wasn't just a casual motto for Franklin. It was the way he lived his life, particularly as an inventor. According to an article on www.pbs.org, Franklin was a practical inventor, specializing in devices that were "designed to help improve or solve everyday problems." These included bifocal lenses, swim fins, the odometer, the Franklin stove and the lightning rod. Franklin could have made a fortune on these inventions. But, in his desire to make them as widely available as possible, he didn't patent a single one. "Instead of seeing the world in terms of how much money he could make, Franklin saw the world in terms of how many people he could help," says Dr. John C. Van Horne, director of the Library Company of Philadelphia. "To Benjamin Franklin, being useful was its own reward." Living life usefully was a reasonable goal for an 18th-century inventor like Franklin. But what about those of us who live and lead in the 21st century? Is usefulness worth striving for today? Yes, it is, and here's why: When you're young and feeling immortal, it's easy to judge your life solely by how personally fulfilling it is, how well you're able to provide for your family, how quickly you're achieving your career goals, etc. Those are all important aspects of life - especially when retirement is decades away. But perspectives have an interesting way of changing with age. When you're 80 years old, looking back over your life while rocking on your front porch, personal satisfaction and career goals may not seem quite as significant as they once did. What will likely be much more important is what you did with your life that was of lasting value. How many people did you help - financially, professionally or personally? What lasting lessons did you teach the people in your sphere of influence? How did your leadership prepare those same individuals for success - in work and life? What did you do - in any area of life - that will outlast you? In other words, what did you do with this gift of living? It will be an important question when you're 80, so it should be an important question now. What makes a life useful? Several things immediately come to mind - giving, loving, serving, helping, encouraging, teaching and mentoring, to name a few. These are all relational activities - done person-to-person, friend-to-friend, leader-to-follower, or peer-to-peer. If you intentionally engage in these behaviors, you are well on your way to living a useful life. There is, however, another way that usefulness is developed - through challenges and adversity. Getting fired. The death of a loved one. Working for a bad boss. Losing a key client. Financial troubles. Leading problematic people. Personal illness. And so on. Though never welcome, difficult events, situations and circumstances often serve as a sort of boot camp for a useful life. More specifically, they increase our usefulness as leaders in three key ways. 1. They build character and increase resiliency for future
challenges. 2. They teach us what not to do next time. 3. They make us more empathetic to others who are dealing with
adversity. Dwight Thompson said, "You can spend your life any way you want
to, but you can only spend it once." So, take your cue from
Benjamin Franklin, and do everything you can to live your one
life usefully. HELP WANTED
Master Mason Degree Assistance Needed Copyright 2006-2007 Orange-Rockland District, GLNY F&AM. All rights reserved. |
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