I am happy to report that my Masonic classmates and I have gotten together several times since my last post for group studies.
The good news is that everyone is farther along now than they were. The bad news is that it became screamingly obvious that only two of us had been studying at all. My friend that I worried was off to a slow start actually ended up looking like one of the stronger members at our first full study group.
Happily by our second study meet all but two Entered Apprentices showed great improvement.
I have adopted the role of Freemason student mentor as I seem to be the most advanced student in the group.
At our first study meet, I paired off with another student who had obviously put little to no study time in on his own. We ran through the full Q and A as well as the obligation three times. I found that he would repeatedly get hung up on the same word or phrases every time. I suggested that he make small short hand notes or reminders in the cipher to aid his memory. He always agreed with me but never did it. I hoped for the best and assumed that he’d seen enough to study on his own.
My hopes were dashed when we got together at the second study meet and practiced in a circle with the group. It became obvious that he had not even thought about his studies since the previous week. I actually think he was worse than the first week.
I will always be more than happy to work with any of my Masonic brethren to help them along but not when they won’t even apply a minimal amount of effort to learning it themselves. The rest of the group has come along gloriously with one other exception. Our trainer has told me that he thinks all but the two mentioned are almost ready to advance.
SPEAKING OF ADVANCING
I was bummed yet again when I received our latest communication announcing the next meetings and agendas. There was mention of an open proficiency test slated for the next meeting but no sign of a degree ceremony. I asked my mentor If he knew what the deal was as the WM had implied we’d have an advancement this month. My mentor informed me that the officers had held a rehearsal for the 2nd degree ceremony. It had apparently gone so poorly that the Worshipful Master postponed the degree night another month. Arrrrgh!
Now please don’t get the wrong impression of me. I am generally a patient man. The problem here lies in the fact that I have been studying for almost four months for this degree and have been told by master masons that I know the work better than most of them. The issue that I have is that between the students not studying and now apparently the officers not studying I will take about 9 months to complete the three degrees when most of the other brothers took under four and didn’t study as hard.
Now of course I am keeping this all to myself as this blog is more my diary that I express my thoughts to.
My mentor told me off the record that the WM had been convinced not to hold an open proficiency test at the next meeting despite it being stated in the agenda. This will benefit some of the weaker members in the group but my mentor said the two that haven’t applied themselves at all will be left back for a future class when they’re ready.
After speaking to my mentor about the website, he suggested that I go ahead and get started on it as it will benefit the lodge. He said the we’d go and speak with the “other” webmaster together and gently explain our actions.
Hopefully that goes over smoothly as i have a lot more ideas and suggestions for the lodge that I’d like to present once I am raised to the third degree.
I have gotten the framework of the website up and have also gotten a proper domain name. Right now it’s light on content but I’m sure that will be fixed in good time.
This is my fifth post on Freemasonry.