SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.III   January, 1925     No.1

TO SYMPATHIZE

by: Unknown

"To relieve the distressed is a duty incumbent on all, but 
particularly on Masons, who are linked together buy an indissoluble 
chain of sincere affection.  To soothe the unhappy, to sympathize 
with their misfortunes, to compassionate their miseries and restore 
peace to their troubled minds is the great aim we have in view.  On 
this basis we form our friendships and establish our connections."
A careful reading of these sentences used in many Masonic Monitors is 
the only guide any Master Mason, no matter how inexperienced, really 
needs to point the way to Masonic Charity.

Yet, charity as practiced by the Fraternity is not well understood by 
many Masons and almost invariably misunderstood by the profane world.
Masonry is not, "Perse," a benevolent organization.  It is not formed 
for the purpose of mutual relief from pecuniary distress, and its 
finances are neither gathered nor managed with that end in view.  For 
those who wish fraternal insurance, a sick benefit organization, or a 
fraternal provisions for old age, there are many orders, run with 
wisdom and excellent in execution.

Masonry is something much greater; it ministers to a man's heart and 
mind rather than to his body.  True Fraternal affection and pity for 
the unfortunate lead Masons to take care of their dependents, to 
establish homes for their aged and infirm, to give to the needy and 
to relieve the distressed.  All lodges spend money for charity; in 
many lodges it is the largest item of expense.

But the greatest charity which Freemasonry provides for its members 
is charity of thought; the greatest relief it can render is relief of 
the spirit.

The individual brother, newly raised, is often perturbed as to where 
his individual Masonic Benefactions should begin and end.  Oddly 
enough, his geographic situation has much to do with the answer he 
must make.  In the larger centers he will find a Masonic Board of 
Review, the business of which it is to relieve the distress of worthy 
Master Masons, their widows and orphans when the case is beyond the 
jurisdiction of an individual lodge.  Thus, a stranger in a large 
city, in need of Masonic assistance, should not try to obtain it from 
an individual Mason or lodge, but from the organization maintained by 
Masons for that purpose.  The individual Mason, solicited for help by 
one claiming to be a Mason, can do no better or more wisely than to 
refer such an appeal to the Board for action.

If this seems colder than the degrees seem to teach, reflect that all 
Masonic actions may have two angles; and that open-handed relief 
given by the  individual Masons in good faith to a Masonic impostor, 
ridicules the Fraternity and nullifies its efforts.  And, alas, there 
"Are" Masonic impostors; men without heart or conscience who are 
either renegade Masons in fact, or who fraudulently have obtained a 
Masonic card and pretend to a knowledge of Masonry they do not have, 
all for the purpose of living by their wits off the good will of real 
masons. 

It is better that the individual Mason contribute to the upkeep of a 
rascal, than, that he refuse a worthy appeal.  In localities where 
there is no Board of Relief to investigate, satisfy yourself of your 
applicant's character and honor as best you may, and then give 
according to your means.

Luckily for us all, our charity is highly organized and well 
administered.  Few organizations can get more actual relief than our 
Fraternity for the money expended.  Masonic Homes are institutions 
where relief is given the aged and infirm, the orphan and the widow; 
these, our guests, are not recipients of charity, but of the 
affectionate care which all brethren give to those they love.  These 
homes are wonderful institutions, but they are not compelled to ask 
individual contributions from lodge members; they take their chief 
support from regular appropriations made from dues or fees, or both.

It is charity of thought and act rather than charity of money and 
material things that demands a Masons attention.  Here the field is 
as wide as the world and activities have no limit.  The most common 
opportunity given to us all is that of visiting the sick.  Only a 
brother who has been ill, especially if in a hospital or in a strange 
city who, because of their common brotherhood, has received visits 
from men he has not previously met, truly understands the beneficial 
effects of such examples of Masonic charity.  Doctors tell that such 
visits have often done more than all their medicines; there is 
nothing more heartening to a man, feeble and ill, than the thought 
that someone cares.

Another charity which we can all extend is that of faith.  
When our brother fails in business; when our brother is accused of 
some offense; when our brother is criticized; when our brother is in 
any trouble whatever; the helping hand extended, the words "My 
Brother, I believe in you, I am with you," mean much . . .  Oh, so 
much.  And they cost . . . just nothing at all!

And the most beautiful charity of all . . . charity of opinion!  This 
we can all give in large measure, pressed down and running over, 
thirteen to the dozen!  Let us not be judges of our brother!  Let us 
not try to make ourselves the keepers of his conscience.  Let us, 
indeed, "in the most friendly manner remind him of his faults," but 
let us first be very sure that our own houses are not of glass.  Let 
us speak no ill of a brother; let us keep our critical thoughts to 
ourselves.  Let us remember that as we judge him, so must we be 
judged; that the Fraternity and its reputation do not depend upon 
what we think of him, but what the world thinks of us!

So shall we offer the truest Masonic charity, and some day find that 
it comes back to us many fold.

In each of the great majority of Grand Lodge Jurisdictions there is a 
Masonic Home, to which the Fraternity invites as its beloved guests 
those Masons, Mason's widows, dependents and children who are not 
otherwise protected from need or sorrow.

Guests of a Masonic home are no more objects of charity than is the 
mother who blesses by her presence the home you support; or the 
father or grandfather whose place at your fireside, left vacant, 
could never be filled.  For these, our well beloved brethren and 
their loved ones, we delight to care, to make their lives easy and 
happy, to relieve their distress, not as "Charity," but as a grateful 
and devoted service we render to those we love, and those dear to 
those we love, "Because" we love them!
	
You, as a Master Mason, contribute to the support of your Masonic 
home.  A certain proportion of the dues you pay to your lodge is set 
aside for the maintenance and support of that Masonic Home.  And you 
may . . . many Master Masons do . . . feel that your duty ends when 
you pay that which your By-Laws demand of you.

But there is nothing easier in this world than "Check-Benevolence."  
It requires neither care, nor attention, nor time, nor effort to 
write a check.  Any one can do it who has a bank account!

But he who gives "Time and Service" gives mightily.  Your Masonic 
Home probably is not in need of your services; it has its own paid 
staff, and needs no outside assistance, so far as routine duties are 
concerned.  But no one can pay another to do for that Home what you 
can do - visit it!

Don't say, "I live too far away."  In miles you may live too far away 
to go often in person; it will pay you to go once, at least, to see 
for yourself the outward and visible expression of the "Brotherly 
Aid" which is here practiced in its most beautiful form.  Nor do you 
live to far away to write a letter now and then, to some Master Mason 
who lives in that Home.

"But, I don't know him!"

Make it your business to know him!  You and he have knelt at the same 
Altar.  You have taken the same obligation.  You belong to the same 
Order.  You are brothers.  Do you "Need" an introduction?

Send him a line!  Send him a magazine.  Send him a newspaper.  Send 
him a clipping, a joke, a verse; it doesn't matter much what you 
send; the point is that you must take a real personal interest in 
your brother, who is too old to work, too ill to labor, too 
handicapped in some way to make his way unaided.  Masonry puts its 
strong right arm under his feeble body and helps him over the rough 
places.  He has borne the heat and burden of the day; you are young 
and strong.  You would spring forward with much joy to help an old 
man across a crowded and dangerous street.   Well, here are old men 
crossing the crowded Street of Life and the helping hand of a younger 
brother is a comfort and protection.

Man may not live by bread alone.  Give these, our guests, the best of 
food, the finest of care, the most comfortable of homes, and they 
cannot go happily down the hill to their Journey's End if we withhold 
that touch of affectionate brotherhood which can only personally be 
given.

Do not think that Masonry neglects her guests.  Lodges frequently 
arrange and conduct entertainment, or religious service, or plan an 
outing.  But necessarily these are all impersonal.  What you can do 
is give the "Personal Touch."

And then . . . the children!  For there are many children in Masonic 
Homes; little ones whose Master Mason Father has answered the Last 
Call, whose Mother cannot undertake their support, or who may have 
"No Mother."  You don't need to be told what to do for children - "Or 
Do You?"

The widow of a Master Mason of a certain lodge fought a game fight as 
long as she could; then asked for help.  The lodge saw that she and 
her little daughter became guests of the Home.  The lodge looked 
after them well, too; the daughter had a business education as soon 
as she was old enough.   A little group of men used to meet after 
lodge for a midnight lunch; they  were the bone and sinew of the 
lodge.  And every man put a coin in a cup when he paid his check, and 
on birthdays and at Christmas time the result of that coin-cup went 
to the little girl for her very own - to purchase those things which 
even the best of Homes does not buy.  And there was many an extra 
contribution to her happiness; wives of lodge members took her to the 
theater and the concert and the lecture; lodge members took her and 
her mother for automobile rides; there was always a subscription to a 
magazine being paid by some one . . . for these were the dear ones of 
a Master Mason of that lodge.

And that lodge is no different, and no better, and has no finer men, 
than your lodge, than any lodge!

Your Masonic Home is "Your" Home, if you need it.  It is also your 
home in the sense that you are a host.  Those who live there are your 
guests.  Make them happy! It costs so little, it means so much, it 
takes so little time, and makes so much for Brotherhood.

There was once a Son who taught the world of the Fatherhood of God.  
And He Said, "Inasmuch as ye do it unto the least of these . . . !"


