Birthday Greetings, some thoughts and a rant.

First this is for Craig - I remember this, do you? I was going to put up The Beatles song but then I found this. Sorry Sheila.


Now some thoughts



Our Fraternity encompasses the world. As do the Internets. Just today I have had the following hits on my blog:
Location Time
Des Moines, IA, United States
Johnson City, TN, United States
New York, NY, United States
San Antonio, TX, United States
Charlotte, NC, United States
Des Moines, IA, United States Tue,
Gilbert, AZ, United States
Knoxville, TN, United States
Manchester, United Kingdom

OK, there were more than that but you can check it out by looking at the map at the bottom of the page. Click on it and it will give you a list. You can also see who is here by following along on the Who Is Here list on the left hand side. (You can see a map from there also by clicking on "options") - Not all of my readers are Masons - (I have an eclectic list of blogfriends and blogreaders) (Isn't the word eclectic a nice word? I love it!) This is a post not necessarily about my readers but about the power of the Internets. The other day I got a letter from a Brother who had been looking at the Arcadia Lodge Web Page. It turns out that this Brother was a former student of mine when I taught at Linn Mar Schools just outside of Cedar Rapids. He wrote me a very nice letter. It seems he was doing some www surfing and found our web page. He did a little exploration on the page and discovered my name and then my picture as a Past Master of the Lodge.

So he wrote me a letter. He wasn't, of course, a Mason when I had him in school. I taught there in 1965-66 through 1969-70 before I came to Ames. In fact, I joined Trojan Lodge # 548 when I was teaching my first year. But he is a Mason now and he wanted to write me a note to let me know that he remembered me and that I was still remembered after 40 some years. He also found Brother Keith Bailey's picture amongst the Past Master's pictures and mentioned that Keith had coached him in the 1975 Shrine Bowl game. Wow! - I e-mailed him and hope he will keep in touch. If not for the Internets I would never have known.

Then today I had coffee with another Brother who called me because he would like to give a program for the Lodge. He lives in Ft. Dodge and is involved in radio work in that city. He rode his bicycle from Iowa to Washington D C as a way to raise awareness about Hope Lodge and the good work being done there. Von Kettleson is an interesting guy. If you Google his name you find a lot of hits for his name. He was going to be in Ames today and wanted to have coffee so I met him at Cafe Diem.

During the course of our conversation I found out that he, too, had attended Linn-Mar and graduated from there. He is a member of Trojan Lodge (my original Lodge). He also lived in Olin, Iowa and knew a Past Grand Master from there. Masonry really does make the world smaller. And larger at the same time.

And Thursday night Rev. Fred Anderson will receive his first degree in Arizona and become my Brother. Readers of this Blog will know the story. Again, through the magic of the Internets, Jay Simser living in Ames, Iowa was able to connect Fred up with Masons in Arizona and he has begun his Masonic Journey. I find this as a wonderful tool.

And finally through the Internets I have a new Grandmother. Wounded Bird's GRANDMÈRE MIMI is being adopted by me as an honorary Grandmother. This little lady lives in Louisiana and I find her Blog a wonderment. I have begun reading her regularly and have fallen in love with her. She has even made a YouTube Video about the upcoming Digital conversion. Go watch it. She has humor and a depth to her blogging that I find marvelous. Actually she is probably not old enough to be my grandmother because I will be 67 soon but I am going to think of her as mine. And again it is because of the Internet.

I also feel really close to a lot of people I have met through the Blog and it is a good thing because on a day like today when I am inexplicably sad it is a good thing to have met a new brother and to feel connected to all of you. That perks me up.

I was going to write a rant about Grand Lodge and how they have "contests" and then do not score things according to their own score card (in fact no one knew the criteria - I stand corrected on that - the criteria was published - however the scoring was not accurate.) and when I checked their scoring against my two lodges web sites I found many points which should have been awarded but were not. Someone did not look closely enough. Or about how two Brothers earned their Ashlar Awards last November but have not yet received them. That and the fact that I need a dose of "kid" right now (I heard about some one's child being potty trained and it makes me sad that I am not in his life) and Saturday I opened my mouth and said something which I should not have and it all combined to put the tears right behind my eyes today. No reason for me to worry - If I screw up I screw up, I always will. Say things I regret. Baby steps forward and giant leaps back. I guess hurt just does not go away easily for me. Oh well such is life.

Thanks for stopping by and for listening. Now something my sister just sent me.

Palin is SO BAD FOR ANIMALS

Boogie Woogie, Beluga Boy
Belugas listed as endangered over Sarah Palin's objections

Despite opposition from Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, beluga whales in the Cook Inlet have been declared endangered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The agency estimates that only 375 belugas currently frolic in the inlet, down from some 1,300 in the 1980s. Restricting subsistence hunting by Native Alaskans has not helped the problem, says NOAA, and whales continue to be threatened by development, oil and gas exploration, and industrial activities (as well as beach strandings, disease, and being munched by killer whales). Palin strenuously opposed the listing, stating in August 2007 that the science was inconclusive and that "an unnecessary federal listing and designation of critical habitat would do serious long-term damage to the vibrant economy of the Cook Inlet area." There may indeed be an impact: Unlike the feds' polar-bear listing, the beluga listing contains no caveat that economic development should remain unhindered.

The mentality of so many of the Chirsters of her ilk is that man was meant to have dominion over everything. Dominion is a really crummy concept. Until and unless we learn that we are just a part of the universe (and probably not a very important part at that) and work to maintain everything in the universe the time will come when we die out. But of course these people feel that we are the only important thing in the world. MAN - Sorry folks, once again YOU ARE WRONG.

Let the honey bees die and there will be nothing to pollinate the plants which produce the food we eat. It is all interconnected, just like the Web. And unless we protect it as a part of and not the end all of the universe and realize that the Supreme Being made everything and treasure and value every part of that creation we could very well be the cause of the end of life as we know it. As I said we are only a part of it. Of course some Christians think that the Rapture will come and will magically transport them all to heaven.

Well I find that just a little too fantastic and the hubris of these people who have bumper stickers proclaiming that "When the Rapture comes this car will be driver less." is just a bit much. What happened to stewardship? Who said we should run roughshod over all of God's creation and forget to preserve it for the coming generations? I prefer to preserve and protect things as they are instead of waiting for an imagined Rapture at the "second coming." (I also believe that Christ is always with us. There doesn't need to be a "second coming" because it has already happened. Every time someone performs a kindness they are participating in that event. - We "reign" with Christ when we see the spiritual behind everything or the Christ in our fellowman as Unity says. - Right here, right now.) We need to protect, preserve and pass all of this on to the children. If the whales and the honey bees and the moose disappear because of people like Sara Palin the entire of our world will be diminished. Nuff said. ARTYAL, j-bear