June  2001

     Making a Difference

          This year, our Grand Master, Most Worshipful Brother Jack Allen, requested that we do more in our efforts to provide funding for the Special Olympics.   After several years of over $100,000 donations, our contributions slipped to just over $60,000 last year.   This year, because of the outstanding leadership of RWB Mike Cecil and his committee, we have once again gone over the $100,000 mark.

       Milford Chapter #35, RAM, initiated over 40 new companions this year. Every year, Hanselmann Commandery has an excellent class of new Knights Templar.

     What do these facts have in common?  They happened because people saw a need and worked to achieve it!  A well-known Mason in this area says that the only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.  If you don’t work at something, you will never accomplish your task.

          We constantly hear people in the Fraternity complaining about the lack of members, the boring meetings, the scarcity of activities, etc.  Yet those same people, when given an opportunity to do something about these problems, have a million excuses why they can’t help, or why things won’t change.

          Change, my brethren, is inevitable.  Every organization must change to survive, and if it does nothing to change then it will change into just a memory. Our task is to make change happen now, so that our Fraternity will continue to prosper.   Stagnation leads to decay and eventually to extinction.   We can no longer afford to be satisfied with a "status quo" that is in reality a downward slide. We must work together for our Fraternity’s future, and the time to start is now!

     The Grand Lodge of Ohio has initiated a new program called the Concurrent Lodge System, or CLS. This is not a ploy by the Grand Lodge to force lodges to merge.   It merely gives lodges the opportunity to pool their resources for social, educational, and ritual activities, thereby enjoying the results that can be obtained from many hands working toward a common goal.   For years, members have asked what the Grand Lodge is doing for the individual lodges.  Here is an exciting and promising program, so let’s at least give it an opportunity before criticizing.   If we all work together, the results will be well worth the effort.

Fraternally,

Michael A. Himes

**RWB Himes is currently serving the Grand Lodge of Ohio as the Senior Grand Deacon
Mike is a very active Mason. He is a Past Master of Northbend Lodge #346,
Past President of the 1st Dist. Officer's Assoc., Past Sovereign Prince of Dalcho Council Princes of Jerusalem (AASR) & a 33rd Deg. Mason.  Mike also is a Past Dist. Deputy Grand Master of the 1st Masonic District. He is also active in the York Rite Bodies.  There is more, this is just a small sampling to let you know this Brother is a very BUSY Mason.  All of us at Hanselmann Commandery want to thank RWB Himes for taking some time out of that busy schedule to contribute to the Soapbox.  I am sure h you'll see a few more in the future.