Five lessons from Memorial Day
"212 Degrees of Fidelity Today and Beyond"

      

Can humanity ever learn from the scourge of war? Today on two battlefields America’s youth stand ready to defend the dream of America. No movie will ever accurately portray being in a combat zone. During my time of service America was involved in El Salvador, Grenada, Panama and deployment exercises around the globe. Only those who have tasted the sting of battle know the bitter taste. Soldiers are not concerned with policies, politics, or regime changes. We long for the guns to be silent. I can well remember as a child at Greer Airport waiting for my father to return home only to be greeted with a barrage of peace advocates spewing venom and calls of a baby killer. Forty-eight years after the guns from the Vietnam War have become silent; America refers to that War as the War they would like to forget. I pray that those who are fighting in the deserts of Iraq and Afghanistan will not be forgotten. U.S. Deaths per day in the War on Terror was 2 American Soldiers per day. This meant each day in a tent in Afghanistan and Iraq a commanding Officer sat down to write the family of our soldier who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. The total dead or wounded since the Revolutionary War to date is over 3 million American soldiers.

Perhaps today we can determine if the five lessons war has taught us will ever unite humanity.
I believe in my heart that the lessons of war teach us that:

        1. Warfare is wrong.

        2. Sharing is important.

        3. The benefits of helping one another are immense.

        4. How to be brave in the face of adversity.
        5. How to have faith in times of trial and despair.

1. Warfare is wrong. 
There are times when we are attacked that the guns of war must again protect, declare and defend our freedom. General Douglas MacArthur said it best on September 2^nd, 1945 on the deck of the U.S.S. Missouri “It is my earnest hope, and indeed the hope of all mankind, that from this solemn occasion a better world shall emerge out of the blood and carnage of the past - a world dedicated to the dignity of man and the fulfillment of his most cherished wish for freedom, tolerance, and justice.” Sharing is important. I pray we teach this lesson to our children and grandchildren.

2. Sharing is important. Did you know that many of the American state boundaries were drawn to share the water with the populous living in that area?

In society today we scarcely finish one election and we are off to the races to start another political campaign. Regardless of your opinion, whether it is left, right, or straight down the middle, we will never make an impact on our circle of acquaintance unless we share our thoughts and ideas. When we collaborate and exchanges our thoughts and ideas, we learn more about ourselves resulting in the knowledge to making better decisions.




Consider the gift of sharing, you are giving someone else information that could completely change the way they see things. By sharing, you have the power to help people better understand themselves and the issues we face in our world today. Sharing is not dictating how others should live, sharing is imparting the knowledge you have learned in earnest hope to make their path in life easier. As we start to share these ideas, the diffusion of light dispenses the darkness vanquishing man’s greatest foe… error. I often think of the poem the bridge builder when I think of sharing.

The Bridge Builder by Will Allen Dromgoole

An old man going a lone highway,
Came, at the evening cold and gray,
To a chasm vast and deep and wide.
Through which was flowing a sullen tide
The old man crossed in the twilight dim,
The sullen stream had no fear for him;
But he turned when safe on the other side
And built a bridge to span the tide.

“Old man,” said a fellow pilgrim near,
“You are wasting your strength with building here;
Your journey will end with the ending day,
You never again will pass this way;
You’ve crossed the chasm, deep and wide,
Why build this bridge at evening tide?”

The builder lifted his old gray head;
“Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said,
“There followed after me today
A youth whose feet must pass this way.

This chasm that has been as naught to me
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be;
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building this bridge for him!”

3.  The benefits of helping one another are immense.

        1. It turns our focus away from ourselves.  Instead of the usual thought pattern of “How can I benefit from this?” or “What’s in it for me?”, the question of the day is more like, “How can I create a little happiness for someone?” or “How can something I do let someone know, with no strings attached, that kindness is still present in others?”

        2. It’s centered around giving rather than taking.  I think taking is fine.  Taking or receiving is what we do when someone gives us a gift.  It’s certainly what drives most dreams — we go out and claim it, make it happen, both are forms of taking.  But giving — the ability to give — is a gift unto itself. 

        3. It’s joyful both ways.  Doing something nice for a perfect stranger can generate an unmatched feeling of pure joy.  As well, being on the receiving end where you least expect to find kindness feels a lot like hot cocoa and a soft, warm blanket on a stormy day.

4. How to be brave in the face of adversity. Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become brave by doing brave acts. We become temperate by doing temperate acts. Let's put it this way:... being brave is all about moving out of your comfort zone and challenging yourself and doing things or saying things that you are just not used to doing. I have two challenges:

 1. It is time that each Square and Compass Club, Master and warden's Club, and Past Master's clubs take up the challenge and demonstrates your bravery. Your club must have a purpose, let us reason together. What is your purpose? Take up the challenge and find a cure for breast cancer,  help the elderly, our military veterans, or even Habitat for Humanity. The challenge is to make a difference.

 2. Support your Grand Lodge. Support future events like the 300 Anniversary of our Grand Lodge which will take place in 17 years. Perhaps support the endowment fund, or library and museum. The choice is yours, just find a goal, purpose and achieve it. 

5. How to have faith in times of trial and despair. It begins as a child,  all you have to do is believe. What do you believe in? Do your actions support your belief? Consider Abraham.

According to Jewish tradition, Abraham was born under the name Abram in the city of Ur in Babylonia around 1800BC. He was the son of Terach, an idol merchant, but from his early childhood, he questioned the faith of his father and sought the truth. He came to believe that the entire universe was the work of a single Creator and he began to teach this belief to others. Abram tried to convince his father, Terach, of the folly of idol worship. One day, when Abram was left alone to mind the store, he took a hammer and smashed all of the idols except the largest one. He placed the hammer in the hand of the largest idol. When his father returned and asked what happened, Abram said, "The idols got into a fight, and the big one smashed all the other ones." His father said, "Don't be ridiculous. These idols have no life or power, they are only clay. They can't do anything." Abram replied, "If they are only clay, then why do you worship them?"

Eventually, the one true Creator that Abram had worshipped called to him, and made him an offer: if Abram would leave his home and his family, then G-d would make him a great nation and bless him. Abram accepted this offer, and the (covenant) between G-d and the Jewish people was established. (Gen. 12).

If you choose not to help find a cure for breast cancer,  help the elderly, our military veterans, or even Habitat for Humanity then we can make a difference. I hope indeed I pray that you decide to do something for humanity this year. Let this be the year you truly do something memorial, establishing a goal to help humanity. 

Yes war truly tries our soul “We cherish too, the Poppy red that grows on fields where valor led, it seems to signal to the skies that blood of heroes never dies.

Military Prayer

Father, it takes a brave heart to take a stand and fight for Freedom.
 Lord guard and guide the men and woman who march,

sail, fight and fly upholding them by thy Saving Grace.

It is our prayer you bring each of them home safe and sound

to their families, loved ones,
 and if providentially you carry them home providing a place of rest and refuge;

we pray you to protect and shelter their families

with Thy Tender Mercies 

until we see them again

Response - So mote it be. Amen

Your friend and brother from Inman

Jay Adam