A Message from the Grand Junior Warden

Move Forward

I was never one to really study in school.  Maybe that’s why I wound up as a lawyer instead of making something decent out of myself.  But I recall one class where the unit was all about Australia.  Now, the only thing I really knew about Australia at the time was that it was where Crocodile Dundee was from, and he was a rock star in my mind (still is, for that matter), so I paid a little more attention to the lesson.  Unfortunately, I don’t recall the teacher mentioning Crocodile Dundee, but I do remember something else he said.  As it turns out, there are two animals on the Australian coat of arms: the red kangaroo and the emu.  There are lots of theories about why they are on the coat of arms, but one theory goes that the one thing they have in common is that it is incredibly difficult for them to move backwards.  Many Australians believe they symbolize their country: always moving forward, never moving backwards.

Consider if masons were to act a little more like the kangaroo and emu.  We sometimes get to living a little too much in the past and forget about moving forward.  “Oh, if we only had the membership numbers we had in the 50’s we’d be in great shape.”  “Oh, if only we did this, that, or the other like we did in the 60’s all our problems would be solved.”  To be sure, those were exciting times for the fraternity.  But so are the times we live in today! 

We tend to concentrate on our problems and not focus on how our beloved fraternity is moving forward.  And we are moving forward.  Consider our Dyslexia Centers, administered by the Grand Lodge Masonic Learning Center.  In 2020, BEFORE COVID, we had 27 dyslexia classes around Louisiana.  Masons from around Louisiana came together, secured funding to change our old, outdated curriculum to a modern curriculum, and the classes took off.  In the 2023-2024 school year, our program saw 40 classes with 87 students at 18 different sites across Louisiana.  For the 2024-2025 school year, we project a total of 49 classes with over 120 students at 27 different sites.  We have another 24 potential students awaiting evaluations.  This doesn’t sound like a dying fraternity to me; it sounds like a thriving fraternity.  It sounds like a fraternity where good men are coming together to make good things happen.    

Sure, it is necessary to learn from the past, but it is not necessary to live there nor is it advisable to walk backwards.    

In the Grand Lodge we have patron saints (John the Baptist and John the Evangelist), but maybe we could have a patron kangaroo?  A symbolic emu?  

Move forward.

R:W: J. Keith Gates, G.J.W.