There are many who accuse freemasonry of world dominion, or at least plans to dominate the world. Others accuse us of secretly manipulating the government, the legal system, politics, or whatever the du jour accusations are from the Tin Foil Hat community… such as it is. We, as masons, all know how ridiculous these accusations are… heck, most lodges have a struggle putting together a fish fry. However, one accusation they make against us is, in a large part, true. What is that? Well, in my experience, when hiring or contracting, we do business with brother masons. I do at least. When I have hired employees, and two folks are being interviewed for a job, and, all other things being equal, if one of them is a brother, they get the job. Hands down.
Truth to tell, even if the brother is less qualified he tends to get the job from me. If I need a car mechanic, I look for a brother, same for any professional service. My lawyers are brother masons, my printer is a mason, my office supplies vendor and all the professionals I have hired are masons. When my mother died recently, I hired the services of a brother who was a funeral director to cremate her and negotiate the paperwork for me.
Do I hire only brothers because I am looking for a good price? No, because they need to support themselves and their families. Do I hire brothers because they do better work? Well, no, but often as not they do a better job.
I hire brothers because I consider it part of my obligation to do so. To aid and assist is part of the reason. The other is because it seems the right thing to do for a brother. SOMEONE will perform the service I need done, better, it seems to me, that it be a brother with whom I share the wealth, so to speak.
Also, with a brother, I know what I am getting. The man has an obligation to me, as I do to him, not to cheat, wrong or defraud me. I know I can leave the keys to my house in the hands of a brother and not worry… about anything. I should know that about other businessmen, but I wasn’t born yesterday.
The question though implicit in the accusations of the… tin foil hat brigades is this: Is giving all my business to masons wrong? Is it bad to chose to give my business only to men in my lodge, and by extension, in any lodge? How can it be wrong?
We make choices in life every day. Will I buy Coke™ or Pepsi™? Ford or Chevy? Will I hire this lawyer or that doctor. The reasons we make our various choices are as varied as the choices we make, so if we chose to work, whenever possible, with brothers, how can that choice be wrong?
Where it gets sticky at all is in hiring. In the
As a business manager, I can tell you horror stories about interviews, from the guy I interviewed for an Art Director position who was qualified on paper, but showed up for the interview dressed to surf… zinc and suntan lotion included. Or the woman I interviewed as a computer illustrator who was, on paper, qualified, but showed up with a portfolio of computer clip art I guess she figured I would not recognize as coming from Adobe Illustrators™ free art.
When interviewing a brother for a job, several things come into play that just do not apply to non masons. The first is the obligation to aid and assist. If a brother is before me, he is looking for a job, so the question is, can he DO the job. If he can, even if his skills may not be as high as another candidate, it seems the primary consideration should go to the brother, ahead of any other candidate.
Given our mutual Masonic obligation, the question should rather be: How can I NOT consider this brother first?
Of course, this might seem to be favoritism. Frankly, it is favoritism, but it is consideration well given. The consideration from the brother is also an obligation from him, to the employer, to aid and assist and not to cheat, wrong or defraud. How often when someone is hired can we know of a certainty that the person will actually do their 100% best?
Does this mean that someone, possibly better qualified won’t get the job? Yes, but there are always choices, one will win and one will not, and not to make light of the need of someone who is not a brother, our obligation is to our brothers, and, in this situation, to our employer, for whom we are hiring this brother.
Do all masons do this type of hiring? No. Many brothers have stated they would NOT hire a brother to avoid possibly opening the door to a possible accusation of favoritism. This is the type of reaction that the tin foil hat brigades want, where we are afraid to act because of being a mason.
In some countries, a man can be fired for being a Mason (Italy), and in some countries, the tin foil hat brigades are trying to pass laws requiring Masons to reveal their Masonic affiliation before taking a job in law enforcement or government service (United Kingdom), and in some countries, BEING a Mason will get you killed (Saudi Arabia).
On the whole, then, it seems that giving our business in every way we can to our brothers, without making a big deal of it, is the best, most Masonic thing we can do for our brothers.
Its what I do.
May the blessing of heaven rest upon us and all regular masons. May brotherly love prevail, and every moral and social virtue, cement us.
Bro. Dunn,
ReplyDeleteI completely understand and agree with your perspective on favoring Brother Masons in our business dealings. Unfortunately, our society doesn't agree with this perspective, which caters to the lowest common denominator. Furthermore, people that act contrary to this misguided attempt at equality are not able to adequately express the justification of their actions. They simply are not capable of that level of critical thinking and expression.
As you rightly pointed out, if we need an automotive mechanic, lawyer or any other services, we ask our neighbors for references, check the Better Business Bureau and other sources to make a determination of that person or services quality. Knowing a person to be a Brother Mason is such a reference or endorsement; one that you can place more emphasis on than the recommendation of a neighbor.
I, too, favor other Masons in my personal and business relations; but, I have to add, that I have also refused to engage a Mason for services because their work was too inferior to accept. In that case, I whispered good counsel in his ear and endeavored to raise him up to be more competitive for future efforts.
As a personal example, I was searching for a new job and a "recruiting" firm contacted me. They initially represented themselves as a potential employer, but, it turns out that they were "professional coaches" and wanted me to pay them to coach me on how to find a job. The person interviewing me recognized my Masonic ring and told me that he was also a Mason; but, had not attended a lodge or been active in the craft in many years. He tried to use his Masonic connection to get my business.
I informed him that his approach to me was deceptive and that his attempts to validate such a deception through a Masonic connection was equally distasteful. I tactfully suggested that he renew his affiliation with a lodge to improve himself in Masonic principles.
Being a Mason is just another qualification upon which you can determine the suitablity of that person for the job.
Over here in the UK , as Bro Theron has stated, we have Laws regarding disclosure of Masonic Affiliation for certain occupations connected with Government, Local Authorities, The Police, Judicary etc. Otherwise it is usually not an issue although some of the Political Parties require that their Candidates , or existing Councillors or MPs declare any Masonic Membership.
ReplyDeleteNow I am not in a position to hire anyone's services nor buy goods from them on behalf of an employer nor for some official business although in the past I have been in occupations where I could do so. In such cases I had to obey the rules regarding awarding contracts and could indeed have lost my job and even have been prosecuted had I been found to have made such a decision influenced by Masonic considerations and had chosen a contractor etc who was not the best value for money or the best person for the job, but because they were a Mason.
In my private life the situation is completely different and I am free to engage the services of a Brother Mason if their work or goods supplied are as good as any other trader and will do so. I will in turn expect them to deal "On the Square" with me. What I would not do would be to engage a Mason if I knew that their prices were a significant amount higher or the quality of their work was inferior to that of a non-Mason.
Bout' dang time someone said it. I choose Masons every chance I get unapologetically and will continue, without regret, to do so. The Aggies and all the rest do it without apology...but Masons seem to be in a continual state of Apology for their Craft to those who have no interest in the Craft and will continue to usher forth negativity towards the Craft regardless of how much with tip toe around them and apologize. When ordering a product or contracting someone for a service it is often like throwing darts at a yellow page add. Shoot, if I can start with the understanding that this man belongs to an organization that believes in honest work and honest wages, why shouldn't I use this as a nice jumping off point.
ReplyDeleteHeck, I say lets elect a Mason for President everyone!
Bout' dang time someone said it. I choose Masons every chance I get unapologetically and will continue, without regret, to do so. The Aggies and all the rest do it without apology...but Masons seem to be in a continual state of Apology for their Craft to those who have no interest in the Craft and will continue to usher forth negativity towards the Craft regardless of how much with tip toe around them and apologize. When ordering a product or contracting someone for a service it is often like throwing darts at a yellow page add. Shoot, if I can start with the understanding that this man belongs to an organization that believes in honest work and honest wages, why shouldn't I use this as a nice jumping off point.
ReplyDeleteHeck, I say lets elect a Mason for President everyone!
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ReplyDeleteThey always see masons favoring brother masons but they don't see their own thing. Other non-mason hire people they know. They always say "it's whom you know, not what you know"... Is this what they call equal opportunity?
ReplyDeleteI think there's nothing wrong in supporting our brothers...
TJ Miranda
Emon :: 179