A Revelation from ICP

I’ve recently become a huge fan of Fox News Channel’s RedEye with Greg Gutfeld, which airs at 2 a.m. (Central Time).  No, I don’t stay up until 3 a.m. to watch the whole thing (even when I’m awake at 3 a.m., which is far more often than I wish I was up at 3 a.m.; I’m usually watching the dark ceiling, wishing I could sleep at that point), but I do record it on my DVR and watch it while I eat breakfast, which makes my morning far more entertaining than watching just about anything else I can think of early in the morning.

But I digress.

On Wednesday morning/Tuesday night, Gutfeld, his erstwhile sidekick Bill Schultz, and one of his regular guests Mike Baker conducted an interview with Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope of the Insane Clown Posse. Now, I’m not a big fan of the ICP, although I’ve been aware of their music since I was in high school (God, I guess that makes all three of us old) and I’ve always seemingly (at least since high school) had at least a couple of friends who were closet Juggalos (that’s what ICP fans call themselves), but they’re just not my cup of tea. Having said that, the two made-up rocker/rappers talked about one of their Gatherings that’s coming up and the reason that their Gatherings are different from the norm when it comes to concerts or music festivals: the feeling of camaraderie amongst the Juggalos. It gave me a thought about what is missing amongst my Masonic brothers in many places.

Too often, it seems, we concern ourselves more with the petty politics that keep us from doing good than with the good we can (and should) do. Too often, we concern ourselves with what others will think if we talk about the good things we can do, as men of conscience in our communities, as though we’re afraid that the conspiracy theorists/Illuminati screamers, which keeps us from accomplishing the positive because of what they might think. Too often, we dream small when what made our fraternity great in the past was our willingness to dream big and accomplish great things.

I was recently conversing with a friend about the fact that we no longer create the huge Masonic buildings that decorate our downtowns in Texas cities like Fort Worth, San Antonio, and Dallas, buildings which were built in the first half of the twentieth century and latter parts of the nineteenth; rich, old buildings now, but I wondered why we weren’t still building them. I was reminded of how much they cost to construct and maintain and that it was the modern Mason who complained about such costs. And I thought, how weak have we become? Those centers of our Fraternity, of our Craft, were symbols to the community of the concept of “taking good men and making them better”. They were signals to the community that we were going to be there to help and support the good works of society, to be the builders of peace, harmony, and justice that we are taught to be in our Lodges, Chapters, Councils, Commanderies, Consistories, Shrines, Grottoes, et al. These buildings required us to reach beyond petty politics, to ignore what the small-minded ignorant destroyers of society thought, to dream big, as men of will and vision have always done.

As I watched this morning, as I listened to this concept of faith, hope, and brotherly love as practiced by fans of the Insane Clown Posse, I was reminded of why I joined the Masonic Fraternity in the first place, to be a part of something, and that something (with no offense intended to the ICP or their legion of fans) was far more important than gathering to listen to music. It was to be a part of something that made a difference in society, to help those who couldn’t help themselves, to become a voice for those who cannot speak for themselves.

That’s what we do as Masons.

But only when we have the courage to be who we are, rather than what our society has told us to become.

Seeking Forgiveness?

I have been watching with great interest the attempts at rejuvenating the political careers of former Congressman Anthony Weiner and former New York  Governor Eliot Spitzer.

For those not paying attention, Congressman Weiner is a candidate for Mayor of New York City who decided to resign his seat in the U.S. House over a scandal involving his taking pictures of his muscular abs, butt, and…well…weiner (although all of the pictures I’ve seen at least had said “private areas” covered by underwear (looked like Hanes boxer briefs, in fact), and I’m not searching for pictures without the underwear.  He then sent these pictures to fans via the Twitter feed that he used for communication with his constituents.  Threatened with censure (likely), removal from office (decidedly unlikely), or losing his next election (even less likely than removal considering his continued popularity in his district even in the immediate aftermath of the scandal), he resigned.

Governor Spitzer resigned his office in the wake of revelations that he visited a high-class call girl.  Threatened with impeachment and likely removal from office, he resigned.  Recently, Governor Spitzer announced that he was circulating a petition to get his name on the ballot for the Democratic nomination for Comptroller of New York City.

Both of these men are in the process of that most entertaining of American political processes: the seeking of forgiveness and redemption.

The reason I bring up anything involving Democratic or New York City politics is that people are widely equating the two acts that the men committed (and both of them admitted their “guilt” in their resignations and subsequent addresses).

What Congressman Weiner did was in extremely bad taste and possibly a violation of his wedding vows (depends on your definition of faithfulness).  It was a crime against decency and his spouse, but not actually a crime.  The women he sent the pictures to acknowledged their disgust (at least some of them did) but they did not file criminal or even civil charges against him.  Governor Spitzer, on the other hand, violated the laws of the State of New York.  He, too, violated his marriage vows (although some people think it’s hip to cheat, apparently), but, in addition, he actually broke the law.  The very reality that made Weiner’s removal from office decidedly unlikely (the fact that he didn’t violate a law) contributed to the fact that Spitzer would have, most likely, been removed.

So, forgive if you want. But recognize the fact that what these men did was decidedly different.  I can understand the thought that NYC might want a mayor whose greatest crime was bad taste.  But, do they want a Comptroller who engineered actual criminal activity?

I guess that’s for the voters of NYC to decide, but I know how I would vote.