STB-Nov. 83
Music by Brother J. L. F. Mendelssohn.
FREEMASONRY
YOUTH
and
YOU
by C.C. FAULKNER, JR.
Deputy Grand Master, Grand Lodge F.&A.M.
of Indiana and
Past Grand Master, International Supreme
Council, Order of DeMolay
We are privileged to share with the Craft
this paper written by Right Worshipful Brother
C.C. "Buddy" Faulkner at the request of your
Masonic Service Association.
Youth--those all important formative
years--is one of the few things in life that all
mankind has had in common with one another.
Indeed, it might be the only common
denominator all mankind has shared!
All of us, including all the heroes and
villains of the world today, were young people
not many decades ago. For many, it was only a
few years ago. The things that we do and the attitudes that we have now reveal much about our
upbringing and identify dominant influences
that shaped our values and attitudes during the
early years of our lives.
Based upon my experiences as a youth
leader for 33 years, both at the rewarding level
of local groups but also including state, national, and international leadership posts as
well, I have become convinced that we in
America have the finest group of young people
anywhere in the world.
I have found them to be every bit as good,
and not one bit worse, than any generation that
has preceded them. We do our nation, and
especially today's generation of youth, a great
disservice if we yield to the unfortunate temptation to join a chorus of Jeremiahs who complain continuously about young people.
Based also on my association with and talks
before Masonic-related youths groups all over
America and abroad, I have found that young
people today, all over the world, are far better
informed, and consequently more intellectually
influenced, at much earlier ages than any
generation in the history of mankind.
We must exercise spiritual and moral leadership for the benefit of young people now, or
that privilege and opportunity will be lost to us
forever. Those golden years of youth come but
once!
Among some segments of today's generation, it pleases me to find evidence of a growing
and strengthening appreciation for what I like
to call the invisible things of life: love of God,
love of home, love and respect for parents, and
love for our great country. Fortunately for all
of us, the pendulum seems to be swinging more
and more in that direction among an increasing
number of young people at this point in our
history. That is encouraging, and bodes well for
the future of our nation, and of our Fraternity
as well.
However, that situation makes it even more
important for young people in your community
and mine, to know that they have
Freemasonry's understanding, help, encouragement, and moral support. They especially need
to know that we are appreciative of the good
things they believe in and do, because a relatively small percentage of our youth population,
commonly referred to as "bad kids" seem to
get higher visibility in a media system that
oftentimes seems to benefit more, both in
ratings and in dollars, by supplying a constant
barrage of sensationalism than it does from
reporting news about decency.
In one of his last speeches before the House
of Commons before he gave up his Premiership, Sir Winston Churchill spoke of the problems of young people and what would lie
before us if God wearied of mankind. Because
of what is happening in the world at this point
in history, his remarks are perhaps more sobering today than they were some 30 years ago.
Our only ground for hope is that God does not
weary of mankind. Unless young people are
properly influenced and guided, there really is
no ground of hope for freedom, democracy,
Freemasonry, our own personal brand of
religion, and everything else that we cherish.
That is why leadership, real dedicated
leadership, of young people is so vital to us at
this very moment. Freemasons, as individuals
and collectively as lodges have a unique opportunity to supply that leadership by actively providing sponsorship or support for DeMolay,
Rainbow and Job's Daughters groups. And, we
must do it on a continuing basis!
One of these days you and I will retire from
our livelihood, our civic duties, from active
leadership in the Craft. Today's youngsters will
step into our positions, we know. How well
they are prepared to fill those positions depends
upon the training they are receiving and the attitudes they are developing today. And listen to
this: they will control the economy into which
we retire and the philosophies which will shape
the destinies of our nation, as well as the
destinies of their children and grandchildren.
They will man the controls of all the devices
that mankind can conjure up for peace and
destruction. How well they are prepared to exercise good judgment over the use of those
devices depends in a great measure upon the set
of values they are adopting now.
So, who trains our young people really is
important to us. It is vitally important and, unfortunately, more so than many decent people
realize. I believe it is immoral not to be con-
cerned about the kind of young people we are
producing in our neighborhoods, in our cities,
states, and in our nation.
I believe also that the greatest number and
the most important unexplored areas in the
world today are neither under the seas nor in
outer space; they are in the minds and hearts of
young people.
Too often, parents and others who exert influence over our younger folks, tend to preoccupy them with a narrow goal of becoming
"successful." We ought to be teaching them to
place more stress on becoming "useful! "
Useful in a society that will place human moral
and religious values higher on a list of priorities
than material acquisitions. No person, young
or old, can become truly successful until he or
she first masters the art of being useful in the
society from which we draw our daily existence.
A close look through the pages of history
since the beginning of civilization produces adequate proof that those persons who are recorded as having achieved true greatness (not fame,
but greatness) became great because of what
they were, of what they believed and the causes
in which they spent themselves, and not because
of fortunes or power they amassed. We need to
constantly stress upon that fact when leading
young people.
"I am too old," "too busy, to become involved in youth work," I often am told by people who have been asked to become involved in
youth activities. Not so! The older the leader
the more knowledge and experience we may be
able to impart to our youngsters. Too busy?
Young people need an hour of our time more
than they need a dollar of our money! So, if we
feel we are too busy, then perhaps we should reexamine our priorities. Only by devoting our
precious time will we able to help them to
realize their ambitions and to evaluate their
achievements, to bolster their self-esteem, and
to help them to soften their hatreds. We simply
must not stand idly by and let subversive and
other undersirable influences dominate the
thoughts of our younger generation. If we abdicate that duty, we become a significant part
of the problem and contribute nothing to its
solution.
What are some of the needs of young people
today?
1. Leadership. Real, dedicated leadership.
2. A set of values. Something substantial.
Something that has eternal value. I am thinking
now of honesty, integrity, love of home,
reverence for God, courtesy, faithfulness to
high ideals, cleanness of thought, word, and
deed, a desire to associate with other young
people who have similar high ideals, a belief in
the dignity of mankind, the immortality of the
soul, the fatherhood of God and the
brotherhood of man.
3. They need to be encouraged to develop
themselves physically, morally, and spiritually,
to achieve their highest capabilities, to raise
themselves to their full stature.
We can give those things to young people
only if we are willing to give of ourselves and of
our time. We cannot provide them simply by
the expenditure of funds, although that is needed, too.
Writing in The Indiana Freemason in
March, 1969, Past Grand Master Dwight L.
Smith said it better than I can say it when he
wrote,
"It was written of Sir Winston Churchill
that 'he behaved like a prince at a time when
princely behavior had gone right out of
fashion.'
"Indeed, such behavior has gone out of
fashion, to the distinct loss of our country and
society at large. But there is no reason to suppose that lofty standards have been dispelled
entirely or that they will be scorned for long.
"To restore emphasis on values that are
more than momentary is the job of us all.
Freemasonry cannot do it alone but it can do its
part.
"If during these years of the world's turmoil, our Craft should do nothing more than to
raise up and encourage, under the protecting
wing of its Lodges, a few thousand young men
committed to princely behavior--even though
such behavior temporarily might not be
'in'--that in itself will be significant contribution toward reestablishing the wholesome atmosphere we need to desperately. And the
mighty role it plays thereby will be in the best of
Masonic traditions."
What a golden opportunity we have as
Freemasons to help all young people to live by
the standards of those great virtues we cherish
so much; virtues that Communism and other
negative influences are bent on destroying.
As young people progress through their formative years, either with or without our Fraternity's influence, let us recall to mind the words
of Julius Caesar as he crossed the Rubicon:
"The die is cast!"
A night follows day, so adulthood follows
youth.
Kids grow up!
"The child is the father of the man," said
Wordsworth.
Freemasons might term youth as the cornerstone of life, a stone well-laid being a life
well-begun.
For the world, and for Freemasonry, it is
during those precious, un-relivable years of
youth that "the die is cast!"
Brother Faulkner resides at 6945 South
Ford Road, Zionsville, Indiana 46077.
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