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The
World is My Lodge and Getting to Know It
Tom
Hendrickson-PGM and Lodge Education Officer Red Wing Lodge #8
“Knowledge must enlighten the mind and heart for the
application of our ideals’ is one of the goals for the Lodge Education Officer.
Tonight, I would like to review a couple of our
principles in contrast to the world in which we live today.
As Freemasons, we believe in the Fatherhood of God,
and the Brotherhood of Man. We also believe that we are to conduct ourselves in
the same manner in Lodge as well as outside of the Lodge. I have always believed
that the world is my Lodge, and its inhabitants are my Brothers. And for me to
be a better man, I should learn more about my fellow men, to help me understand
more about this planet that I reside upon.
Like many of you, I like to travel, and I enjoy
meeting and talking with people who reside in the places I have visited.
Traveling has certainly broadened my views and understanding of the world. However,
I think a quote from our departed Brother and Master Mason Mark Twain, from
Polar Star Lodge #79 of St. Louis, Missouri, is very appropriate.
“Travel is fatal to
prejudice, bigotry and narrow mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely
on these accounts. Broad wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot
be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s life.”
(From his book Innocents abroad)
The last two years travel has been severely limited
due to COVID and the associated lockdowns. During this time, our travel
adventures may have been confined to a weekly outing to the grocery store or
maybe a trip to Walmart or Target. Now with the current war in the Ukraine, and
the fears that the conflict will spill into Europe and surrounding countries,
it may be that we will be staying close to home for some time to come.
I would propose that since we may not be imminently packing
our bags, getting roadmaps, airline tickets or renewing passports, I suggest we
become armchair explorers to expand our horizons.
As a child, I explored many states and countries,
never leaving my home by reading. Reading
can be a great way to explore or the next best way to learn about people,
places and other cultures. Reading can open your eyes to new perspectives and
places without the hassles or hazards of traveling there.
One of my favorite things is reading which is
something that has been a constant in my life. Reading is a natural way to help
all of us make daily advancement to becoming a better man. That’s what
Freemasonry is all about right? Becoming a better man.
First, reading creates cognitive engagement in the
brain that improves vocabulary, thinking skills, concentration, speaking
skills, and creativity. It also increases our knowledge and reduces stress. By
developing these skills, we can move our attention on to other improvements.
For many of us boomers, when we were boys and teenagers,
I think most of us read about the great celebrated explorers who ventured off
to the far, exotic and unexplored parts of the world that captivated our
attention and filled our imaginations. Their stories of suffering, hardship and
survival kept us spellbound.
I, like many of you, had my favorite adventurers. Lewis
and Clark and Zebulon Pike were my American explorers of choice, but I also had
a strong fascination with the artic and Antarctic explorers, Amundson, Scott, Perry,
Byrd, and Shackleton.
I thought that what to me was the golden age of exploration,
had passed, all the great adventures had been done and all those blank spaces
have been mapped. Heck, you can see any place in the world on Google Maps, so
what could be left to explore? With eco-tourism you can make a day trip to the South Pole, and I would guess that there
are thirty people sitting on Hilary Step waiting their turn to climb to the
summit of Mt. Everest. Even Pongo Pongo has a nice swimming beach and cold beer
today.
There are modern day explorers, and I am sure there
are some good one, but many of the accounts I read fell flat. I’m sure there
are other excellent adventurers I just have found them yet.
Last year I discovered Levison Wood who has a fresh
angle, and a new approach to exploring. Levison is a British Parachute Regiment
Officer who spent four years in combat in Afghanistan. His tough military
training provides him with the ability to navigate and when paired with his
passion for exploring exotic places provides the reader with an exciting
adventure.
When Leveson was transitioning out of the active
military, he wanted to find a way to earn a living that would also fulfill his
passions for writing, photography, and travel.
His envisioned projects that would need to be big and
bold enough to write about, but it would have to be something that no one else
had done before. His military career had provided physical conditioning and had
prepared him for adventure. Levison’s first adventure, he decided to walk the
length of the Nile River.
Walking the Nile was his first book that encompasses
his adventures over the nine months that it took for him to walk the 4,250
miles.
For his second book, Walking the Himalayas, he walked
1700 miles in six months.
Walking the Americas, 1,800 miles, Eight Countries and
one Incredible journey from Mexico to Columbia, was his 3rd book.
His fourth book Arabia: A Journey Through the
Heart of the Middle East. A 5,000-mile circumnavigation of the Arabian
Peninsula.
I think you get a sense of his adventurous spirt by
the titles of some of his books. I think
his writing strength is that his books are not just a travel diary. He shares the stories he learned of the
geography, history, civilizations, cultures, and the current day situations
that he is walking through. He includes the viewpoints of his local guides and
the local people he encounters during his journeys. This helps the reader comprehend
and understand the lives of the residents. He informs the reader yet is thoughtful
and entertaining. His books do not bore
you to tears, but instead I find myself wanting to read more and more.
I have brought these four books with me tonight, and
they will be in the library for you to look at.
Levison Wood’s approach to travel is very different compared
to most others. He does not utilize helicopters, Range Rovers, and a support
team of fifty. He simply takes a traveling companion, finds a local translator
and walks with a backpack. When they find a local village along the way they purchase
food or whatever is available. The daily fare ranges from fish, rice, dried
goat and even rats. They sleep in a hammock to avoid snakes and many times rely
on the hospitality and kindness of the people they encounter along their path.
One thing that really brought his books alive for me
is that even though Wood’s travels have been in the 21st Century, he
experienced the hardships and suffering of many of those explorers from years
ago. He journeyed thru jungles, rainforests, swamps, burning hot deserts, and into
the freezing temperatures of the high mountain terrains. He was faced with the
possibility of catching any number of tropical illnesses from insects or water
borne illnesses. Then there was the wide assortment of poisonous snakes,
spiders, fire ants, crocodiles, hippopotamus and other such predatory animals. But
also, he faced the complexity of attempting to traverse modern day wars,
conflicts, human and narcotic traffickers, your normal run of the mill
kidnappers, and robbers.
But also important is the human element of his
writing. While walking the Nile Wood’s traveling companion was overtaken by
heat exhaustion and Wood desperately tried to save his life, but his traveling
companion dies. There were a multitude of hazards he faced, but this was
particularly difficult for Wood yet he made the decision to go on and complete
his journey.
While perhaps my travels do not compare in intensity
to Wood’s, I have always viewed traveling as an opportunity to look beyond my
immediate world and learn about the other 7 billion people who also inhabit
this earth. I love to look and learn of
their cultures and what they value, to learn their history and views of the
world. I have also learned that while we may have different faiths, different
cultures, and very different ways of life, we have much more in common than we
expect and share many of the same concerns regarding our families and our world. Yet, we can come together, have dinner, and
celebrate the brotherhood of man.
Though I live in Minnesota, in my little corner of the
world, I can travel the entire world via reading and will travel in person
again, I know. While there are times, I
may think we live in an uncivil and thoughtless world, the people that I have
met traveling have proved me wrong. They
have provided any number of heart-warming experiences that always restore my
faith in humankind.
I never leave home without my Masonic Dues Card, and
it also has been my passport to many other wonderful experiences.
The world is vast and full of differing styles,
perspectives, people, customs and conflicts.
Wood’s books bring these to life for me in my subzero cosmopolitan Minnesota
home, but I have learned a lot from my armchair travels with him.
The World is My Lodge
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