In many of these blogs or in speaking to me you may have realized the common and recurring presence of one Neal Robert Wendt in my stories. Despite the fact that, if you had told me two years ago that I would be such good friends with him now I would have never believed you, Neal has become one of my closest friends and I love him to death. Sadly (for me), Neal is about to deploy to Afghanistan for 6 months and so to celebrate his leaving he invited me and several other good friends to a dinner at his Mason Lodge. For those who have no idea who or what the Masons are, here is a little information on the Masons.
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. While Freemasonry has often been called a "secret society", Freemasons themselves argue that it is more correct to say that it is an esoteric society, in that certain aspects are private. The most common phrasing is that Freemasonry has, in the 21st century, become less a secret society and more of a "society with secrets". The private aspects of modern Freemasonry are the modes of recognition amongst members and particular elements within the ritual. Despite the organisation's great diversity, Freemasonry's central preoccupations remain charitable work within a local or wider community, moral uprightness (in most cases requiring a belief in a supreme being) as well as the development and maintenance of fraternal friendship. Masons conduct their meetings using a ritualised format. There is no single Masonic ritual, and each jurisdiction is free to set (or not set) its own ritual. Freemasons use symbolism to teach moral and ethical lessons of the principles of "Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth;" or as related in France, "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity".
The fraternity is widely involved in charity and community service activities. In contemporary times, money is collected only from the membership, and is to be devoted to charitable purposes. Freemasonry worldwide disburses substantial charitable amounts to non-Masonic charities, locally, nationally and internationally. In earlier centuries, however, charitable funds were collected more on the basis of a Provident or Friendly Society, and there were elaborate regulations to determine a petitioner's eligibility for consideration for charity, according to strictly Masonic criteria.
So now that you know that the Masons are not all about secret rituals and Dan Brown stories and naked handshakes, I will go back to my story. We got dressed up (twice in three days, seriously? By the way this was the Monday after Varsity, hence the frequency of the dressing up) and walked to the lodge which is in Summertown by my house. Our troupe included the man of the hour, Neal, who was all snazzed up in his military Mess Dress uniform, Neal’s roommate Justin, Ian, who was back in Oxford for his viva, Simon, Kim, Bonnie, and myself. Up first was cocktail hour where we got to watch the amazing dual personality of Neal in action. We would be chatting amongst ourselves in the normal vein of our typical conversations: stupid jokes, inappropriate comments, making fun of me, etc. Then, a fellow Mason (who was invariably at a minimum 30 years older than Neal) would come up and say hello and Neal would immediately switch into mature mode and would talk to them like the adult that he claims to be. Once that person was gone, bang, right back to immature Neal. It was pretty amusing for the rest of us to see.
Before dinner Neal took us upstairs to the Chamber (I think that’s what its called??) and had someone tell us a little bit about the Masons and what they do. I didn’t follow most of it but the room was really cool and my favourite part was the fibre-optic stars on the ceiling. It was like when you were younger and you had glow in the dark stars on the ceiling of your room…anyways, back to the dinner.
Before dinner there were several of the Masonic traditions which included “taking drinks” with the “worshipful master.” I really enjoyed seeing the various traditions and listening to the traditional exchanges that took place. Neal was given a chance to give a little speech and it was great to see the respect that everyone had for him and what he is doing and about to do.
After dinner there was a magician who did a show. Both Neal and I got roped into playing a role in the show and while I found it somewhat silly but nonetheless amusing, Bonnie was “not impressed”. After the show and dinner, we just sat in the lodge until it closed, having a few drinks, catching up with Ian and hearing pilot training stories, and enjoying spending time with Neal before he heads off for Afghanistan.
Neal trying to determine what card Ian has picked despite having a bag over his head
Ian trying to send Neal vibes about his card using this telepathic device (that looks surprisingly like an eggbeater...)
Can we please acknowledge the amazingness that is Neal's shirt?
It was a great evening, I really enjoyed getting to see a different side of my friend that I hadn’t seen before, and it was nice to get to spend time with some great friends that I’ve gained since coming here. I’m going to miss Neal like CRAZY when he’s gone but I’m proud of what he’s gonna do in Afghanistan and I’ll look forward to the massive party we’ll have when he gets back!
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