Skip to main content

Why I choose to be an Odd Fellow

               

                

    When I first decided to write about why I joined the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, I thought that one of the best ways to do it would be more me to tell you about my love of music.

    I am not a musician myself, never having the patience to sit down and practice or put in the hard work.  However I grew up in a house where records and the radio were just part of everyday life.  As I was growing up I was surrounded by the sounds of Mel Tillis, Kenny Rogers and George Straight.  As I grew older I found myself drawn to bands like Genesis, Jethro Tull, Rush and Jazz music.

    My friends however were all musicians, playing trumpets, guitars, drums and a whole range of instruments.  An old roommate often had band practice in the garage next to my car.  My first wife was a professional flutist and even though the marriage was unsuccessful, I still have a deep love and understanding for classical music.

    Music has always intrigued me because; no matter what country the musicians are from, no matter what languages they speak or the color of their skin…if you put them in a room with their strings and woodwinds, they will find a way to “talk” to each other.  They will form a community.    I have seen this happen time and time again as words are dropped and the notes of some old familiar song fill the air.

    I’ve been missing that communal feeling since moving to Western Pennsylvania.  While it’s true that we are near family, I was looking for a way to integrate myself into the wider community as a whole and had passed the local IOOF lodge several times.   However I never saw any cars nearby and never bothered to stop to see the phone number listed on the sign.

    It wasn’t till I found a booth at the local fair that I decided to stop and talk to them about membership.   The rest they say is history.

    I had heard of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows after seeing something n TV about their history.  I had actually talked to a member of the group long before this chance encounter and knew that one of the local homes for the aged was associated with the organization.   


    The more I learned about their beliefs and ideals of the organization, the more that I realized that I was an “Odd Fellow” my entire life, although my belief in God is tenuous at best.   I have to laugh as I remember someone calling me that as a derogatory term a long time ago.  Ah, if only they knew how right they where!

    Years ago I came across a quote that sums up the way life should be lived.   We are here to see each other through this world, not to see through each other.    Even though I do not know who first stated it.  I can think of no other way to live my life and have tried to live by that principle ever since.

    The Odd Fellows, to me at least, are the personification of that quote.  Without even realizing it, I was living some of the central tenets of Odd Fellowship my entire life.  My original degree is in education and for a brief time, about three years, I taught school.  While these children were far from orphans, I was helping to educate the future.   In my duties as an insurance agent and financial advisor I was helping to bury the dead, and finally I have always tried to visit the sick and relieve the distressed by various charity work that I’ve found myself involved in through the years.  

    I am still a new member, but I’m a proud member that is looking forward to not only helping my lodge grow and thrive, but trying to help the order survive into the future.  There is still a place for ritual in this world.  There is still a place for those of us that believe in charity.  

    There is still a place in this world for Friendship, Love and Truth.


 

Labels:
Location: Stoneboro, PA 16153, USA

Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 19, 2022 at 5:37 AM



    Bravo! Beautiful written! Your sentiments echo what I feel jus the core of the organization. I too am a fairly new member at a big lodge that had sadly fallen into dilapidation due to those in charge the last 30 years. Their allegiance seemed to be more in another arena. Thankfully we have been cleaning house and have a new Noble Grand etc. I look forward to this lodge being all it can be. There is much heart and commitment here in the new guard. FLT must reign!

    From Matt Prine Chorro 168

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

What all the cool kids are reading.

Why didn't Erie, PA develop into a bigger city?

          Recently I had to travel up to Erie, PA for business.   It's about an hour north of me and is a rather small city, having just under 100 thousand people living in it.   It played an important role in the founding of America,  - where it was the headquarters for Oliver Perry's flagship Niagara during the battle of Like Erie in the war of 1812 .            It was also a important shipping center, being Pennsylvania's only access to the Great Lakes which was the easiest way to trade with parts of Canada at the time as well as move goods to the cities of Detroit and Chicago, which in the mid to early 1800's were just starting to develop.  It was also directly north from Pittsburgh which was a major industrial city at that time.     Yet Erie never really grew beyond it's humble beginnings and I wondered why.   Like any good sleuth I turned to the intern...
3 comments
Read more

Honoring the past - Thinking more about "invasive" plant species.

 Recently I've been giving some thought to invasive species.  I had received both positive and negative feedback on the blog post concerning kudzu and recently I came across a very well hidden, and very small, wild cherry tree while doing some yard work.  Since it's against the house it would have to be removed since the root systems could damage my foundation.   A buddy of mine at work was asking if I was going to transfer it, his logic being that it was a fruiting tree that would not only attract a variety of pollinator's but that the deer would eat the bark and cherries, keeping them away from the garden (which Sue and I swore we were not going to do this year).  It occurred to me that I was going to have to do a slightly better job of identification, since black cherries are native to America , where as other types of cherries are not.  Being able to make a precise identification would be helpful.   I used to be able to identify all these tre...
Post a Comment
Read more

Paradigm shifts and Project 2040

In 1906, Alfred Henry Lewis stated, “ There are only nine meals between mankind and anarchy. ” His observation has been echoed by people ever since and changed a bit over time, but has remained a stark warning. Only anarchy the way most people think of it rarely occurs.  We have found that people are more likely to band together when their communities face some sort of disaster, be it from war, plague or natural disaster.   We are all too familiar with pictures and videos of communities digging through the rubble of bombed buildings searching for survivors...but how many of us remember the moments during the Covid epidemic of people singing from their balconies?   When you have a community; people will always help people.  Despite these bleak times the things that make us human - our compassion - will see us through. Recently my life changed due to issues with a car .  While, in the scheme of things it was a minor crisis it did make me think if things coul...
1 comment
Read more