Valley of Kennewick Scottish Rite
November 2007 Trestleboard
Contact Info.
Ron Galpin, Secretary – 509-943-8573
Jim Chase, Venerable Master – 509-586-5525
Kennewick Lodge 509-586-3520 / Important Dates to Remember
November 13th – Stated Meeting - 7:30 pm
November 27th – Stated Meeting - 7:30 pm
The Scottish Rite Creed of Freemasonry-
Human progress is our cause, liberty of thought our supreme wish, freedom of conscience our mission, and the guarantee of equal rights to all people everywhere our ultimate goal.
“I’m not cool, but that’s okay . . .
My God loves me anyway.
I’m not cool, but that’s alright, I’m still precious in his sight.
I’m not cool, and I don’t care, how I’m supposed to do my hair.
I’m not cool, but that’s okay, My God loves me anyway.”
That’s a favorite song of mine by Christian songwriter Scott Kripayne.
Actually, I do think I’m cool. Other’s may not, but that’s okay.
That’s what’s so great about the country we live in. We have the freedom to speak out for what we believe.
We have the freedom to worship how we choose and the right to join fraternal orders. We are free men.
We are Freemasons. Maybe not so cool in someone else’s eyes, but we don’t care.
Other countries are much different.
I attended a Kiwanis meeting recently and listened to a gentleman who was a Sergeant in the Army. He had completed several tours in Iraq. He told us how they think and act very much differently than we do.
His opinion was the Iraqi’s were 500 years behind us. Let me give you some examples.
His group was patrolling in an area where there was some construction going on. The Iraqi’s had a large generator hoisted up by a crane and was swinging the generator into place. The generator was getting close to a man’s truck so the man jumped in the way so it wouldn’t hit his truck. Well, the generator got too close and the man was severely injured. The soldiers asked why he did this. The foreman said that while the generator is in the air it is very light. He showed them by putting his hand on the generator and said, “Look, it moves so easily.” They did not grasp the concept of weight and force.
Another example is the man who asked one of the soldiers for a few bullets to put in his rifle so he could shoot it off after their team won a soccer match. The soldier told him that was dangerous because the bullets could fall back down to earth and injure someone. The Iraqi told him the bullets do not fall back to earth.
The soldier assured him they would and had an orange and was tossing it up in the air as an example.
They did not believe the bullet would fall back to earth.
They think water cleans everything. No matter where it comes from.
The soldiers were walking down a street. They noticed a leg of meat hanging outside a man’s home. It was covered with flies. They informed the man of this. The man then took the meat, dipped in a barrel of water, cleaning off the flies and hung it back up. The soldiers looked in the barrel. The water contained stormwater runoff and sewage.
Their children swim in this kind of water. They will drink water if they can see through it.
They are very much family and tribe oriented. The Sergeant was asked by an Iraqi, “Why are you here doing what you are doing?” The Sergeant answered, “We are doing this for your country.” The Sergeant then asked the man, “What are you doing for your country?” The man could not grasp the concept and did not answer.
I get the impression they are not one country, they are many different “countries” living within the border of a country called Iraq. I don’t get the impression they would ever help another tribe if they were in need.
We are very fortunate to live where we live. We are blessed to have strangers jump at the chance to assist others in need.
At the Thanksgiving table in a few weeks, volunteer to say the prayer before your dinner. Have everyone hold hands while you pray. Bless our country, our soldiers, our leaders, our friends and family, and those who volunteer to help others in need. Happy Thanksgiving.
With Fraternal Love and Affection, Jim Chase, Venerable Master
A very special thanks to those who provided their services to make the Arturo DeHoyas visit so memorable.
Thank you Brothers.
Also, thank you to the brothers who performed the 7th degree at the October 23rd meeting.
What a great lesson.
Impartial justice protects person, property, happiness and reputation.
At the meeting on November 27th, we will perform another degree.
Come and see which one we do!!!!
I’ll give a special prize to the first person to memorize and recite the Scottish Rite Creed at that meeting.
SEE YOU AT THE VALLEY MEETINGS
Kennewick Scottish Rite
601 W. 6th Avenue
Kennewick, WA 99336