Why did you become a Freemason?

From: "Lance Rommerdahl, PM" <rommerdahl@comcast.net>
To: masonry-ask@mit.edu
Subject: Why I bacame a Mason
Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2006 16:51:48 +0000

My grandfather was a Mason. My father was a Freemason. Most of my uncles are Masons. My father's friends, his sphere of influence, his allies were Masons. Observing my father's circles while growing up, I naively thought that most people were honest, trustworthy and good. As a flower child of the '60s, I rejected a lot of my father's generations ideas, mores, actions and institutions.

Then I was drafted into the US Army. Served with the Combat Engineers in Viet Nam. I then observed something in mankind under less than idealic conditions. Not all men are honest, trustworthy and good. I further noticed that the ones who were, more often than not, wore the Square and Compass. A lesson I took to heart.

After I was discharged, I asked my father if I could become a Mason and join his lodge. I still remember the beaming pride and joy he showed. The Investigating Committee of Past Masters was at my Christening when I was a baby and knew me all my life. I was installed as the Jr Steward the night I was raised. My father was District Deputy Grand Master, the year I was Master of our Mother Lodge.

I still reject a lot of my father's generation's ideas, mores, actions and institutions as do a lot my Lodge brothers of my generation. But through the Craft, I learned that my father and I shared similar universal ideals and hopes.

--
Lance Rommerdahl, PM
"Level, Plumb & Square"

P.S.: And my son is a Freemason