A Fish Rots From The Head Down

At the end of the day, it all comes back to leadership. Our fraternity is dying because our leaders have failed us, and they continue to fail us utterly!

Grand Lodges mandate this and that and send out minions of deputies to inspect and punish any nonconformity with official dictates. Woe to any lodge that dares to try something new!

Grand Officers are appointed behind closed doors and affirmed in sham elections. They are more concerned with their fancy titles, aprons, and jewels then with solving the problems facing our fraternity. They lead through fear and intimidation, stifling any member who should dare to question their authority.

What we need to turn the tide is a new democratic organizational structure, one built on openness and inclusiveness. Young men today will not tolerate autocratic leaders, nor should they. Young men today will not tolerate stale anachronistic practices, nor should they. Young men today will not tolerate an organization that cannot figure out how to use the Internet, nor should they. Young men today will simply not join lodges where the average member is 30 to 40 years older then they are, nor should they.

There are hundreds of alternative organizations in the market place today competing for the attention of young men. We must either awaken to the need to reinvent ourselves to attract today's young men or continue to suffer catastrophic losses in membership. We have been losing members for 50 years. It is time to recognize the cause for this trend. Our leaders would have us believe that these membership losses are not their fault, that societal changes are to blame. They are wrong. It is their fault. The world has changed and they have done nothing other than perpetuate their own selfish interests.

An ancient Chinese proverb states that a fish rots from the head down. The lesson is clear. If an organization fails, one need only look to those at the top to find the root cause for that failure.