From the Secretary

at the Allstate Arena. It's a fast action game. Last year we had about twenty some people attend the game. This year I'd like to get seats in the center on the lower level. I'll be sending out an e-mail and talking more about this at the lodge to see what kind of interest there is.  Two possible dates are Sunday, March 23^rd at 11:00am, or Sunday, April 20^th at 2:00pm.
Again I hope some of you members who've been absent, we'd like to see you come on back and help make our lodge the best it can be for us. See you around….

Brethren,
As a reminder, please check your dues card to be sure it is for 2003.
Your lodge is again deluged with work and will require help.  We have the OV of  Bro Willard Hurley our DDGM this year and we will also have a visit from the MWGM of the State of Illinois.  We have two candidates for the degrees in addition to several in

From the Senior Warden

Personal observation from the SW on
"Symbols."

I have often found it interesting how man uses symbols and can attach great emotion and behavior to these purely inanimate objects.  "Old Glory" comes immediately to mind - it physically is, after all, nothing more than a few simple sewn pieces of colored cloth - and yet there is nothing simple in the feelings and emotions (positive and negative), world wide, that it can provoke.

Our Fraternal Order is also based on symbols (sometimes, I think we may have actually invented the whole concept!). 

When I became Senior Deacon, I decided it was time to purchase a Master Mason's ring.  Simple enough idea -- it is just a piece of jewelry, its intrinsic value not worth much more than the few grams of the precious metal it contains.  My metal band has a few symbols on it: there are the square and compasses, a trowel, a level, a letter "G"-- to the casual observer, a simple (maybe even "strange") piece of man's jewelry.  And yet from nearly the moment I began wearing it, I realized that it was beginning to subtly change my behavior - for the better. 

It dawned on me that the wearing of this ring tasked me with the responsibility of being an ambassador for the Fraternity.  Interestingly, unlike other worldly symbols that oftentimes  "demand" that those displaying or wearing certain symbols are somehow