All we have to decide is what to do with the time of the Skeletons. You've reached the Internet's home for all things masonry. Join On the Level Podcast as we plumb the depths of our ancient craft and try to unlock the mysteries, dispel the fallacies and utilize the teachings of freemasonry to unlock the greatness within each of us. I have you now, thank you. Thank you, welcome back to On the Level Podcast. We have a very special episode today because it is the three ruffians joining On the Level Podcast, our favorite sponsor because we have so many sponsors. You're our favorite sponsor, the three ruffians joining On the Level Podcast, our favorite sponsor because we have so many sponsors. You're our favorite sponsor, the three ruffians.
Speaker 1:So that's why, if you're watching, you'll see we've got four gentlemen here. Three are wearing fedoras. I dare you to figure out which three of the four you can see are actual ruffians. Let's go ahead and introduce ourselves. Boys we have. I don't know where your squares are. I feel like a very Brady Bunch with all these people. It's like I'm looking up at Jan, and there's Marsha. We have John Schaefer. John Schaefer of Sarasota, lodge number 147. Welcome to On the Level Podcast.
Speaker 2:Good afternoon. Thanks for having me, Mr Burns.
Speaker 1:You've been on before. People who have been listening for a while have heard John pop in. When we traveled to DC you joined us a couple of times, very briefly talking about the rough years.
Speaker 2:Agreed Very briefly. It's usually the way I like it Very briefly. Yes.
Speaker 1:Agreed Very briefly, it's usually the way I like it. We also have another repeat visitor, brother Sean Cooney of Sarasota, lodge number 147, the junior warden, the sitting. Junior warden of the Lodge. Welcome, brother Sean Cooney.
Speaker 3:Hey, what's going on. Fellas, how have you been, you know, living the dream, living the dream.
Speaker 1:We had you on with.
Speaker 3:Brother Dwayne from the Past.
Speaker 1:Masters Thoughts.
Speaker 3:Good times, Good times yeah yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was a really good episode. I had fun with that one, dwayne's a good brother.
Speaker 1:He is a really you know, he is really good. I was in a bad mood one day and we were posting in a Texas Freemason group and there was some stuff there that wasn't good about masonry and he could tell I was down. So he private messaged me and gave me a little motivational pep talk and I thought, wow, this is a good brother. He didn't have to take his time to do that and with us out of Washington State, I believe, is Brother Nick Bailey. Welcome to On the Level Podcast, brother Nick.
Speaker 4:Thank you.
Speaker 1:Would you like to state your lodge and your position?
Speaker 4:Yeah, so I'm just a brother. I am not a sitting member, but I'm a member of Horace W Tyler Lodge number 290 in University Place and I have a plural membership with Steilacoom Lodge number 2 in Tacoma, in Tacoma.
Speaker 1:Wow, how long have you been a Mason.
Speaker 4:I was raised in January 13th of this year.
Speaker 1:A baby Mason.
Speaker 4:I'm a very baby Mason, yeah.
Speaker 3:Nick gets down though.
Speaker 1:He's making a lot of moves over there. Oh, don't cry, baby mason.
Speaker 3:Okay, it's okay, it gets better nick's one of those guys where you could see him as soon as they walk in, you'd be like, ah, this guy's gonna be in the line. You just know it. He's a go-getter. He's always doing everything he can for that lodge and for us too. He's a good brother also.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:And he likes rabbit holes too, so this will be perfect for the podcast.
Speaker 1:Oh, this is dangerous. He said he has all afternoon. This is going to be a marathon show. Guys. We're covering aliens, sex drives, everything is going to go down today. I'm just kidding. We're not going to talk about that. What we are going to talk about is the three ruffians. People listening probably have an idea that I'm somewhat involved in the three ruffians because it comes up, it's been coming up for like a year on the podcast and yeah, I am, I'm one of the three ruffians. I like to say it to the world. There are three ruffians in the three ruffians Chris Burns, sean Cooney and John Schaefer. And here we are. It's good to have you guys in the podcast. So we've been going through some revamps as a Masonic company, absolutely. In fact, we've actually completely resourced our product.
Speaker 2:It's a relaunch maybe, yeah.
Speaker 1:A relaunch? Yeah, not a rebrand, because the brand is the same, it's the same concept. There's already a great Masonic brand out there called Hiram Solomon and if you're a Mason you've probably heard of them, you've probably tried it. It's a good product and it's everywhere. Every Mason has a Hiram and Solomon cigar, probably in their house.
Speaker 1:But you know, when we were like, let's do something that we can do fundraisers with, we can give some money back to charities like the Shriners International and we can have fun together, we were thinking of brand names and I don't know whose genius idea it was. But we were like, well, let's go the exact opposite of Hiram and Solomon and make it the bad guys, let's make it the three ruffians and we'll lean into that as a brand instead of the heroes of the story who are Hiram and Solomon. And it made sense to us because Hiram and Solomon wouldn't be smoking cigars, drinking whiskey Well, they might, you know, they were both really rich, but the ruffians definitely. There he goes, he's got his apple juice. At least it's not in a sippy cup yet.
Speaker 3:Give me time.
Speaker 1:The ruffians kind of embrace that superfluity of life, that they aren't afraid to indulge a little bit. And if you're smoking cigars and you're drinking whiskey like a lot of masons I see posting all over the internet you're okay with superfluities in your life too. Hey, good job. You know you do want to limit those things as a Mason, just throwing that out there.
Speaker 3:Well, we're not perfect. We're not perfect, we're all just men. We're always just trying to be better, and those first EEA working tools are the ones that I'll continually have to use, more than any other tool that was given us, to constantly chip off those rough edges and those vices and super fluidities. That being said, you know who doesn't like to indulge a little bit here and there on, you know, a good cigar or a good bourbon, you know, from time to time, as long as you don't get too out of hand.
Speaker 3:I think that's what it's about, cause a perfect ashlar needs its imperfections. It's not completely smooth at all. If it was completely perfect, the cement wouldn't bind it and the stone would just slide right off it. So we need our little imperfections, but we can't be completely imperfect either.
Speaker 1:Small imperfections. You don't want to see it coming like oh wow, that building is leaning, like no, we're talking about tiny imperfections. You don't want to see it coming Like oh wow, that building is leaning. We're talking about tiny imperfections here. I'm really excited because I'm not a cigar guy myself. I smoke a cigar now and then, but I couldn't tell you a $1,000 cigar from a $5 cigar. But people I trust including you two are telling me our new lineup is ridiculous. Does anybody want to like for the cigar-o-fish? You know what is out there want to give them a little hint of what they can get from the three ruffians which we will be launching officially at the Grand Lodge session on May 27th. We'll have a booth, we're going to talk about that. But what can they get? What can they get? What are we going to be offering there?
Speaker 3:Well, it's very exciting because, like we changed completely different routes, we were pretty much stuck in only being able to get Nicaraguan sticks with Nicaraguan fillers, nicaraguan binders, nicaraguan sticks with Nicaraguan fillers, nicaraguan binders, nicaraguan leaves. Now we are broadened completely and we can pretty much do any kind of blends now, so we're messing with a lot of different types of blends, our new lineup. I believe our brother, john Schaefer over there, has some descriptions of the new sticks that we got coming. So, john, if you want to go ahead and talk about the new stuff, yeah, absolutely so.
Speaker 2:I mean, first of all, just to reiterate what Chris said. I think we're just oh so very excited about the relaunch of our new cigars. Definitely, within that, we're bringing higher.
Speaker 1:Love that.
Speaker 2:There it is. We are bringing higher quality cigars with superior branding and also improved pricing as well.
Speaker 1:So I think all three of those things are great, they're going to pay less and get higher quality.
Speaker 2:Can you believe it? We can't either. We've come a long way in a year and we've done this because we've got a new partner, and I think maybe in the future we'll talk more about that partner, but he's been a wonderful addition for our company and the growth of our company.
Speaker 3:So shout out to Brother Musa for hooking us up.
Speaker 2:Yeah actually it was a sonic connection, absolutely.
Speaker 1:This connection happened at Grand Lodge last year. Brother Cooney met a brother who recommended a friend of his who's very, very big in the cigar world you would know him or try his stuff for sure and uh, you know, it turns out he's just a guy, um, like us. He's actually, like, I think, a second or third generation right in his family. Dad was doing this for sure right now. Uh, so he I believe we he's at least second generation in this business and he's really trying to do the right thing from what we can tell, and he really cares.
Speaker 1:So he really helped us out a lot and they've made a lot of concessions to help us out, so we're eternally grateful for them and we'll talk more about them when the time's right.
Speaker 2:It's incredible, you know, like we went from this you know super small private thing to now we're sharing the same farms as like big companies like Aleva and some other really well-known brands which I'm sure John can go over. So first of all, I just want to make sure that we mentioned that we're still sticking to the true three ruffians and keeping the same names of the first three cigars. Anyway, there are going to be four in total. We're going to have the first three as the JA, and that's going to be our box-press cigar. We're going to have the JO, the Habano cigar, and the JU, which is going to be our Maduro cigar.
Speaker 2:Maduro, yeah, and then our fourth cigar is going to be our Maduro cigar, maduro, and then our fourth cigar is going to be a barber pole cigar. So that's going to be a new introduction and we're going to be calling that the Winding Stairs.
Speaker 1:I like it. I like it. So you've got a light and dark wrapped together. Is what that is correct?
Speaker 2:Yep, a barber pole? Yep, absolutely.
Speaker 1:For those that don't know what a barber pole cigar is, you can imagine. You know what a barber pole looks like. Imagine that on a cigar with dark and white, and that's what you'd have. It looks really cool. That's one of the coolest cigars I've seen. It is, I know you were really excited about it, John. He was really excited about that one.
Speaker 2:Oh, Sean's got one on hand.
Speaker 1:All right, if you can see.
Speaker 3:There you go, you got to put your hand behind it.
Speaker 1:So the there you go.
Speaker 3:There you go. That's a secret. You're so smart.
Speaker 1:Looks good, looks good.
Speaker 3:They are good man, they're tasty.
Speaker 1:So we're keeping it simple to start. We want to see how this goes. Definitely, we've already tested this out. People are giving us really good reviews. We can't wait to hear what the masons think about these things. So we placed a nice fat order for our Grand Lodge. We're going to be bringing a set of sampler packs that we'll be selling. Are they getting three or are they getting four in the sampler pack? John, it would be four in a sampler pack. Yeah, so last year we sold three in a sampler pack. For how much? 50 bucks, $50. And this year we're coming to Grand Lodge with higher quality cigars, four of them in a sampler pack. So surely it's going to cost more, right, john?
Speaker 2:No, sir, that improved quality and pricing is actually going to be. We think we're still landing on a final pricing, to be fair, but I do believe we're going to be better than $50 for an extra cigar. Better branding and again, higher quality yeah, very exciting.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's good, that is exciting, and they'll be able to buy some individually if they just want one-offs, I imagine.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 3:Yep, well, that's the thing. You know what I mean. Like, we want to give the most value that we can. You know we are Masonic and this is a fine line that we're constantly having to walk is between, hey, we're a cigar business and we're also masons and brothers, and we don't ever want to lose sight of the fact that, hey, we are brothers and we got to be careful, because we're not trying to take advantage of our brothers, we're just trying to, you know, give something that's ours and have some fun doing it. You know what I mean. It's a for masons, by masons, product that everybody can enjoy, that if you're a cigar smoker, and that's what we're getting down to and we're trying to really push in on on giving back to. You know other lodges as well. You know, I mean after, uh, after you go ahead through these descriptions, we'll we'll touch on that as well I'm actually really glad you brought that up.
Speaker 1:Let's talk about that for a second.
Speaker 2:I think it's a good point. Actually, when I was the sitting master.
Speaker 1:Last year, way back in the day, I actually shared a post from the Three Ruffians and somebody who's a Mason said this is really horrible to see a sitting master using his position to promote a business, and it actually made us all pause. I think and think about what we were doing in that moment, because prior to that, I didn't think of it that way. I thought we were just having fun. And people say, making money, but we have only spent money, a good amount of money each of us has. So let's clarify that To me. I was investing money in something that was going to be for Macy's life. That was fun.
Speaker 1:And you know, we I don't think all three of us are pretty well set when it comes to our jobs and our finances. Cooney's got his own business. He can't even barely, you know, use the port-a porta potty out there to take a crap, because he's so busy. He's got to just wear a diaper on the job. And I'm the same way. I have a digital advertising agency with like 15 employees and I'm constantly dealing with crap. And John is in the IT world and he's on conferences. You were just traveling for work. We're professionals.
Speaker 1:Okay, guys, we are Masons and professionals. We didn't come here to get rich off Freemasonry. I've been a Mason since 2018 and I tallied it up with my wife. I've invested about $6,000 into the fraternity since I became a Mason and I've given away so many free services from my business to Masons that have asked for help. So the idea that we're making money to me at this point is ridiculous. But I understand you don't know that. The average person out there so that would be my thing it's like, hey, we're not here trying to get rich. This is a fun company and it's meant to raise money for Shriners International and lodges and we want to try to find creative ways to help all Masons use our brand to maybe do some fundraising and help their lodges out. And, that being said, I'm a very active Mason.
Speaker 1:I tried to buy new costumes for our lodge for the second degree. It was going to be about $25,000. And there is a Mason who has a company that does custom clothes for the second degree. There are Masons that make gloves and aprons and pins and hats. There are Masons that make the metal pieces that go on your rods. There are masons that put the carpeting in our lodges. Masons make money in masonry all the time. That doesn't make you a bad person okay. It's a byproduct of the whole system. We don't come here for the purpose of making money. We come here for the purposes of becoming better people and helping people. But if you can make friends and have a business that helps Masons, I don't see that as a negative. My two cents how do you guys feel about it?
Speaker 1:I agree, I agree 100%.
Speaker 2:Yeah, when we started this business, one of the biggest things to me was it better be fun, because, like you said, we're all busy enough in our own professional worlds, right? So if we're going to spend some time to do this, let's make it fun, and if it stops being fun, I don't know.
Speaker 3:Yeah, when we stop doing it. That's we agreed on that, you know at the beginning of the year. We we touched on that. You know, our goal was just to keep bringing the fun yeah, and I mean, if we can raise a little bit of money and if we, if we do make a little bit of money, that's always not a bad thing either. Like it is a fine line. It's a fine line that we got to walk.
Speaker 1:There's no chance that the three of us are retiring because of this company. Let's know.
Speaker 3:There's no chance.
Speaker 1:There's nothing in the world that could happen. That's going to make that a reality, and so calm down if you're upset about that. Okay, we're not getting rich.
Speaker 3:Uh, here it is also it is super cool when you see guys in like kansas you know, smoking our cigars or wearing our shirts. You know what I mean. You got brothers like nick out in washington and enjoying our cigars and you know he's giving us nothing but love. It's fun, it really is. It brings us all together a little bit more and it's something to do that with.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean we never would have met Nick if it wasn't for cigars.
Speaker 1:That's right.
Speaker 4:What a great connection you guys had something on your website that said if you want to be involved, reach out.
Speaker 1:I did.
Speaker 4:I think we've all been chatting ever since then.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:This is the first time I actually have seen you with my own eyes, but I feel like I know you already that's true.
Speaker 4:You weren't on the original zoom call. That we know I wasn't uh I don't know why, uh.
Speaker 1:But you know, brother, nick, I, I definitely want to get to what you're doing, um, with your raffle and some of the other things that are going on, but I thought, thought first, uh, it'd be nice to just meet the guys, really talk about, uh, the cigars themselves and what's going to happen at grand lodge and what people can expect here coming up in a few weeks. So, with that being said, uh, everyone knows who I am if you're listening to this. So, john, if you could just give us a little history of years, your personal life and your Masonic life, so people can get a snapshot of who you are.
Speaker 2:Wow, okay, well, I'm a relatively newer Mason is what I would say. I was raised with Brother Sean Cooney as well with five additional fellows, so we came together through as a group of seven and we were raised May 14th of 2022. And I just had to look that up just to confirm that. But yeah, so it's been a little bit. I've been enjoying the ride, met some amazing guys at Sarasota Lodge 147, probably some lifelong friends, which has been absolutely fantastic. That's one of the biggest reasons I actually joined Freemasonry is so that I could expand my network of brothers, and boy did it ever do that? So very happy about that. Shortly, briefly, I guess my profession that we talked about earlier. So I am a project manager and I handle projects for our M&A, so our mergers and acquisitions within our company, and what we do is we acquire companies and we'll bring them into our organization. That includes systems, people and processes and all that good stuff. So that's what keeps me busy during the day. And then I do enjoy, certainly, smoking cigar with some bourbon.
Speaker 1:Well, john has been helping me. Last year he helped me bring in 20-some masons into the lodge. Yeah, he really got adept. I kind of passed off in our lodge the Grand Lodge Marketing Reimbursement Program, which is a program that the Grand Lodge of Florida I helped create and they've been doing it for some years and it really helps people, helps masons control the flow of people coming into their lodges, which is a huge challenge for most lodges. But this program makes it really easy and free because the Grand Lodge reimburses you, and free because the Grand Lodge reimburses you. And so John has done such a good job that the incoming Grandmaster in Florida has tapped him and asked him to join the team. On the state level. John is a committeeman now for that marketing reimbursement program. He'll be serving most worshipful when he's installed, don Coward. So congratulations to you, state chairman.
Speaker 2:All right, thank you, that's awesome, buddy. Couldn't have done that without you. State chairman. All right, well, thank you, that's awesome, buddy, I couldn't have done that without you, chris.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow, I'm sorry.
Speaker 3:That was the wrong. No, it's accurate. It's making me want to cry, my buddy.
Speaker 1:There we go. That was the right one. I got to get a little. There we go. You're used to those. Yeah, actually I won't be on that. I've been asked to leave the committee as I have relocated out of the state and the human grandmaster thought it would be inappropriate for me to serve on his committee, asked me to leave. So, john will be the closest thing to me that you've got in the state, so please, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:Use him as a resource and reach out to him Absolutely. He can help you learn how to bring members into your lodge and that's really about right, Masons making masons.
Speaker 2:So it really is a great program that Chris did establish and a lot of us are just running with it and I will continue to run and if there's any way we can find a way to help, absolutely reach out and let us know.
Speaker 1:Brother.
Speaker 3:Cooney what's?
Speaker 1:up dude. Who are you? What's going on with you? Tell us.
Speaker 3:I am a hooligan. That's what I am, a hooligan. I was raised with Johnny. I was raised with Johnny at the same time with all those same same boys and um, so I was like I had one of those wild upbringings. You know I'm saying I'm not gonna go too in depth about it, but you know what I mean always was mixed up with rough and tumble characters. My entire life and I've, uh, I have affinity for being a wild man at times.
Speaker 3:Um, masonry brought me in and gave me this lovely beautiful accountability to where I'm constantly accountable to all of these men, and they hold me accountable and they won't let me, because if you leave me to my own devices, I make bad decisions.
Speaker 3:I have time and time again and it's so nice to have all of these men that I need to rise up for and make sure that I am on the level and I am on the plumb and I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing, you know. And so that's my support system and um, it's given me so much like so much, the, the lodge, the fraternity, um, I'm sitting junior warden somehow, because you guys said that it was a good idea and I'm doing the best I can. There's just so much in our fraternity between you know, the district and District 23 in general is really really, really strong and we all talk to each other and we're there for each other, and that's what masonry should be. And I don't know, I'm just a a guy and I try real hard to not suck and that's pretty much it.
Speaker 1:What do you do for a living?
Speaker 3:I work in the contracting business. I build houses um, do a lot of custom kitchens and baths and fireplaces, additions and all of that stuff and we're just going nonstop. It's ridiculous the amount of building in the state, but it keeps me fed so can't complain.
Speaker 1:Awesome man and I'm really. I mean, I've seen you grow since you joined the lodge. Obviously, I believe I was there at your initial meeting that you did at the open house, I think and was with you the whole way through and I've definitely seen you grow as a man. I think you know you were already a good person. All of us, you know that. Come to the fraternity they say we're already, we're a Mason in our heart, before we ever made a Mason in the lodge and we're drawn together. So we're supposed to be together. It's unavoidable, it's our destiny to be together.
Speaker 1:But I've watched you grow and become a much more, as you said, a reserved person in a way. I mean, I've gotten the calls where you're about to beat the shit out of somebody who hit your truck and you saw me sign. You're like, oh, I thought I better call somebody help me. You know because, uh, you got, you got heated, but you kept it under control and you attributed m mason sign and you're like, oh, I thought I better call somebody to help me Because you got heated but you kept it under control and you attributed masonry to the reason that man didn't get a beating. So there's physical evidence that this is working in your life. You're not in jail from little tiny fender benders like that, whereas in the past you might have actually taught that man a lesson and wound up going to jail.
Speaker 3:But it's the tools that I was given to use. You know what I mean. Like, hey, man, listen, you're not, that's a bad decision to make. You know what I mean. Just run it through the working tools and then you make better decisions. And I'm not saying like I'm, like you know, criminal, because I'm definitely not. I wouldn't be able to be a Mason if I was just a convict or something like that.
Speaker 1:There's a little ruffian inside there, though, right Definitely.
Speaker 2:There's a ruffian inside each and every one of us.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Here's your three ruffians, real guys, real Masons, based out of Sarasota, fedora wearing badass, friendly, don't mess with us, but we will love you, masons. And we've got with us a good friend of the three ruffians. This is somebody that really early on kind of reached out and wanted to just help out, didn't really care about anything for himself, just wanted to know how he could help. And so we let him know that a lodge in our district had done a fundraiser and you know it was our first try at it. Our cigars were more expensive then, it was harder to make money and we've been really retooling everything to try to get this better and so that Lodges can actually make more money and people will get something out of it. And he's been running his own raffle with the Three Ruffians Cigar Program. I believe as of today, I saw a text You're going to be profitable, no matter what. At this point it was just a matter of how much money you're going to be making, correct.
Speaker 4:But tell us about yourself and what brought you here. Yeah, so my first contact with Masons up here in Washington was in January of 23. And it just so happened I met with my district deputy. He likes to, you know, have first contact with most masons in that in horse tyler lodge, and I went to my meetings, got everyone. It was, uh, initiated in june and ever since then I've been going headstrong. We meet at his house for study nights every week and I just kind of dove headfirst into it. Uh, was raised, was raised this January and have been just knocking stuff out and trying to support Masons wherever we can. I take my obligations very seriously and I was unemployed for a little bit and was on y'all's website ordering cigars like I probably shouldn't.
Speaker 1:I didn't know that.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and I reached out to you guys employment discount there. No, it's good. It's good, uh, supporting you guys who support the shriners, which you know, brothers supporting brothers, supporting brothers, which is you know what we're all about, and seeing something on y'all's website saying if you wanted to help to reach out. So I reached out and, um, we started up this cigar raffle that I seen that you're, I believe, liberty lodge yes, was doing yeah and um got it passed from my lodge to start doing as well.
Speaker 4:We've been running it for three months now. I think we have just a couple of weeks left before the drawing date so people can still buy cigars and get into your raffle.
Speaker 1:What? What are they going to win in your raffle?
Speaker 4:So it's the same deal as Delivery Lodge. We're doing a pack of 25 Maduro cigars and a pack of 25 Torpedo cigars. The first person drawn gets to pick which one they want. The second person gets the other pack left over. How much are?
Speaker 1:the tickets.
Speaker 4:Our tickets are $20, and you can log on to our website, which I'm sure Chris will link into the description and shoot me an email, and I take Zell and Venmo and I'll send you a copy of your ticket, either photogenically or through the snail mail, if you prefer it that way.
Speaker 3:Shout out your Zell and your Venmo. Shout it out dog.
Speaker 4:Yeah, the Venmo is at nbailey87. And I don't know my Zelle.
Speaker 2:I'm sure we can drop that in there for you.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I'm sure we can link it all. I'll get it to Chris.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'll definitely make sure it's available, the website and everything. I'm sure we can link it all.
Speaker 4:I'll get it to Chris yeah, definitely make sure it's available. Yeah, and I'll the website and everything we have up there.
Speaker 1:I actually haven't pulled up right now, If you visit if you visit on the level podcast Facebook page or the three ruffians Facebook page, you'll find all of the information there too. And so he says you've got a couple of weeks. It sounds like you don't have to be present to win. So they can win those cigars from anywhere in the country, anywhere in the world maybe.
Speaker 4:Correct. The only thing is that you need to be at least 21 years or older to purchase a ticket, and, yeah, we will ship them for you. You don't have to worry about shipping costs or anything, just the cost of the tickets is all that you need to worry about. And what has your lodge decided to use the proceeds of the raffle for? So? A few years ago this is before I became a mason our boiler room caught on fire and the lodge almost went.
Speaker 1:I saw this movie. It's a freddy krueger, I've seen it right, the the lodge almost went well.
Speaker 4:The lodge was going bankrupt and my district deputy was Warshaw Master at the time and there was some discussion on selling the building or fixing the building up and saving the building. Our building is one of the few buildings in Washington that was actually built for Masons its entirety, so we kind of wanted to save it. So he buckled down and we've been raising money. We have a goal of $100,000 before we start putting out into the community and stuff like this. So the proceeds for this will go into our investment fund, which will help. We're over halfway there already.
Speaker 4:In just a few years, nice, and in July we're putting on a hula festival, a luau, there you go, a Hawaiian thing, yeah, our Worshipful Masters from Hawaii are sitting Worshipful Masters from Hawaii, so he's putting on a luau and so some of the proceeds are going to go to the startup cost for the luau. The rest is going to go into our investment fund so we can reach our goal. That is awesome, very cool.
Speaker 1:Very, very cool. All right, so there you go that's who you're dealing with here and wean yourself some cigars before you come down to Grand Lodge, because that's what we're going to call our old product.
Speaker 2:At Grand Lodge.
Speaker 1:You have an opportunity to get some of our new product Now the old product. At Grand Lodge you have an opportunity to get some of our new product Now the old product is good. From what I hear, people really love those cigars. It's just for us. They were expensive. It was expensive to get, which is why you were paying more than you probably wanted to If it wasn't cold and rainy here, I'd be sitting outside smoking the box press.
Speaker 4:It's the last one I got.
Speaker 1:That's John's favorite too. I think that is my favorite absolutely.
Speaker 3:Mine too. The new ones are all Toros, so we got rid of the box press. They're all the same Toro size, but we have an actual, true Connecticut coming with that.
Speaker 1:Oh boy, Wait until you see our new bands on these cigars.
Speaker 4:I'm looking forward to that, and I'm looking forward to seeing some stuff some higher.
Speaker 1:I mean we really leveled it up. I believe there's some foil. It's pressed right, it's like textured now it's a legitimate band, absolutely legitimate sticks, like we can do custom blends now too.
Speaker 3:So this won't be the end of it either. Every so often we'll have new limited runs for people to look forward to, because our we're not shackled to one product anymore. We can recreate things we can. Now we get to just have fun with it, because I mean, I'm a cigar guy, I love me some dominican puros, you know what I mean. I'm an open opus x guy. You know I love anything arturo, um, and we can play around with a lot of different blends. You know that's just fun and exciting. So we're not just shackled anymore. And then I think this is going to be a good good, relaunching good, reintroducing everybody to the, the old three rough ends, and show them what we're we're made of, give you a better bang for your buck oh yeah, you're gonna get.
Speaker 1:You're definitely gonna get your bang for your buck. Now we're. We told you we're about having fun. Let's talk a little bit about our next big event. Now we are going to be representing at a golf outing in florida for another lodge yeah I guess you could throw that out there. For Inglewood it's Inglewood Lodge, correct.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's Inglewood Masonic Lodge, number 360. And I believe it's their fourth annual golf tournament that they do. It's on May 18th and, yeah, the three ruffians are actually going to be sponsoring one of the holes and we're donating some cigars and some-shirts as prizes and, uh, yours truly is actually gonna be playing in the tournament. Really so uh yeah, alongside three other sarasota lodge brothers, we've got uh, marty, austin, derrick and myself oh wow, it's a stack team.
Speaker 2:Well, we'll see about that. So I'm hoping those three guys are good, because I know I haven't played probably over five years and I'm going to have to get the dust off my clubs and see what I can do out there.
Speaker 1:You need to get to a driving range before now and then.
Speaker 2:I know that's what I should be doing today, but I think I'm a bit of this podcast.
Speaker 4:As long as you're looking good and having fun, that's all that matters right, exactly I'll have a cigar in one hand and I'll listen.
Speaker 2:It's exactly that, just about having the fun. It'll be a blast for a good reason. It's all good, it's a win-win day.
Speaker 1:I'm coming into Orlando Sunday I believe that's May 26th we will have a booth, a table, all day, may 27th, at the Grand Lodge of Florida, which is being held at the Rosen Plaza Hotel on International Drive in Orlando. So anyone can come to that Grand Lodge session. You don't have to be an officer literally any Mason. We have a Mason from our lodge who isn't in the line, he's just a brand-new Master Mason from our lodge who isn't in the line, he's just a brand new master mason. He sees come and he, he got a suite that he is allowing us to utilize for a secret, private three ruffians party brother charles allen yeah, brother, charles allen, uh, we aren't going to stay where it is or how to get there.
Speaker 1:Uh, if you go to, uh, the three ruffians website, there will be a pop-up there where you can enter your email, um, and we will shoot you an email the day uh before or the day of where that party is going to be, and you can let us know if you want to have a private little get together with us. We will have alcohol that we will be giving away to anybody that comes to have a drink with us, and we will obviously have some sticks there that we will all be smoking, I'm sure, and we will be giving away. We'll be drawing from the raffle that's going to happen all day on Monday. So this raffle idea, what we're going to do is make it a little fun. We're going to have a booth there All three ruffians will be there, full of fedoras.
Speaker 1:I don't know what we'll be wearing, but there will be clothes. Don't worry, I got a nice cream suit I'm thinking of bringing with maybe a black t-shirt. We'll see, we're all going to be looking fly. You will get to pick which ruffian you want to go head-to-head with in a straight-up game of 21. So best two out of three you will play the ruffian of your choice and if you win, you will be entered into a drawing to win a free sampler pack at the secret, super secret, super cool after-party that night. And if you lose, you will get on your knees and kiss the ring of that ruffian.
Speaker 1:You will be humiliated and you will bow down before your champion and show fealty to him by kissing his ring. So there is a risk here. Okay, don't play if you're not willing to pay the price, but we're looking forward to meeting you guys. Uh, even if you don't have to buy anything from us, you can just play, um, if you, if you want, but you got to be prepared to kiss that ring if you lose, because we're going to be prepared to potentially give you a four pack sampler if you win. So, uh, in addition to that, you'll be able to buy our sampler packs or the singles, and john will give you an autograph, probably. Uh, sean, if he's still conscious, we'll be able to give you an autograph. I know he gets started a little early in the day, that's the only thing that I can sign my own.
Speaker 3:My handwriting is good only on my signature, that's it when he starts writing like overhand.
Speaker 1:You know that it's not good yeah, I got your signature here.
Speaker 4:Yeah, no, it.
Speaker 1:no, it's going to be a blast. We're going to have fun, and there'll probably be some T-shirts and other things there too.
Speaker 3:Yeah, there's a ton of new fun stuff. We got coasters. Oh my goodness, we got blasts.
Speaker 1:What have you been doing? Tell us what you've been doing with all that stuff.
Speaker 3:I've been, since I build stuff. You know what I mean. I've been down in the garage building some cigar boxes. I got a laser engraver now We've been playing a lot with that. It's fun burning cigar, burning our boxes up and burning. We got flasks. We got coasters that we'll also be bringing to Grand Lodge. We got a bunch of matches, you know, matchbooks, three ruffians. We got a bunch of matches, matchbooks, three ruffians. We got a bunch of fun stuff to come check out, also with our normal t-shirts and all that kind of merch too.
Speaker 1:Every single item has been embedded with actual DNA from Sean Cooney. You will have authentic, the most authentic products on the planet.
Speaker 3:Yep, my DNA is full of love.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, yeah, no comment. There's a good joke there, but I'm going to leave that one on the table.
Speaker 3:Figure. I'll throw it out there and see what you do with it.
Speaker 1:I had a great one for it too. So I mean, what else? Is there anything else that people can actually get their hands on there? And I know we'll be there Monday. I'm flying out Tuesday afternoon, but I think you guys are probably going to hang Tuesday, right?
Speaker 3:I mean, we're going to be there for the long haul probably. It's going to be probably Monday, tuesday and we'll see what pitters out come Wednesday, but we're going to be there for sure.
Speaker 2:I do think a lot of the booths, though. They shut down Tuesday afternoon, so I'd imagine it won't be about the same, yeah Right.
Speaker 1:Monday is where it's at. So come Monday early, find us before Grand Launch Session opens. They have like a million breaks because, let's face it, the average age is 80 and they can hold their pee for about 10 minutes a pop. You get plenty of breaks. Guess who's going to be out there. Every time you come out with smiling faces on your three ruffians Ready to say hello.
Speaker 4:I wish our state of communication wasn't Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. I'd be willing to go.
Speaker 1:It's a holiday Memorial Day. They always a holiday Memorial Day, too, memorial Day, so they always do it over Memorial Day.
Speaker 4:I happen to be going deep-sea fishing that weekend. Ah okay, I'll be taking some of your cigars with me.
Speaker 2:There you go.
Speaker 1:Something fishy about that story. I don't know what it is. So that is big news. This is something that we've been dying to get out there again with our new product. We've been a long time trying to retool the back end of this whole operation and make it a little cheaper for everybody, because we felt like we were way too high priced to be something that people could really enjoy, and I think we fixed that finally so you can enjoy it. You can have fun with it. If you have a lodge out there, we think you're going to be able to make even more money now with these raffles for your lodges, and so we now have two case studies. Well, we will have two. When Nick gives away a car at his raffle or whatever he's giving away, definitely not a car.
Speaker 1:Not a car, just cigars.
Speaker 4:Just a lot of good smiles and brotherly love and some cigars.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. So what has been your impression? You're the newest of us.
Speaker 4:I am. I am the newest Mason.
Speaker 1:Have you found it to be everything you hoped it would be so far, or is it ups and downs?
Speaker 4:I would say everything that I hoped it to be, everything that I expected. I've been looking into Masonry since 2010. 2009, actually, I've been looking into it and just haven't been able to have been settled somewhere long enough to actually uh join, and when I moved up here, I decided to just pull the trigger. Let's just, let's just go for it, and I met a lot of really good people, a lot of really good friends that I can count on and, um, you know, going over to our study sessions on Sunday nights, even though it's Sunday nights, I'd leave there if I had a bad week. I leave there in a better mood. Um, then I, then I arrived in there. Uh, but it's, it's been great. I've met nothing but wonderful people and I look forward to doing all the traveling that I can possibly do to meet even more.
Speaker 1:That's the key to I. Getting the most out of masonry is being a traveling man.
Speaker 4:As much as your life will allow you to be, the more you travel, the more people you meet, the more, I think, enjoyable the whole experience of freemasonry becomes, and I think it was a month or so ago we had the uh grand masters convention up here in seattle yeah and I uh, volunteered to greet brothers at the airport and, uh, some of the security detail that they did. That was so much fun just meeting different people from all over the continental North America. It was wonderful Nice.
Speaker 1:What was the youngest guy that you saw?
Speaker 4:I would have to say it would be Right Worshipful Brad Billings out of Texas. Okay, yes, he's coming, brad buildings out of Texas.
Speaker 1:Okay, yes, so he's coming on the podcast We've talked. He's been dealing with some stuff out of Texas, obviously, but he is excited to come and talk about that Now that it's kind of behind him. Brad, I believe he's in his thirties. He looked like so yeah, pretty young guy. And now he's a past.
Speaker 4:Grandmaster and Grand Secretary.
Speaker 1:Grand Secretary now, yeah, and he was at the heart of revolutionizing Texas Freemasonry. Basically, there was a bit of a changing of the guard. I guess you could say at their Grand Laud Session this year in January A changing of the guard.
Speaker 4:I guess you could say at their Grand Laud session this year in January. I follow that story pretty well because I'm actually from Texas, so following that story and then being able to just say hi to Brad was awesome.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he's a good guy and wherever he goes people seem to follow and he seems to really have good intentions for the fraternity in everything that he does, which is always good to see our leaders doing what's right for the fraternity. Especially, you know, in Texas. They're coming out of a situation where their leadership was in a more negative place. They were doing things for themselves more than for the fraternity. Allegedly I don't know, I'm not a Texas Mason, I just report stories. But it didn't sound good. It didn't sound good at all. And you know I got a letter from our Grand Lodge in Florida that we had just unilaterally removed recognition from a lot of countries at once and it wasn't a good situation in my mind. I have done a little bit of research and the things I found aren't great in some cases. But I'm not really prepared to give a whole accounting of that until I know more. But it's everywhere. I mean you know, in every jurisdiction you're probably dealing with some level of stuff everywhere. I mean you know, in every jurisdiction you're probably dealing with some level of stuff.
Speaker 1:The key is, I think, for us as Masons to be educated about what's going on. Don't be ignorant, like really pay attention. If you get a report or a letter from your grand jurisdiction, make sure you know what it means, because it does apply to you. I have a district deputy and a past master in our state who are good friends of mine now I met through the podcast that can no longer visit their home grand jurisdiction in France because our grant lodge just decided to unrecognize them as part of that group. So they had to make a decision and I imagine it didn't put them in a very good place there for a minute and I feel really bad for those guys.
Speaker 1:But you know, if they didn't pay attention they might have accidentally done something that could have got them in trouble in their jurisdiction here in Florida. So you really do have to pay attention when you get those letters because it might apply to you. It's not all junk mail, especially if it's coming from the Grandmaster. I don't know if they mail them out. They probably just distribute them electronically. I see them on our District 23 group but I don't know that every district has a group like that where they share things publicly. Do you guys do that up in your neck of the woods? Do you have online groups where everybody congregates to share information?
Speaker 4:I would say that we use a system called Grandview for our major communications. This is kind of where we're at right now.
Speaker 1:That's probably similar to what we use called Circumscribe, where you got your Masonic records and paid your dues and stuff like that.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Grand Lodge of Florida has switched over to Amity.
Speaker 4:I'm jealous of you. That's about as far as I can say on that one. I got to speak with one of the founders of Amity at the Grand Masters Conference.
Speaker 1:Is that Jason Barnes?
Speaker 4:I believe so, yes, yes, I won't bring that up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, he's a. Very well, he's going to be at the Grand Lodge of Florida. He will be at our after party with his lovely lady, and so if you want to meet the owner of Amity, put your email in. Come to our super secret, super cool. After party You'll be able to shake hands with Brother Jason Barnes.
Speaker 4:He's a really great guy, super easy to talk to as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, really smart, really sharp, and I interviewed him on the podcast. There's an episode. If you haven't seen it, check it out. He talks about his Masonic history and it's really interesting. He has connections to Dan Brown and, obviously, dc.
Speaker 1:When we went to DC it was his lodge that was doing their installation and it was the oddest thing to see somebody you know going up to people that work at the Capitol building or people that work at these crazy places and he's negotiating with them because they have our stuff, they have the george washington gavel on display and he needs it for his lodge. So he's going to pick it up from them like, hey, where's give me my shit? And they're like, oh, yes, sir, yes, sir, I'll get it right away. It's pretty impressive to be in that environment, in that place and see that. And then you go to the actual installation and there it is and he's in their installation and he's such an.
Speaker 1:All of those brothers are just awesome people and for us from Florida to get to go up there and share that experience with them, to me it was really special because their ceremony is different than ours and in many ways it was more compelling and more engaging than our ceremony. I don't know how you felt, john, but when you level the lodge at the end and everybody comes literally down together and stands around that altar, I got chills. I felt something there and I haven't felt that in a lodge in a long time I would agree it was a very, very cool experience.
Speaker 2:And the other thing I noticed outside of what you said is how closely knit a group those officers were. It was incredible. I mean, there was a very, very cool experience, and the other thing I noticed outside of what you said is how closely knit a group those officers were. It was incredible. I mean, there was a changing of the guard right and tears were shed. I'll put it that way.
Speaker 1:And it was incredible.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and a lot of those good brothers out there smoke cigars. So once we found that out, we shipped some cigars up for them to enjoy as well.
Speaker 1:We gave them some free cigars on us Absolutely Good group up there, solid guys.
Speaker 1:Really cool thing that I noticed they did that I did at Zach's installation. You probably didn't notice. The Worshipful Master of the Lodge often leaves the east to come down for various reasons. He stuffs the gavel in his apron string almost like it's a weapon, and he walks with the apron kind of there and does his stuff. Then he comes back and takes the gavel back out and uses it again. So when I left the altar at Zach's installation I put it in the same position and carried my gavel for the rest of the night on my apron Because Zach has his own. You know Most masters have their own gavel for the rest of the night on my apron Because Zach has his own. You know Most masters have their own gavel.
Speaker 2:Yours is a special gavel, as I understand it. Is that right?
Speaker 1:I mean it's not that special, it's got my name on it.
Speaker 2:It has my name in the year that I was the master.
Speaker 1:Actually it is a well-worn gavel if you look at it. I'm really proud to look at it now because it's beat up and you can see I really use that thing.
Speaker 2:You had to keep us in order quite a bit. Is that what you're saying? No, all the greens all the meetings.
Speaker 1:It was a lot of times that I was in the East using that gavel. It wasn't just 24 meetings. We did a lot of degrees last year.
Speaker 4:We do a lot of degrees up here, Do you? My lodge has taken and I've participated in a lot of degrees since I was initiated. I started doing degrees when I was a fellow craft. We've put on at least 10 EA degrees in my short time of being a Mason.
Speaker 1:So do you have a favorite role that you like to play. Favorite position.
Speaker 4:I enjoy the junior deacon, but I also enjoy the senior steward. I like being able to play that role in the degrees as well. A lot of floor work, yeah a lot of floor work.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a lot of floor work.
Speaker 4:I like the floor work. I haven't actually been in a third degree yet we have a couple coming up and I'm hoping I'll be able to make the third degree so I can at least watch one.
Speaker 1:Oh, you gotta get a role in that third degree.
Speaker 4:I'd probably get suckered into a role, for sure.
Speaker 1:If I could recommend, ask about the three ruffians. Those are three pretty good roles to play.
Speaker 2:I've heard I played a ruffian in my first One that I've done. It was fantastic.
Speaker 2:It's really cool to be a part of it, though, after I've gone through it, and then to be able to watch it, and then to be a part of it. All three of those bring something different and I thought each time I saw it, or and then to be able to watch it and then to be a part of it. Like, all three of those bring something different and I thought each time I saw it or was a part of it, I saw something different it was pretty cool.
Speaker 2:It's one of the most moving degrees. You know what?
Speaker 3:I'm saying You're confronted with this big thing in your life. You know what I mean and it's a pretty impactful one. So to be able to go through it is it, it's a, it's its own experience, but then to be able to bring other guys and to experience that is really an honor. It's pretty cool.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I really enjoy doing the apprentice degrees because I get to introduce a brother into their fraternity. Yeah, the second degree in middle middle chamber lecture is just perfect. I love that one. I'm actually going to start learning, uh, that degree here in the next. The second degree in middle chamber lecture is just perfect. I love that one. I'm actually going to start learning that degree here in the next couple of months. Start memorizing that lecture.
Speaker 1:But the third degree is my favorite degree. It's the same as ours. I wonder if all of their lectures match our lecture.
Speaker 4:I would love to find that out and compare notes as well. Pull out the blue book, dude.
Speaker 1:Well, anytime you want I happen to know those lectures I'll recite what Florida's got and you tell me how different it is from what you've got.
Speaker 4:I've listened to your podcast that you did on all the lectures.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 1:I think they're, for the most part, very similar, but I have to go back through and read yeah, because now I'm in South carolina and uh, I called up a lodge and I said, hey, I'm thinking of coming to visit. And they're like, we're doing a fellow craft degree, we're practicing tonight, why don't you come? And uh, I was gonna go and in my mind I was like, man, I wonder if they'll let me do that, the lecture, you know, but it's not their state, so I don't know if they would allow it. And uh, but it's not their state, so I don't know if they would allow it. And I got to be honest, I haven't been able to bring myself to step into a lodge since I left Sarasota Lodge. I don't know. That feels like my home and I almost, in a way, feel like I'd be cheating on my brothers by walking into a lodge up here.
Speaker 1:I know that's not the case, I know, but there's a part of me that feels that way and has kept me from going to lodge up here. So I need to just buckle down and do it one of these days.
Speaker 2:You will always be part of 147, but you're welcome to go check out our lodges as well, and you should.
Speaker 1:I'll check it out, but you know me as soon as I get in there, I'm not going to have to control myself.
Speaker 3:man, Are you a perpetual member of 147, Chris?
Speaker 1:No no. I'm just a regular old member. I still pay my dues like everybody else. Yeah, I'm not a perpetual I should have, but I don't know. I just like paying my dues every year. I'm not a perpetual I should have, but I don't know.
Speaker 3:I just like paying my dues every year. I guess, are you a perpetual? I got a feeling that somebody's going to make an honorary perpetual membership motion here coming next week.
Speaker 1:Please, I've never had a black ball on my Masonic record and I really don't need one now. So it's okay, you don't have to do it. I'll keep paying my dues. I promise, Don't kick me out.
Speaker 4:I would be curious to know the differences in the lectures from. I think it's just what two states up, one state up right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I think in South Carolina it's ancient, free and accepted, so it's slightly different.
Speaker 4:They're the only state in the US that's ancient free and accepted right.
Speaker 1:I don't know if they're the only one, but I know that there's not many that are.
Speaker 3:North Carolina is too.
Speaker 4:Okay.
Speaker 3:For the most part.
Speaker 4:I want to go there yeah. I'd love to sit in a Texas lodge, and then my fiance has family in Arizona and the grand secretary told me that I'm more than welcome to visit anytime I'm there. So I'd like to go visit Arizona and see the differences.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's the key. It's like really interesting to see the differences and usually it's, you know, based on what I've experienced from what we saw in Washington DC versus us. It's the same ceremony. It's like they made slightly different choices in the framing of certain words and phrases, but it's the same. Some words are probably going to be a little different, but it's the same ritual work at the end of the day. In DC the junior deacon does a lot more interesting things with the door that we don't do in Florida. I did notice that it's the same ritual. They just added a little bit more flair to what they're doing in some cases.
Speaker 1:I imagine it's not wildly different. We've had brothers from Cuba come and they say it's pretty much the same, except we don't have staff. We carry swords. I thought, wow, that's pretty much the same, except we don't have staff. We carry swords. I thought, wow, that's a cool look.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I want swords, dude.
Speaker 1:Yeah right, Instead of staffs.
Speaker 4:The demons walking out of the sword, yeah.
Speaker 1:So what did we miss? What did we miss? Is there anything else that we needed to cover for the three ruffians guys?
Speaker 2:No, no other than the shameless plug that you can always check out our website at the three ruffians dot com, the number three, and we can always ship cigars out to you if you're not in the state of Florida and coming to one of our events. So, yeah, come check us out.
Speaker 1:I think we might even be getting an updated website pretty soon here too, yeah yeah, I think that as soon as the new product comes in and we have new photos, we'll be able to update the website and it'll get a new and it'll get a new fresh baby face.
Speaker 4:Look, yeah, it'll look as new and fresh, as nick bailey is in the fraternity hey, if you guys ever, ever need someone to write honest reviews, I would not mind writing a review on. Luke's cigars, that's right.
Speaker 2:If you just need a reviewer, we love feedback absolutely. The good, the bad and the ugly, we take it all.
Speaker 4:That's right. I write honest reviews and nothing other than.
Speaker 1:Good, we love keeping it real. And some people don't like that, you know. They want you to say only the good stuff, but we like to keep it real.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. We're ruffians after all.
Speaker 1:It's a Mason thing. I guess the ruffians were Masons as well. Yeah, and it's fascinating. You know, we in our men, do you have a mentoring system? Where you're, when you go through the degrees, do you get official mentoring from somebody in the lodge?
Speaker 4:So my home lodge Horace W Tyler Lodge doesn't.
Speaker 2:It's no.
Speaker 4:So right there at the, at that point in time where you get your mentor assigned to you, it's known that we meet at our district deputy's house on Sundays and that information is passed out and that just helps us. And if you can't get along or not get along, but if you can't make those Sunday night study nights, then we're more than welcome to assign a coach or someone to get together and help out learning the catechisms, as you guys call it, the memorization part correct.
Speaker 4:Yeah, learning, learning that but for the most part we meet up. There's about two or three lodges that meet up at our district deputy's house. He's got a little basement down there and we just secure place for instruction. You know we're able to go over the posting lectures and any Masonic questions possible, but other lodges do have their coaches assigned to them.
Speaker 1:Oh, they do. Okay, so you do get mentoring officially in some capacity. Yes, yes, yeah.
Speaker 3:Because we have the catechism instructors assigned basically day one and that's your catechism instructor, and then mentoring is mandatory as well, but that's not your catechism teacher.
Speaker 4:It's a separate mentoring system that we have to implement. Yeah, so a lot of lodges up here have their own study nights that they do and invite members of the lodge and other lodges to come do study nights. It just so happens my home lodge we meet at district deputy's house because he's a member of the lodge and go over that that way. But yeah, it's, it's a. It's a really cool system. I moved through the degrees pretty fast because of that and being able to call up a brother and saying hey, I'll feed you spaghetti If you come spend an hour with me going over my ocean lecture.
Speaker 3:It works out, you know really well, yeah, you might have to lean in on mr justin broom because he's also the current right honorable district um instructor, so we might have to, and he's going to be our district deputy grandmaster coming in, so I might have to leave. Hey, judd, you want to have everybody and their mother at your house next week?
Speaker 4:And if he's not available, we usually go to one of the lodges, you know, because we all have access to our personal lodges. So our lodge is always open and I tell anybody. If you need to get into the lodge to study because I know sometimes it's better, you know reciting certain things from certain spots in the lodge I'm more than welcome to, or more than able to, go to that lodge on a day and we can just sit there and go study all day long if you want to do it in the lodge.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 4:If you can do that all day long, you're superhuman. Well, I was unemployed for three months, like I said earlier, and I spent many a day at the lodge trying to learn. You know opening and closing and the rituals.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I, um, there's something to sitting in the lodge when you do that ritual work, even if you're just by yourself. To visualize what it's going to be really does help when the time comes and you're actually you know. That's one thing nobody explained to me fully was that when you do this stuff, you're taking part in a play, you're acting, and I never did that before and I always thought acting was easy and I would. I had sisters and I'd make fun of her soap operas and I'd be like, oh my God, this is the easiest job in the world. They like, they look like they're smelling farts all day.
Speaker 1:It's like it's like dude smelling farts all day. It's like it's like dude. That's not hard. Anyone can do that, and now that I've had some experience with it, it is hard. You do have to practice a lot to make it look natural, because if you try to do it in one go and it actually is natural, it's incredibly awkward and something that I've, that I've tried and our study group tries to enforce, is word perfect, because the district deputies in our jurisdiction have the plain text.
Speaker 4:So if we have the plain text available to us, why not try to learn it as word perfect as we can get? And then I've seen some people in lodges and I'm sure you guys all understand this and other masons listening to when they recite their parts. It's, it's like a robot, very monotone and just like they're reading it look right, right, like they're reading it and we're.
Speaker 4:We're more like myself and a few other brothers that I I hang out with a lot and study a lot with. We try to make it our own yeah um, that's the proper way to do it.
Speaker 1:Make it your own right, just like I've.
Speaker 4:I've heard some people the junior wardens part and the opening and closing. They just ramble right through it. But if you slow it down and you insert your commas where the commas need to be inserted, then it actually makes sense as to the junior wardens role in the lodge. So I try to slow down and make it as word perfect as possible and recite it as many times as I can so I don't have to look at the book whenever I'm shoved in a spot like that.
Speaker 1:It needs it needs an extra person. You know, Freemasonry turns out good actors. We could all go into acting now. We know how to memorize lines and practice and rehearse and all that stuff.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, I've sat in the world with such people in it.
Speaker 4:Could I have some porridge?
Speaker 1:master.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I've sat as junior deacon in three or four lodges for their stated meetings, just because they needed someone I can junior deacon the heck out of them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, junior deacon is a much harder role than people give it credit for. I always thought it was like one of those easy chairs, until I sat in and I realized this is quite complicated actually oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4:So there was, um, the last time I sat as a junior deacon, it was, uh, the grandmasters, uh, he was visiting the lodge and my district deputy just waved me over and said hey, I got a. I got a junior deacon for you. He's a really good junior deacon. I'm sitting in the chair and we're opening and then I go to you know, do my part. And then I'm sitting back down and going wait a second, the grand master's on the other side of the door. What am I doing now? And I just stuck with the, uh, with the part and knocked it out of the park.
Speaker 4:I've got a lot of a lot of paths in the back on that one, if I'm trying to stay as humble as I possibly can.
Speaker 1:You were talking about the junior wardens just going through the lines in the opening and closing Right, but in reality the junior warden oftentimes isn't talking to the master, he's talking to the craft.
Speaker 4:Correct and so.
Speaker 1:I make a point of looking at everybody in the craft when I'm saying those lines, because you're talking to them. That's something that simple can make it more interesting than just standing there saying your lines looking at your pedestal yeah, uh, well, it's pretty easy for this guy, because it's just the beauty and the glory you know.
Speaker 4:I was wondering. They say the Junior Warden represents beauty. I was curious how you got the Lodge.
Speaker 1:Look at his hair. He locks over here.
Speaker 4:Oh, that's what it is, those Luscious locks, huh.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, oh yeah, he has his little pony going and he flops it around sometimes and, yeah, I'm going to stay in that chair Until he turns gray.
Speaker 3:I am turning gray.
Speaker 1:How's your year this year?
Speaker 3:Probably from that chair.
Speaker 1:I mean, you've been in other chairs. Now, where you were appointed, this is your first time being in an elected position. Is it different? And if so, oh yeah, way different.
Speaker 3:There's a lot more that comes with it and it's just it's because, like a full representative of sarasota, 147 and everything I do, everything I say I'm representing 300 and some what is? Is it 350 guys? So I mean there's weight that comes with that. You know I'm in charge of all conduct when Lodge is not in session, right like when we're in refreshment. So that means there's. You know, there's quite a bit that comes with it and it's not to be taken lightly. You've got to be able to snap in. So I'm a goof, I love goofing around. I'm a goof, I love goofing around, I'm cracking jokes. But when we got a snap in the military band, we get it done?
Speaker 4:Is y'all's junior wardens responsible for the dinners before lodge and refreshments? Yep.
Speaker 1:He has the help of his stewards, obviously, to help him with that preparation.
Speaker 3:I got the best. I got the best stewards. He does have the best stewards mario, mario and big daddy wade, who can't, can't go wrong.
Speaker 3:Oh, my god, man I am so jealous man I wish I could be you right now and have those guys as my stewards yeah, they are rock solid and they're both really involved too right now, like we're really trying to build out the retention committee and mario is heading that right now and big daddy wade you know how smart that guy is with his like I just drop these gems of knowledge on you and that'll change your entire life. With like three sentences, it's like wait, stop doing like I wasn't ready for an epiphany. You know, like you know, but those guys are just so solid.
Speaker 1:We are lucky over at one point. The guy he's talking about, wade Botkins, is a Psychologist or psychiatrist. I can't tell the difference.
Speaker 3:Let's just say yeah.
Speaker 1:He owns his own practice. He can be intimidating in a sense, Because you can tell that he's really listening when you're talking, and to me that means he's like picking up all the things that most people aren't you know Always. And I get a little like scared, like, oh God, what does he say or think about me? Oh geez, maybe I won't talk to him because I don't want him to know all this stuff about me.
Speaker 3:He already knows, he already knows.
Speaker 1:I got to say there were times when I was the worshipful master and with work and everything else I got really stressed out and Wade actually went out to lunch with me and gave me a little help. So I'll always be forever grateful to Wade because he's like the most even-keeled man you'll ever meet in your life. Right, he's never gonna make ups and downs, he's always just solid ass wade yep so stuff we don't know, dude, he does, he knows.
Speaker 3:Stuff we don't know, he just does, and he's like super quiet for the most part, like, but I mean he'll crack jokes, you know what I mean. But whenever, sometimes he'll just open his mouth and he'll change your entire thought process with a couple of words.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah I'm really looking forward to seeing his masonic career, because I think it's going to be quite interesting, as those guys are both destined for the east, for sure.
Speaker 3:They're strong leaders. We need good, strong leading men.
Speaker 1:His other steward is mario patrick charles. This is a brother who deals with kids that are in trouble and can't go to adult prison. He deals with them in whatever place they send them to. That's not adult prison.
Speaker 3:So it's a special school for troubled kids that go through a lot. They've got hard upbringings. They're a little rough around the edges. It's one step before they do get themselves in legal trouble usually, you know, and he's dealing with all this troubled youth and he's on the ground every single day and he's like the disciplinarian, he's dealing with the wild stuff. He's, you know, and these kids, they all lean in and trust him because he's a hundred percent genuine and that's hard to find these days. You know what I mean. He'll connect right with these kids and look them dead in the eye and be like yo, you're screwing up, don't be a jerk. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Like oh, you don't think.
Speaker 3:I know what this is. You're being an asshole right now.
Speaker 1:He's also a Brooklyn guy, so they also know down pretty quick if he has to uh but, you find something that you can connect with in people, and for me, with mario.
Speaker 1:Uh, he was coming up, um, I think he might have been made a master last year while I was sitting in the yeah, yeah and um, he was so paranoid about doing his catechism perfectly that I I watched him doing instruction with three different people. I think he was connecting with anyone that would spend time with him because he just wanted to work so hard at it. He was doing it alone, without his group, and to the point where I started personally helping him on top of everybody else, and that bled into him doing degree work. He approached it the same way. So these are people that care so much about the fraternity that they're investing that much of their personal life to get it word perfect, like you said, because anyone can do it pretty good, you know, with a little bit of effort, but to get it word perfect, that's another level of practice and effort.
Speaker 3:And that's Mario, 100% too. Like he'll get upset with himself and miss a word. You know what I mean. Like he'll literally. He's like no, I need to do this by the book, dude. And he's doing so much too. He's catechism teaching. You know what I mean? He's got himself a catechism class.
Speaker 1:He's going to all of the funerals and stuff like that, which I mean that's a totally moving experience for me personally, like, yeah, we've done a lot of funerals, yeah, yeah, I know you feel exactly the way I do this. It's. It's a horrible situation to be in, but at the same time, there's something really rejuvenating in your heart about going to those things and participating in them and helping the families you know, helping them see what they did when they were in the fraternity and kind of people.
Speaker 3:Mario's like a lot like you, nick. What I'm what I'm saying is like certain guys walk into the fraternity and you just know that they're going to sit in the East. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Like as soon as they walk in and you're like all right, he's a go getter, he's exactly what we need can sit in the East, but these are people that you can't wait to see sit in the East because you're like, well, it's going to be special when they do it. It's not going to be like just another year in the East.
Speaker 3:Because there's so many people that just want to do stuff, but nobody actually. There's so many wanters and not so many doers. There's a very few amount of people that actually get involved, invest their time and energy and make a difference to changing stuff or making stuff better, and unfortunately, it's just. We see it all the time. You'll see a select few guys in a lodge, in every single lodge, and those are the guys that get shit done. And then there's other guys that you know once it's a winning team and then they'll go join it because everybody wants to be a part of a winning team, but every single time there's like a select few guys that do all of the work so, uh, mario also came through the chris burns and the ramon hernandez school of overacting, so when you see him do work, he's gonna do it with a flourish uh don't touch my door, yeah that's waiting for that to come up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you know about mario. When he started to come to lodge, I think it was his son. That was amazing. Before he was, yeah, he came to our lodge just to find out what this was all about. But that brother just kept coming, coming back to our uh tuesday's dinners. That's right. I think he must have shown up at four or five before even applied. Uh, go through the application process. It's great because he had a great chance to meet a whole bunch of guys before he even started. I commend him for that journey that he took there.
Speaker 3:Remember at Poker Nights we leaned right at him and told him hey, listen, bro, you're going to be a pillar in this lodge.
Speaker 2:You don't even realize it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he'll be at somebody's lodge and just send me a text with the photo and he'd be like look what you did to me and I'm like you're making me proud, brother, you're making me proud traveling man that he is he is, and that's, that's what you know.
Speaker 1:Nobody knows these people we're talking about, but everybody has people like that in their lodges. You got people you know like that, I'm sure, in your lodge that are like you know they're going to be epic legends someday in the fraternity and you get to come up with them and do things with them. It's exciting.
Speaker 4:And it's trying to stay as humble as I possibly can. I am a part of, like I said, that study group that we do. We call ourselves the Barlow guys because that's his address, and there's three or four of us that are destined to wear purple in the next, you know, coming at least in some part of our Masonic careers, and we're striving for that. We have a little plan going on. We want to I think all three of us want to do more public presentation in the public to get away from the bad stigmas that we have, and more in parades and more community and charity work, for sure.
Speaker 4:And so that's my goal for when I sit in the East, whenever it's the will and pleasure of the lodge for that to happen.
Speaker 1:That is a big deal getting out there and showing people who we really are Not what you're talking about on the internet but, like here, we are right here in person and you get to see who we are. You can't fake the stuff we're doing. We were putting on movie nights every weekend, outdoor movie nights, where we had an inflatable huge theater and we were giving away free popcorn and stuff and those kids we talked about this they're gonna remember. I don't know anything about the Masons, but I can tell you this when I was a kid I had so much fun and they had snow cones and it was the best time and those memories you're making for those kids will hopefully in the future help change this negative sentiment that's out there. If we can do it enough, if we can get enough people out there just not acting, but actually showing them who we are in reality.
Speaker 3:Agreed, that's right Like the last Easter thing that we just did. You know what I'm saying. We were planning on like nobody and we ended up having people show up. Our parking lot was full before we even opened the event. I mean we had a revolving door of children and families coming through. That I mean it was absolute insanity and a couple of things that really stuck with me. This one lady she comes in, she's like oh, I didn't realize that it was like you guys are freemasons, like you guys aren't like illuminati or satanist or anything. It's like she literally said those words. She's like you guys are all just like good guys. Huh, yeah, that's what we're doing. You know what I mean?
Speaker 3:yeah, and it's so important to get out in front of the community, yeah, and show them, hey, listen, you, we only have our secrets. For the reason, in my opinion, is that when you it's important to have that skill to keep a secret, if somebody comes to you and says, please don't tell anybody this thing, that you have the ability to keep your mouth shut about it. And that's the reason, in my opinion, why we even have any of the secrets that we have. They're not that secret, you know it's. Just can you actually do this? When somebody asks you not to and to get out in the public again and show them, hey, listen, this is actually who we are is so important. We want to be more involved in the community and be out in front of the community.
Speaker 1:Um, the problem is, most lodges are stuck in a place where their their lodge is dilapidated and falling apart. The members are clicky and fighting each other from the inside out, and they're in no capacity to help anyone else, let alone themselves. And so you've got to get your house in order. If you're listening, get your house in order. Get your lodge straight. Stop the bickering internally. Start talking about what you can do together Okay, bickering internally. Start talking about what you can do together, okay. And if you can't do that, it's time to start bringing in new people with fresh ideas that don't have the baggage that you guys have, because they'll get it done if you can't do it, um.
Speaker 3:But the key is so grateful for our district. Our district is one of the tightest ones in our state.
Speaker 2:It really is I mean you just?
Speaker 3:I know other districts that can't even put a master mason degree together they're just struggling to even do that and District 23, between our leadership, that we have our current leadership and our incoming leadership, we're just a strong district. We all visit each other, we're all involved in each other and that's so important to being one, because when we go to Grand Lodge we're not Sarasota Lodge 147. You know what I'm saying? We're. We're district 23 and you're sitting there. That is our lodge, our district is our lodge.
Speaker 3:And if everybody thought like more collectively instead of this is me, this is me, this is me instead of us as a collective fraternity, we could really make a lot of differences. You know, um, I don't want to spill too much beans, but but I've been talking to the incoming district deputy grandmaster and I'm also really close with someone in the Rotary for their charity division and we're really looking at doing a group event. They're looking at pretty much hosting and letting us join them and putting Freemasonry out in the public again for one of their massive events. And I think that if we start leaning and working together with other like-minded people, we'll be better off and I think it could be potentially really good. So in the future, you know, after Grand Lodge, district 23,. Please reach out to me. If you're watching this, you know what I mean and I'll let you guys in on that and we'll set something up with that lady so she can speak to maybe at one of these Master Mason associations that are coming up.
Speaker 1:Nice, perfect, that's awesome. Well, I appreciate you brothers for coming on. It was nice to get to know everybody a little better. Nice to meet you finally virtually, brother Nick. I've been listening to your podcast since, I think, the beginning that means you were listening before you were even a master mason that is correct.
Speaker 4:I did skip over all of the episodes. I skipped over all the episodes that involved lectures or anything with degrees until I remember driving to work and after I became an intern apprentice I was like they have a podcast over the intern apprentice degree and lecture and I listened to all of those and I went listening to those until I absolutely got that degree. I didn't want to spoil it.
Speaker 1:That's good. That's good. Everyone should do that, because it's not just the podcast. You can go Google this stuff and I think a lot of people do google this stuff and you're really robbing yourself of a big part of the experience, which is the not knowing what's happening while it's happening. That's a really important part of the experience so don't spoil it for yourself. Don't go out and check the internet and read, read things and look at youtube, things like. Really let the lodge do their job with you.
Speaker 4:I think you're robbing yourself a hundred percent you're stealing from yourself and things do vary from things do vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, you know. So that's true too. Um, you might not even be getting the right information. Yeah, and, as brother sean was saying, I had a brother stand up and lodge last meeting and he's been a mason for 64 years. And yeah, and instead of saying you know that we're a secret organization, secret society, we don't really have secrets, we just have stuff that's private to us for certain reasons. And if people in the the community can start looking at it as more, it's just private, it's not, it's just not meant for everybody's, everybody's knowledge and everybody has, I think we can get everybody does we all have everybody has.
Speaker 4:You don't want everybody for sure.
Speaker 1:I tell that story a lot, because my wife's father is very like a russian orthodox conservative and he hates masonry and the only thing he can point to is the secrets. And I said, oh, you don't have secrets. And he said, yeah, I have secrets. I'm like do you want everyone to know them? He's like no. I'm like does that make you bad? No, but it's different. It's different. They make you keep the secrets. I'm not telling you and making you keep the secret. Like, oh man, you can't win with some people yeah, I, I, uh.
Speaker 4:My fiance's mother is is very curious about masonry and I can only tell her so much, and so I let her know. One of my lodges is actually raising money. They used to do a program bikes for books what was it?
Speaker 4:but we're. It's called bikes for books, books, bikes for Books, okay, bikes for Books. And now we're kind of working with the public library who's getting into the individual school districts and they have a reading program and I think we're going to donate a couple of Nintendo Switches to the top readers, nice that sign up for the program, and we're doing stuff like that versus super secret organizations, stuff like that versus super secret organizations. We're paying bills and then also trying to help the community. Read more books you get in Nintendo Switch.
Speaker 1:That's awesome.
Speaker 4:I'd love to bring more awareness to that, and then youth groups as well. I think the community needs to know that these things are possessed.
Speaker 2:You have a perspective. I think we need more secrets. If I'm being honest, we don't. I think we need more secrets.
Speaker 4:If I'm being honest, we don't have enough we need more Like the recipe to the spaghetti and green beans, Something like that yeah, One of actually Brother Cooney's friends, Matt Stone, sent me a text.
Speaker 1:He's very religious and I think he's catching a lot of flack from his religious community for being a Mason, I think. I don't know, maybe not a lot of flack, but I'm sure there's questions about it. And, um, you know, he sent me a picture and he was like I can't explain this. It's like I can explain a lot but I can't explain this. And he was looking for some help and it was really fun for me because I got to go down like my detective hat, like Batman rabbit hole, right, Because I got tricks, Like I know how to put the image in Google Image and it'll show you where the picture is on the Internet and you know who's sharing it and stuff.
Speaker 1:And it turns out it's a legitimate picture. And if you look at it I showed it to my wife out it's a legitimate picture. And if you look at it I showed it to my wife she's like that is horrible. It does look horrible, it looks bad. Okay, but if you look at almost anyone's private rituals, including the catholics and christians and hindus and muslims, your ceremonies look scary too from the outside looking in. If you don't know the context, it can look pretty creepy, and this one looked creepy. It was a man. He was like escorting a little boy who had a veil on his head and there were masons standing all around and it looks like he's marrying this little kid, right.
Speaker 1:It looks pretty, yeah, it looks nefarious, but when you find the underlying meanings behind things, then you find it's virtuous, actually, Apparently apparently there's some jurisdictions that have the lodge of adoption and if your father passes, the lodge will symbolically adopt you into the fraternity and take care of you and and takes the responsibility of keeping your virtue, both physically and spiritually, like your father would have wanted. And they get a certificate that they are a friend of the lodge and and when they become a Mason they don't have to be tried or investigated. And so, yeah, they put white clothes on the kid and they have like a white veil, and the white is to symbolize their purity right and the protecting of the purity. And so when he gives the obligation, the veil comes off because he doesn't need it anymore, because he's under the protection of the lodge now. So symbolically it's this beautiful thing that's really loving and supporting of families and children. But if you take a snapshot of a random ceremony and share it on the Internet, it looks creepy man.
Speaker 3:It's like a sound bit. You know, a sound bite that they can grab. Oh well, he said this. Well, you take it completely out of context.
Speaker 1:You can make anything look like anything if you. If you try to tell someone that you're drinking another man's blood and eating his flesh, they're gonna think you're crazy. But when you talk about what jesus is and what he means to you, it's a whole different meaning behind that thing. So, like, let's not judge each other's ceremonies and private rituals, okay.
Speaker 3:Absolutely.
Speaker 4:It's all about respect. Respect everyone's beliefs.
Speaker 1:Yep, it's better to do a little research, although it's hard for people, because when you see an image, you just want to share it and be done with it and feel like you did something smart.
Speaker 3:Look at see, I told you these masons are nefarious. Look at that. It's like yeah, you mean the kid that lost his father, that now has probably 30 to 40 fathers. Now you know what I mean. Yeah, that's nefarious, Super, super nefarious.
Speaker 1:It's not just the boys, their mother is an answer. This is a public ceremony, it's for families. You know, it really is a beautiful thing.
Speaker 4:And that ties into part of us, as masturbationsasons are obligations as well, which is even, once again, if you understand that, then that ceremony means even more than you can imagine. Yeah, there's a, there's a truly deeper meaning down and tied into that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and if it's nefarious, it's way down in there, because there are a lot of good people that are getting fleeced for for 300 years, uh, and and they're not seeing the evil part. Uh, so if it's that far down, is it really that dangerous? Anyways, come on, I mean, if we don't even know about it, I don't mean. The same thing is to be said with certain churches and other religions.
Speaker 3:I mean there's. You know, there's bad people everywhere. You know what I'm saying. It doesn't mean that that organization is bad just because you got a bad egg or two.
Speaker 1:Well, that's my thing. Where are the public cases of Freemasons molesting children or Freemasons stealing from people? I don't see that in the news. It doesn't seem like generally Freemasons are doing bad things in the world.
Speaker 4:I've looked into almost every conspiracy theory that there is on YouTube. When you dig deep enough and you watch enough videos about it, they're all debunked. There might be one that's a little questionable. They're all debunked. Yeah, there might be like one. Yeah, that's that's a little questionable.
Speaker 1:But other than that, the Morgan affair in our research Right.
Speaker 4:The Morgan affair is the one that could potentially have legs.
Speaker 1:Maybe something weird went down. But if you're right, right.
Speaker 4:But that was a, that was a handful of brothers. That wasn't the organization Right At its if allegedly it happened.
Speaker 1:Right. So, yeah, because even that side has like two compelling stories Like I could see that totally happening based on one set of facts. And then there are another set of facts that make you go, oh, this is a bunch of BS, right, exactly?
Speaker 4:So I mean, if you dig deep down into it and watch all the videos like the Colorado, the Denver airport, one is honestly one of my favorite ones.
Speaker 1:Yes, my sister's brothers hit me with that one that the lizard people and the masons are like have a home base under the airport there there's a video on youtube that completely debunks it.
Speaker 4:This guy walks through and says well, this is what I've heard. And then at the end of the episode, the lady's like yeah, this is the explanation for actually everything that's going we like laid a cornerstone or something.
Speaker 1:So there's a masonic, there's a masonic at the airport, and so they're like oh the masons, they have secret facilities under the airport, yeah it says new world.
Speaker 4:I think it says new world order on there and then the masons are there. But it's. It's something different. They're the different airport.
Speaker 4:Tried to be super awesome and there's pictures, right, there's like uh pictures and they're like oh, look at the picture, there's like a lizard, yeah, and there's, there's underground tunnels and that was just supposed to be to help with the baggage claim but it became too wet and drippy and stuff and they had to abandon it and it's just. It's just hilarious watching all those. But yeah, that if you, if you dig deep enough, you you'll ultimately find out that it's all just conspiracy theories and nothing is nothing is valid.
Speaker 3:There's no biggest one for me is the illuminati thing, like yeah, but that you know. But that is founded in kind of fact that we were infiltrated and they used and trying to recruit through masons and masonry and steal some of our ritual for their own personal thing, which is not Masonic in our nature anyway, but you know how many organizations have the same story the Klu Klux Klan, every fraternity, in every college in the world.
Speaker 4:There's, like so many people in organizations that have snatched from free media Skull and Bones is one of the most secret societies there is known to mankind. And yeah, it's, we're not that secret nefarious thing. We have secrets for a reason. We have private information for a reason, and that's it. We're not, you know, lizard people.
Speaker 1:No, but what I love and through.
Speaker 3:On the Level which has been unveiled, there's really only a certain amount of stuff we can't talk about. You know what I mean? The amount of stuff we can't talk about. You know, I mean the amount of stuff we can talk about and like. So we, our few secrets that we have are just in code and that's it I can.
Speaker 4:I can answer 90 of everyone's questions, right? Yeah, exactly, yeah, 90 of 90 of anyone's questions I can answer.
Speaker 1:I just had a conversation with my future mother-in-law and I was able to answer all of her questions, yeah because they're never going to ask about the things that are secret to us, which are honestly our secrets, primarily our modes of recognition, so we could identify which degree you're in. Right, those are secrets, for sure our rituals our rituals aren't even fully secret. A lot of of our rituals in Florida are not secret. We're allowed to talk about a lot of it.
Speaker 4:You guys are allowed to talk about a lot more than we're allowed to talk about. I can tell you that much.
Speaker 1:We don't specifically talk about the obligations, Other than that the ceremonies are pretty open.
Speaker 4:Our modes of recognition are super secret up here. Our obligations are secret and the rituals are secret. There's parts of the lectures that everybody can can read.
Speaker 1:That's in plain text.
Speaker 4:But other than that, yeah, we don't have that many secrets in Washington as well. I mean, I'm looking through the second degree lecture right now and I would say 90 of it's in plain text yeah, it's just different words, but it's actually the same content the exact yeah exact same contents.
Speaker 4:I, I guarantee you guys, go through tuscan dorian corinthian composite Exactly Yep, it's all the same. Most of it is open. Actually, now that I look at it, it's about 90% of it's open and I like to consider myself a proud mason. I don't have a jacket that I wear around, but I wear my ring everywhere that I go. I have a necklace that was given to me that I wear when the attire fits, and I want people to have a necklace that was given to me that I wear when the attire fits, and I want people to ask me what that symbol is so that I can explain to them who we are, what we are and get our presence out there.
Speaker 4:I had a nice conversation with a gentleman at a cigar bar just a few weeks ago after one of our state meetings, and he was like well, I heard basins can say this and get out of anything if they're in court, and I was like that's not true. Can say this and get out of anything if they're in court. And I was like that's not true and and to be honest with you, that is, I would say, one of our most best kept secrets, but at the same point, it it's used in life or death situations. I would, I would. I would bring that back to like the civil war reasons as to why we would need to use that and it was used in the civil war.
Speaker 1:You've heard of the situation right, tons of situations. There's a to use that and it was used in the Civil War. You've heard of the situation right.
Speaker 4:Tons of situations. There's a few situations that it was held into. You know it's, I would say, brothers from the North and the.
Speaker 1:South were fighting each other and a soldier from the North saw the soldier from the South giving a Masonic sign of distress and came to his aid.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I would say, the elevator speech to people is you know, we're a fraternity, we're the oldest fraternity, we look out for each other. I don't know if you guys have a closing charge you give.
Speaker 1:It's not required, but it is an optional thing that we sometimes do.
Speaker 4:We've been doing it this year, yeah, so in part of that, in that charge it says these generous principles extend further, for every human being has a claim on the year kind offices. So we're not just about helping out people in the fraternity, we're about just taking good men, teaching them how to be better men and how to project that greatness onto other people.
Speaker 1:Think about it, that's how you that's how you build society and strengthen society. You teach men how to do good and then you send them out in the world to do good and then other people see that it can be done. You don't have to be a shysty backstabber. Oh wow, I can get by by being an upstanding guy that people respect and I people. It's like a light in the dark. They will come to. They're attracted to that because they want to do good, they want to be better. They just don't see it in their world. Nobody's doing that. Everybody's stabbing each other in the back. They're all talking crap about each other. So if you're the one in the light wearing a Masonic ring, even without the ring, to be honest with you, they're still going to come to you and be attracted to try to find out what's up with you, but the fact that you're wearing the ring is how you honor the fraternity.
Speaker 4:Yep, and we had a guy come in and started visiting a lot and she's, he's looking to join the fraternity and, you know, one of the questions I always ask is what are you? You know, what are you trying to get from this? And he said that he had a friend who was doing pretty bad, going down the wrong road, joined the fraternity and seen him turn himself completely around and he's like, well, if Freemasonry can do this to my friend, then what can it do for me? You know, and that's what we're all about, we're taking good men, we're making them better, we're teaching them moral lessons and making them better men to take out and spread throughout the world, not just people in the fraternity.
Speaker 1:The reality of the fraternity is it gives you the tools to do that for yourself. You need to make that choice as a man. The fraternity isn't going to do shit for you. You're going to make the choice to do it or not for yourself. It's just going to give you the tools and a system that's going to give you the freedom to do that. But you've got to take the action.
Speaker 4:Oh yeah, and I've received all the tools that we have and I think Sean hit it on just fine. My favorite tool is the 24-inch gauge. It's one of the most important tools that I think we received, and we received that in the first degree, and it's If you live by that, then you can, you know, be better yourself just by just by that itself.
Speaker 1:Well, I appreciate you guys coming on and being open and honest, letting people get to know you a little bit. Hopefully, if they want to get involved in your raffle, what was the website they can go to?
Speaker 4:So they can go to tylermasoniccentercom and click on the fundraiser tab at the top of the page. All communications come directly to me as I manage the website and the email address. They can also email horacewtylerlodgeno290 at gmailcom and that'll come to me as well. The website's a little easier though. Our drawing date is, I will say, on the 21st of May. It's going to be our stated meeting for this month. So you guys, so about 5 o'clock I'll close off. I'll close off everything so I can get everything good to go and make sure I have everything squared away. Our dinner's at 6.30. So yeah, before 6.30 we'll be good to go.
Speaker 1:Your Instagram tag is at Horace underscore, Tyler underscore Lodge. They can Venmo you at NBailey87. I'll put the Zelle info in the comments. Also, Three Ruffians People might want to get access to our super secret, super cool drawing party. You can go to the3ruffianscom or you can just email John. What's your email?
Speaker 2:John, maybe we'll throw it in the chat.
Speaker 1:He doesn't want to get too mad.
Speaker 4:I'm on your website now. I was going to sign up for that, even though I'm not going to be on Washington for the time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's not active. I just made it up while we were here on the podcast.
Speaker 2:So by the time it releases.
Speaker 1:it's going to be there, though I thought of it while I was saying it, because I think it's a good idea.
Speaker 4:I think it's a great idea. You guys are doing great work. Like I said, I pitched this to my lodge saying you know, this is a Masonic company owned by three brothers out of Florida. So we would be brothers helping brothers helping brothers out and in the end, that's all this fraternity is about is helping people out, that's right and doing what we can do to better the world. Leave the world a better place.
Speaker 2:And I think the cool thing about the fraternity too is that there's strength in numbers, and if we can work together, not just even locally, but regionally or as far as we want to go, I think it can be even a more beautiful thing.
Speaker 1:This is the exciting part, because in the past that wasn't possible in the fraternity, but now we have ways that we can connect and work together like never before. Let's do it Use the internet.
Speaker 4:It's not about just your jurisdiction. It's about the fraternity as a whole. It doesn't matter where you're at. As long as you're a good person in the fraternity, then you can do good things.
Speaker 2:Well said.
Speaker 1:Thank you, Brother Nick Bailey, Brother Sean Cooney, Brother John Schaefer, from On the Level Podcast. Until next time we're out. That's your horn.