When someone asks me, “What is Freemasonry about?”  I have, in the past, at times been at a loss to explain it to them.  I have attempted to remember the quote that “Masonry is a beautiful system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols.” That’s a nice quote, but it begets more questions, rather than providing much of an answer.  Many men have answers, but they frequently differ for each man, and yet each is absolutely correct.

In my fumbling around recently for an easier way to explain Freemasonry, I have asked myself what theme I return to again and again; that theme is charity.

Charity has many meanings, and in Masonry we are taught to revere each of those meanings: to give charity to those in need financially, to be charitable in our understanding of other’s intentions – give them the benefit of doubt, to care for the well being of all mankind.  These are but a few of the meanings of charity. I am daily reminded that to limit ourselves to one particular interpretation is to limit the great good we have to offer our world.

Certainly I have grown and developed to be a better man through the teachings of Freemasonry.  I expect I will continue to be enlightened by new ideas and interpretations of the all the symbols of Freemasonry. I may one day find that Charity is no longer the focus of Freemasonry as I see it.  This is one of the beauties of Freemasonry, its adaptability to the needs of the men who seek it’s system  of morality. Right now, however, my charitable opinion of the teachings and the charitable behavior of the brethren to others seem to shine the brightest light in my life.  Charity is at least one of the things that Masonry is about.