MAGLKScott
KENNETH JOHN SCOTT 1947-
- MM 1969, WM 1977, Galilean
- Member 1976, WM 1983, The DeMolay
- Grand Steward, 1981
- Grand Pursuivant, 1994
- Member 1997, Mount Vernon-Galilean
- Charter Member 2018, Lodge of the Royal Secret
- Deputy Grand Master, 2023
BIOGRAPHY
SPEECHES
FEAST OF ST. JOHN, 2022
Most Worshipful Grand Master, Very Distinguished Head Table and dear Brothers all,
To be standing here before you is a very special privilege and honor I never expected. Thank you, Grand Master, for your confidence and humbling appointment. Please know I will work diligently and with delight to promote the tenets of our beloved fraternity, the undertakings of our Grand Lodge, the true joy of being a member of the craft, and the commitment to helping each other.
Having said helping each other and having been charged with an important oratory this evening, what I really want to do is (drop arms in three distinct motions) . . . and say, you know what I’m thinking.
I must say that the true joy and honor in being a Mason began when I was 15 and joined Order of DeMolay. Whether we realize it or not, what preschool is to public education, DeMolay is to Masonry. It was started by Brother Frank S. Land, and other Masons in Kansas City early in 1919, in response to a request for some help for a fatherless young man. The teachings of DeMolay are Masonic teachings distilled for young men to learn and grasp.
I still remember being told, when taking my initiatory degree, that “a DeMolay’s word is as good as his bond.” I had never heard that, but knew what it meant. “I could be counted on.” I joined with five others and we were welcomed into the brotherhood. I’m glad to say that bond still exists decades later, though life took us all in different directions. Of the 25 or so active members in our chapter, 12 of us joined the lodge at 21 and a few others, later on. Not a bad return for the lodge who supported the chapter.
I do not intend my words this evening to all be about DeMolay and why we should promote it. However, it would be wrong and ungrateful of me not to recognize its influence in my life. I would not be here tonight were it not for the Order of DeMolay and the influence of Masonic men when I was teenager. Today, what Massachusetts DeMolay needs more than anything is Masonic men who will volunteer (a wee bit as my father would say) of their time to be Dad Advisors, to help guide young men. We know society isn’t doing the job molding them!
There are young men in 19 chapters across the Commonwealth now, some of whom will be leading Massachusetts Freemasonry in the coming decades. Their success needs your inspiration.
Now that you know how I feel about DeMolay, I want to switch gears. On my very first day as a Master Mason, something very positive and telling happened to me! I was attending college and working part time in the maintenance department of the First National Bank of Boston, at Devonshire and Milk Streets. My boss told me to take a cart up to see a Mr. Titus, a vice president who needed something picked up to be burned. When I arrived and told him why I was there, he looked me up and down and said, “Well, do you realize there is over ten thousand dollars in negotiable securities here that need to be destroyed and I’m not about to let any maintenance employee take them!”
I told him I understood and as I started to leave, he noticed the ring on my finger and asked what it was. I explained that it was a Masonic ring that had been given to me the night before by my dad. He then said he was a member of Charles C. Dame Lodge in Georgetown, and we proceeded to chat about my raising, Masonry, and life. As I said goodbye and started to leave, he said, “Aren’t you forgetting what you came for?”
I still remember my thoughts as I headed to the furnace room. Upon meeting me, he was very clearly telling me “No way!” but after a few minutes of conversation, I was entrusted to take everything. The only thing that had made a difference was that he had recognized me as a fellow Mason.
It struck me very powerfully that being a member of the Craft meant something. In that moment, it was Trust between two strangers who, at another level, were brothers. It was an enlightening and profound lesson to a newly raised 21 year old. Think about it! Being in the craft is not like being a member of the exchange club or some social group. We are trusted in ways we might not readily realize as we go about our tasks. We all know our obligations and can still repeat them in part, if not entirely. Obligations mean something. “to help, aid and assist” is as important as saying “I love you” to someone special. But as Freemasons, we do indeed help, aid, and assist routinely because we use the tenets of Masonry in our lives every day.
Take, as an example, the Masonic equipment loan program which started in the old Malden/Melrose 7th, now the 4th District. What began in a Stoneham garage in the mid 60’s has grown steadily over the past 55 years and is now in a large facility in Woburn, known throughout eastern Massachusetts by a fair percentage of the general public. It speaks volumes of good about us, especially to those who know little or nothing about Masonry. Question: Wouldn’t it be nice if there was another hospital equipment loan program in western Massachusetts so people would not need to travel so far?
Freemasonry can indeed be proud of the many and various good works done by our lodges and the appendant originations. From the Shrine Hospitals, and Scottish Rite Learning Centers to local lodge endeavors such as the Angel fund. Think of our Brotherhood fund and what it has become in the last 15 years. We can be, no, we are proud of them all!
We give of our time, our strength, our skills and talents, AND our compassion. Yes, we provide money too, but it is our intent, our motivation that makes “to help, aid and assist” reflect well on our beloved fraternity.
Actually we could say, if we wanted to, that we lead the way in doing for others. Masons give over two million dollars a day in charitable donations, MORE than ANY other organization in the world! If I might use a variation of the words, Massachusetts Freemasonry is leading the way in “Helping, Aiding and assisting ALL.”
Many Brothers were probably influenced at an early age by teachers, coaches, or Scout leaders who reinforced the correctness and necessity of responsible behavior. Many of us grew up with the concept that loyalty was as much a part of employment as ability and ethics. Social media might indicate that those ideas are passé, no longer viable . . . but Masons, in any lodge or country, by the oath that they took, not only uphold, but live these precepts every day. We are so fortunate to be Freemasons in this time so we can set an example of what is right and needed, now more than ever.
Early in life, I worked at Eastman–Kodak Co., and went to train in Rochester, N.Y. As a new hire, I met the president of the company, Colby Chandler, a fellow New Englander from Maine. He visited a roomful of trainees and spoke with each one of us. He said something that made a huge impression on me. “Always remember when you are at a company, You are Eastman-Kodak Company" ... just as "We are Freemasonry."
At this time in history, to set an example of what is right is needed more than ever. Being members of the craft, we must always be aware that our behavior, our attitudes, must represent not only our personal values, but those to which we pledged. We must always remember that how we live daily and govern ourselves is Freemasonry in action. All we do in our seemingly (mundane or insignificant) lives is Masonry to others. Let them know, our beliefs are neither mundane nor insignificant!
Let us all strive to live in all ways that when our time has comes others may say “we lived respected and died regretted”.
Thank you.
