Page 5 - MFM Jan Feb 2024

What’s Important Now Brother Chuck Clampitt
Etana Lodge 333, Mt. Etna, Indiana

Being from Indiana, we pride ourselves in being among diff erent methods of presentati on. Recently I asked the
the most enthusiasti c basketball fans in the country. simple questi on, “What does Masonry mean to you?”
People across the state avidly follow youth, AAU, and Most everyone had an immediate response with the
high school boys’ and girls’ teams and get crazy when consensus being “fellowship”. When prompted, everyone
the college basketball season begins. About 20 years was willing to elaborate and share how important
ago our local high school changed coaches and, for Masonry was to them. The round table discussion that
whatever reason, the new coach wasn’t hired unti l about resulted was both meaningful and inspiring.
two weeks before school started in late August. The
local high school is a county wide consolidati on with an Fortunately, there are ways for each of us to express
enrollment of about 1600 students so there had been a our thoughts of how we feel about being Masons. Being
lot of interest in the opening and a number of applicants. from the mid-west, I am a member of the Sco� sh Rite-
The new coach appeared to have checked all the boxes. Northern Masonic Jurisdicti on. That organizati on inspires
He had been a good high school and small college player its members by emphasizing six Core Values: Reverence
for area schools, had worked his way up the high school for God, Devoti on to Country, Integrity, Justi ce, Tolerance,
coaching ranks to ever larger schools, and had been and Service. Each of the 29 degrees seeks to emphasize
successful wherever he had been. He appeared to be a one or more of these Core Values in its allegory. I
good family man and looked like a good fi t for our local currently am working on a self-study program in Sco� sh
community. Rite called the Hauts Grades Academy. One of the tasks is
to write an essay on nine diff erent degrees emphasizing
Just before school started, he was interviewed by the the Core Value(s) contained in each, how it personally
local newspaper. Of course, the standard questi ons were aff ects me, and its applicati on to my individual Lodge.
asked such as where he grew up, what his basketball
background and experience was, etc. Finally, he was While we might each have diff erent defi niti ons of these
asked what his philosophy was on basketball. His answer Core Values, we have to keep in mind that the quest is
caught me completely off guard. “Well to win.” In the to become bett er men and bett er Masons. When you
next three or four sentences he repeated that same thing look carefully at the list, it results in a very specifi c self-
and, on the surface, that appeared to be his focus. evaluati on of who we are. This assignment made me do
some very serious soul searching in regards to my own
To me sports, especially at the youth and high school personal values and whether I refl ect those in my daily
level, is about teaching life lessons. Oh sure, we all like to thought and conduct. Membership as a Mason in the
have winning teams, win championships, and celebrate Symbolic or Blue Lodge should cause each of us to ask
the big wins, but the most important lessons are about those same questi ons. Is Masonry just an organizati on
learning discipline, pu� ng forth your best eff ort, and that I belong to, or is there a deeper responsibility to
making lifelong friends. When the new coach repeated experience? A popular phrase used by Masonry today is
the need to win, I was a litt le hot under the collar. It was “Taking good men and making them bett er”. If we truly
at that point in the interview that the coach brought his call ourselves Masons, then we need to remember that
meaning to light. “Let me tell you what I mean when I we have a responsibility to live up to that principle. Aft er
use the word win. It isn’t about wins and losses. It is an all, we each need to remember “What’s Important Now”.
acronym, W-I-N. What it stands for is, ‘What’s Important
Now’. When a high school kid is at basketball practi ce or
a game, what is important now is basketball. When he
is in math class, math is what is important. When he is
with friends or family, that is what is important. See we
each have to focus on what is important at any specifi c
moment”. It was at that point that I became a fan of the
new coach and have used and shared his philosophy
countless ti mes. The questi on becomes, “How does that
apply to Masonry?”

I oft en think that Masons don’t do a very good job of
sharing how they feel about Masonry. I frequently do
Masonic Educati on in my small rural Lodge and try to use
Montana Freemason Page 5 Jan/Feb 2024 Volume 100 No.1