December 16, 2016

When the young become the old

In the late 80's and 90's, there wasa group of young brothers that became members of lodges across the country. Along with their high top fades and hip hop sense of talking, they had deep and true respect for their fathers and grandfathers. They wanted to be part of an order and a legacy that was bigger than them.

These young military veteran and college-educated brothers saw a new perspective and a new way of doing things and wanted to impact the order in the best way possible.

They were met with immediate resistance. The older brothers liked their things the way it was even if it was rusty and crumbling. They chastised these brothers who wanted to do things like increase dues, increase education, set up building funds etc.

These young brothers stepped away and kept on travelling anyway. They formed think-tanks of their own with little or no mentorship. They honed their thought processes but without any input from the older ones, they were rough around the edges,  and for the ones who operated without supervision, they were out of control.

As life would have it, the old brothers became older, so did the young brothers. The young brothers now stepped into the shoes and brought in the fraternity to a modern world and made it more viable for the time. They were happy to fill in the shoes and the collars worn by the older brothers and were reveling in the shininess of their new found titles.

Then as it usually happens, new brothers showed up. The younger brothers of the present came with their new ideas of increasing the global reach of social media, increasing the use of technology, adapting the education to meet current trends etc.

Our younger brothers of the past became the older brothers they despised. They shot the younger brothers down, called them names, said they lacked the proper attention span to follow through with their ideas etc. Criticized their hairstyles, their manner of speech, their so-called experiences in education and careers etc.

Will the cycle continue?

1 comment:

  1. Speaking for myself, I have seen this cycle in my Mother Lodge so many times. I joined at the age of 19 and was placed immediately in a chair, the reason that was expressed to me was that I was mature for my age. Notwithstanding, I, as a young old person, I see the, dare I say, war between the old guard and the new kids on the block. I'm always incredibly saddened when I see a young man stop coming to lodge because their ideas were quashed one too many times, and it makes me sad when I see an older member fade away because the new kids got their way. I'm sad a lot these days...

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