What does is mean to walk with pride? Is it the length of your stride, or perhaps your posture while performing this action? Walking as a general definition is putting one foot in front of the other repeatedly to get from one place to another. We rarely mention where we are going or where we have come from during our normal vocations and employments. Some even have difficulty telling their significant others where they are wanting to go or where they have been. Sure they talk about the normal comings and goings, the store, work, and remember I have a lodge meeting on Monday night. But what about the spiritual comings and goings? Why do we choose to walk the path of a Mason? Do we walk that path with pride?

Freemasonry as a rule includes brothers from all walks of life. An early example of this inclusiveness can be found by looking at just part of the list of occupations that were taken verbatim from the Minute book of Dundee Lodge number 18 from 1785 to 1808. “Sea captions of all nationalities, doctors, plumbers, sail makers, wine merchants, brick layers, stationers, surgeons, and apothecaries, shoe makers, carpenters and builders”. When I first joined Masonry I had a longing to belong to something greater than myself. What I found was a brotherhood of men all walking towards the same goal, just following different paths. This is why we walk with pride. Not because of our worldly accomplishments, but because of our spiritual progress. Be proud that you have chosen to embark on this path, but humble to the fact that we all need assistance sometimes.

I am honored to be numbered amongst you all. Not just because we include in our membership many famous individuals, but because each of us makes up a part of the whole, doing the work that is so desperately needed in this world, for the benefit of all mankind.

The old Dundee lodge, No.18 (Constituted 1722-23)