Again our media confronts us with dark images: sad photographs of grieving parents, children with eyes hollowed by hopelessness, landscapes revealing destruction. Some derive from natural disasters but others, stem from the consequences of ruthless ambition, greed, or the brutal fear of anything different.
     We can certainly complain at what seems an obsession with misery in the media but while it is guilty of exploitation - it is more part of the entertainment industry than the information - it has an important role in helping us to witness the ills which need addressing. Happy people don’t need help; miserable people do, and it seems to me right that the media should attempt to encourage aid.
     But the wider context sometimes gets lost - food rushed to Africa, for example, provides the immediate needs, but any long term solution must involve that self sufficiency which maintains a pride in self and community, and must address corruption and brutality.
     It is in that wider context, that Freemasonry can make its greatest long term contribution: it stands for the elimination of greed, the avoidance of corruption and conflict; and it is international. Our rituals explain the meaning of the symbols we use as signposts for our journey. For example, our most visible symbol, the Square and Compasses: ‘the Square teaches morality’ and ‘teaches us to regulate our lives and actions according to the Masonic line and rule, and to harmonise our conduct in this life’. A Freemason is aware of the dangers of greed: ‘The Compasses remind you to limit your desires in every station of life’.
     And Freemasonry refuses to allow differences of religion and political persuasion to drive people apart; politics is left to every man’s private opinion. To become involved as an organisation in political movements would be to direct the journey for meaning outwards, rather than inwards; to reject initiation for social engineering.
     There has been the suggestion that Freemasonry has no role in the modern world. This attitude comes from those who fear tradition, who choose to ignore the fact that tradition is like both the keel of a ship in motion and its anchor in a storm: it serves to maintain integrity and direction on the journey and provides a line of safety when the storms rage or the powerful currents swirl.
     Tradition is a strength and we ignore it to our disadvantage but remember that tradition is not a dead pattern to be slavishly repeated, it is a pattern which informs the future. It is a map to be followed, not the destination itself.
     In this twenty-first century our Craft is needed more than ever. It is needed to draw together men of many faiths, political persuasions, and ethnic backgrounds in the agreement that moderation is good, that our dealings with each other should be honest and true, and that the spiritual basis of all life on this planet should be recognised in its varied expressions. There are many paths and many travellers - all striving to discover and serve that ‘vital and immortal principle’ which lies within our ‘perishable frame’ - as our ritual, ever wise, explains.
     We can be justly proud of our tradition and know that we have a vital role to play in the modern world, a role we must seek to actively express, not just recite. When we act, Freemasonry makes a difference.

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Due to pressing commitments there was no Freemasonry Today trip to Egypt this year but I would like to let readers know that we are planning a fourth trip for next year, around Easter, although we are still firming up the dates. These trips are great fun and space is limited so would anyone thinking of joining us please contact Tracey Strand, HPB Travel, at 01638 674 744, email tstrand@hpb.co.uk, and let her know.
     Last year Freemasonry Today writer, Yasha Beresiner, took a party on a journey through the Holy Land. This year Yasha has arranged a second such trip, 11-19 September, to such sites as ancient Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Acre, Masada, the Dead Sea and three masonic evenings including a meeting with the Grand Master of Israel. He also hopes to attend a meeting in King Solomon’s Quarries. Those interested please phone 0800 371 972; details on www.intercol.co.uk/tours.

Michael Baigent MA - Editor