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Message for August ‘06

THE 3-D EFFECT

We are constantly face-to-face with acts of general indiscipline in society, motorists running red lights, garbage being scattered and thrown everywhere, delivery dates being missed and appointments delayed or cancelled – that sometimes we are reduced to a state of despair and even depression.

The great Anna, our former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister laid great emphasis on “Duty, Dignity and Discipline”. The three D-s in my book which, if observed meticulously, would not only be socially most desirable, but personally most satisfying.

While in the public domain, one despairs at the lack of the active examples of these 3-D’s, I am always comforted by the thought that within our Masonic fraternity we can find an island in which we find representation of these attributes. Discipline naturally leads to a sense of Duty, and together they lend Dignity to the individual as well as to the Society to which he belongs.

I have constantly found these attributes within our fraternity, particularly when I ask a Brother to do an (arduous) job for us.

In any Organization there are what we call “Dirty Jobs” to be done – and someone has to do them, sometimes even the Head of the Organisation, if it is of such complexity that it would be unfair to delegate it.

Therefore, in the Fraternity, one can take refuge from social anxieties caused by environmental aberrations, because we can more readily find Discipline, and along with it, it’s ‘fraternal’ attributes of Duty and Dignity. If there’s a Masonic job to be done, there will always be a Brother who will do it – willingly.

As in pictorial / visual representations with a 3-D effect, in behavioural aspects also, the 3-Ds lend depth and appeal to those that reflect these dimensions – and we have many of them in our Fraternity.

May the GAOTU long them preserve and indeed may their Tribe increase!

I look forward eagerly to seeing many of you in Trivandrum later this month, for our Half-Yearly Meeting, which by every prognosis promises to be a great success.