2009 March

DGM's Messages

2009

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RW DGM' s MESSAGE FOR March 2009

Message for March

AFFECTION AND AFFECTATION

Recently with Valentine’s Day happenings, and the inexorable lapping of cultural trends from round the world, at our feet, much controversy has ensued. This controversy arises from differing interpretations of what constitutes our culture and fails to appreciate that we do not live in an isolated habitation, nor the fact that all human beings need to have the affection and affiliation of other human beings. There are filial affections, affections such as we have for our Brethren and friends and various other affiliations which spread human warmth in one form or another.

Affectations, on the other hand, by definition are poses adopted to present a façade of modishness or even morality both being false. Whatever the ‘reasoning’ behind such affectations, the fact of the matter is that it can not form the basis of a counter culture or a reformation movement. Boys will be Boys, and Girls will be girls and although public displays of affection between them may in some societies be ‘legitimately’ decried or discouraged, one can never altogether deny their manifestations. We are reliably informed that in some countries where such public contact between the sexes is banned, the mobile phone employed as a means of communication from cars parked, within a line of sight, provides the necessary relief. Like Water, Love will find its level and we cannot do without either.

However, the point that needs to be made is that there can never be a substitute for affection, and we can certainly do without affectation, posing to be something of a regulator of morals or whatever. What is certainly required is to follow the principle of privacy and good manners – to remember that where one person’s nose ends, the other one’s nose begins. Keeping noses out of others’ private affairs is a salutary principle – and in turn, private affairs should be kept out of the public view.

The Brotherhood of Man obviously relies upon affection for its sustenance, and love is the largesse of the Fatherhood of God. Let it take the numerous forms which deliver charity, benevolence, filial connections and so on, so long as it maintains the essential purity from which it devolves – the Divine Spirit. Affectation is an obstacle to the pursuit of Truth, which is the goal of our fraternity.

Post Script

Just as I was finishing this March message for the web-site, we have all been over-whelmed by the Oscar awards. While obviously reveling in the reflected glory of this cinematic recognition, one cannot but help also reflect on the many other sub-liminal, and even obvious messages it conveys. Some, for instance, are critical of the film showing the ‘negative’ side of India – reality shows seem to be acceptable to us, so long as they do not portray dirt, disease and deprivation. Nor have this section grasped the ‘positive’ representation of the rags-to-riches story, although this is not to glorify ‘easy-money’. The lotus, our revered flower, grows out of impure water and surroundings, and can be used, as it has elsewhere, as a metaphor for finding items of value in the most unlikely environs. Rather than ignoring or denying the ‘negative’ aspects of our national environment and society, we should join in a collective effort to positively eradicate these disparities, and being struck with horror, avoid turning away from them.

India should shine and rise everywhere – and amid the celebrations arising from the recent Oscars, let us spare a thought for those less advantaged. The documentary ‘SMILE PINKI’ provides a parallel message, and should have got the equal encomiums and replication in real-life relief to those born with this disfigurement, one so easily correctible by surgery.

To end on a practical note, is cleft-lip surgery to be considered for a charitable initiative on our part, in our Masonic District ? Charity begins at home !