Dear Dedicated Members for Change,
There are DMC members throughout California, the United States, Canada, and Europe. From time to time those members send me newspaper articles that are of particular interest. Below is a link to the Akron, Ohio, newspaper. Please click on the link – I think you will find the newspaper article intriguing and revealing.
It shows what Odd Fellowship was like in a small town in 1918, a Century ago. The article presents a fascinating vignette of the times. There are those in this Order – including many at Sovereign Grand Lodge and in leadership positions in Grand Lodges around the country – who believe that if we simply went back to the way it was one hundred years ago, all would be fine and dandy and we would grow and flourish as an Order. They are wrong. We cannot take an Odd Fellows’ time machine to the past. Those were completely different times, with different issues, lifestyles, views of the world – not to mention different modes of transportation, communication, education, employment, attire and entertainment. The way to the future is to embrace the future, not attempt to live in the past.
While some in leadership at SGL seem to have given up and predict the death of this Order, DMC has not given up. We know that Odd Fellowship is relevant and can not only survive but can grow. In California we are actually showing net gains in membership. In my own Lodge over the last 10 years we have grown from 30 members to over 300. Don’t tell me Odd Fellowship is dead. It is just asleep in some Lodges and in some jurisdictions. We need to simply wake up to welcome the next generation of members.
F – L – T
Dave Rosenberg
Past Grand Master
Jurisdiction of California
https://www.ohio.com/akron/lifestyle/local-history/local-history-odd-fellows-paid-tribute-to-their-dead-with-1918-monument