Odd Fellows Story of Success
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead Many states and jurisdictions bemoan the diminution of membership in their jurisdictions, and the closing or...
Remembering Bud Carey
Dear Dedicated Members for Change, We all know that once your name winds up on a company's mailing list (or email list) it seems like the name kind of stays on that list forever. The other day when I checked the incoming mail at the Lodge, I saw yet another example of...
They Never Event Got to Play
Dear Dedicated Members for Change, Nine years ago, in November of 2014, I first published the nursery rhyme and article you will find, below. Is it still applicable today? F - L - T Dave RosenbergPast Grand MasterJurisdiction of CaliforniaIndependent Order of Odd...
Dear Dedicated Members for Change,
Recently, I received an email from a long-time and active member of our Order (and of DMC), who resides in a state other than California. I will not reveal the member’s name, or gender, or Lodge to protect the member’s privacy. The member told me the following:
I resigned my membership from my lodge today.
The Noble Grand belittled me in front of my family. This type of treatment caused me to drop out of the Lodge completely.
All the best, sorry to have to give you notice on a sad note. But I will no longer be a member.
All The Best,
This is one of the sadder notes that I have received since we organized DMC ten years ago. The letter-writer goes on to say that he/she has brought in many new members into the Odd Fellows Lodge including the member’s spouse and son – but the Noble Grand was antagonistic to these new members. Apparently, the Noble Grand felt that new members brought change to a Lodge and the Noble Grand was resistant to any change which would alter the status quo to which he has grown accustomed.
There are several things very wrong with this picture.
First, we see the abject failure of that Odd Fellow Lodge’s Noble Grand to exercise the most basic teachings of Odd Fellowship – in particular of the First Degree of Friendship. We have all come into contact with Odd Fellows who act like that Noble Grand, haven’t we? These are people who are often rude or abrupt. They have their way of doing things, and if you don’t like it then too bad – it’s either their way or the highway.
Second, and perhaps even worse, we see the Noble Grand’s conduct played out in public – in fact, acted out right in front of the member’s family. It’s one thing to be rude in private – that’s bad enough. However, it’s geometrically worse to be rude in public, particularly in front of another member’s family.
Third, we see a Noble Grand who is acting as the chief gravedigger at the funeral of his own Lodge. New members are the lifeblood of a Lodge. The status quo is nothing to covet – it is merely a slow demise. An Odd Fellow Lodge’s viability is limited by the lifetimes of its members. It’s really just simple math. A Lodge that fails to bring in new members at least commensurate with departing members is a Lodge on a slow spiral to oblivion. What this Noble Grand seems to ignore is the simple fact that every single member of his Lodge was once a “new member”. Even the Noble Grand was a new member at one point in time.
Rather than criticize a member for being interested in new members, a Noble Grand would be well served in praising members who bring in that essential source of the Lodge’s future viability.
F – L – T
Dave Rosenberg
Past Grand Master
Jurisdiction of California
Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF)