Carve the Turkey. Circumscribe Your Uncle.
The obligation doesn’t have an asterisk
Tomorrow in the states you might sit at a table with people who didn’t vote the way you did.
Some you love. Some you tolerate. Some you’ve been dreading for weeks because you already know they’re going to say that thing and you’re going to have to physically stop yourself from flipping the table.
Here’s my question for every brother reading this: What exactly did you obligate yourself to do?
Because it wasn’t “circumscribe your passions within due bounds except when Uncle Steve starts talking about the border.” The obligation doesn’t have an asterisk.
The lodge is easy. Everyone’s dressed right, the gavel keeps order, and nobody’s testing your patience with a hot take during the Charge at Closing.
But that table tomorrow? That’s the actual quarry. That’s where we find out if the work is working.
That heat in your chest when someone says something so obviously wrong that you’re preparing the devastating comeback before they’ve finished the sentence?
That’s the moment. That’s the test.
Subduing your passions doesn’t mean silence. It means you get to choose your response instead of being hijacked by your emotions. You can disagree without contempt. You can hold your ground without going to war.
So…
Before you walk in tomorrow, ask yourself: Am I going to show up as the man I’m becoming, or the man I was before I ever stepped foot in a lodge?
The apron stays home. The ring is optional. But the obligation travels with you.
Show up like a Mason. Not because they’ll know, but because you will.
Happy Thanksgiving, Brothers. May your passions be properly circumscribed.
-Brother Rob
