russellholland wrote:[
Will putting up the price fix the quality of members? - my response - In my experience probably quite the reverse!
And what are we to do with the current members? - my response - I am afraid we are stuck with them - the good the bad, and the ones who seemingly ignore their obligations while the powers that be turn a blind eye in their Ivory towers unable or unwilling to do anything because of course they have a vested interest in keeping numbers as high as possible so as to ensure that the costs of the bricks and mortar are not such that existing members depart.
Should we only take the new high quality candidates into new high quality lodges? my response - YES reverse the trend and stick to it - it might only take 50 years or so to make things better.
And what should we do with the Grand Lodges that have supervised the decline in quality? my response - I don't think there is anything that can be done as there are far too many people who would not act objectively as they are so beguiled by perceived honours and yards of gold braid. "Turkeys voting for Christmas? I think not. Speaking of Christmas my lodge subscription due shortly before then would pay for the Salvation Army to provide a meal for 35 people who otherwise would be on their own!
If I sound cross that is because I am not long back home from a service on the theme of "A light on Aleppo" where the situation is absolutely heartbreaking and the politicians seem to be incapable of doing anything to ease the plight of the people of Syria, Aleppo and all the other places where there is such devastation, inhumanity and loss of life. Viewed in the context of that, the current problems of Freemasonry are to me trivial nothwithstanding that I believe that Freemasonry at its best can be a wonderful fraternity doing great good in the world (apart from the oversized cardboard cheques and the constant trumpeting of how much money we have given to charities. IMO the best charity is anonymous, and giving money (much of which is given as involuntary levies anyway) is much easier than actually doing something worthwhile.