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"I think my grandfather was one, but I'm not sure what it means."
"Yeah, my dad and uncle both used to go to Masonic meetings I remember Uncle Fred coming by to pick him up.
But I don't know where they went or what they did."
"I think they wear those funny hats."
"I remember when I went away to college, my father showed me his ring and told me, if I ever needed help,
I should look for a man with a ring like that and tell him I was the daughter of a Mason, but he never told me
much about it."
What's a Mason?
That's not a surprising question. Even though Masons (Freemasons) are members of the largest and oldest fraternity
in the world, and even though almost everyone has a father or grandfather or uncle who was a Mason, many people
aren't quite certain just who Masons are.
The answer is simple. A Mason (or Freemason) is a member of a fraternity known as Masonry (or Freemasonry). A fraternity
is a group of men (just as a sorority is a group of women) who join together because:
- There are things they want to do in the world.
- There are things they want to understand "about their own minds."
- They enjoy being together with men they like and respect.
(We'll look at some of these things later.)
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