Quality or Convenience?

By now, I suppose, all who have read this Blog know that I am a big advocate of each Mason being responsible for his own regalia. Pride in your own regalia, keeping your own "badge" of a Mason, exhibiting the pride and commitment you hold for Masonry in your heart by outwardly expressing it with your personal regalia is a good thing. However, this excitement, this pride of being a Mason who owns his own regalia, has its limits of expression only to be enjoyed within the Lodge room.

Does your Lodge enjoy the fellowship of a Festive Board after meetings? Do you wish you had a way to identify yourself as a Mason without the stereotypical bumper sticker, baseball cap, window decal, or key chain? Would you like to identify yourself as a Mason, or better yet, as a member of a specific Lodge or Masonic organization, with something unique, eye catching, and aesthetically pleasing?

Freemasonry has long used its most easily identifiable symbol, the square and compasses, to accentuate and identify a product as being associated with Masonry or Freemasons in general. Today it seems, as with most things in our lives, Masonic related products have gone to the lowest common denominator.

Is there a need for a line of higher quality products? Would you like to identify yourself as a Mason by sporting a product of quality and not convenience? I know I would rather wait a year for a product that costs three times what a stock catalog item would cost - particularly if it was of good quality, would last longer, and be more visually appealing than the cheaper variety.

Craftsmanship and the Craft: let's refocus on doing good work.