Looks and Acts Like a Mason

Once upon a time, one of my many duties that I have had in the military included the review and processing of the evaluations prepared on officers and non commissioned officers. Sometimes, comments would be placed on these evaluations by less than fully inspired or imaginative evaluators. One of my all-time favorites went something like this: “Looks and acts like an officer” or “Looks and acts like a soldier.” I often asked myself when I saw these types of comments, “What in the heck else is he supposed to look and act like?”

If written evaluations were conducted on individual Freemasons, a comment of “looks and acts like a Mason” would probably be a bit more powerful than its military counterpart. Unlike members of the military, Masons do not wear standardized uniforms and they are not subject to a rigid structure that – by legal force if necessary – controls almost all aspects of their daily lives. There is much more free will involved in looking and acting like a Mason than is involved in looking and acting like a soldier.

There is also another aspect to be considered here. There is really only one way for service members to look and act. But how does one determine the way that a Mason is to look and act? If you asked a hundred Masons this question, you would probably get about a hundred different answers. I do think, however, that most dedicated Freemasons can generally agree that if the individual Mason looks and acts in such a way so as to bring honor to the Fraternity, then he looks and acts like a Mason.

What say you? What constitutes looking and acting like a Mason?