The Golden Trowel
by Luke on 09/06/10 at 10:19 pm
As a youth I was a member of DeMolay. We would have a dance once a year in the Crystal Ballroom. This was my first experience with the Detroit Masonic Temple. My Dad Advisor, the Master Mason who acted like a chaperon and role model, would take us on tours of the temple. I looked forward to it all year. The temple was a mystery and an icon to all of us in my chapter. The seemingly never ending labyrinth of hidden hallways, the organs, moving mirrors, projections of light and stone expertly arranged to invoke grandeur and intrigue, or intimacy and reverence depending on which door you opened. I was certain that any question I had could be answered behind one of those doors. The men who constructed it must have known what I would ask. It was the perfect setting for our “all degree” days. I remember welcoming new DeMolays as brothers in a place that proved to all of us what that fraternal bond could do.
As I grew too old for DeMolay my life took me far from Detroit and the temple. I knew I would one day become a Mason but I waited until I could be raised in that place. I am glad that when I finally returned to Detroit I came to Detroit No. 2 to complete that vision. The brothers I have met and the lessons I have learned thus far have proven to me that indeed the path to answer many of my life’s questions and to find new ones does lie behind the doors of that structure.
Behind one of those doors lies a golden trowel. It was shown to me by a brother when I inquired about my grandfather and a German speaking lodge called Schiller which used to meet there. The trowel was a gift from another German speaking lodge in Ohio. It was a symbol of fellowship given to Schiller lodge for their 50th anniversary in 1919. Not long after that, many trowels were put to use in the hands of operative masons who constructed the Detroit Masonic Temple with them. Undoubtedly their trowels were made from some more practical material, though the mortar put down by that golden trowel has held the temple together to this day. The fellowship of many a brother has been shared in it’s walls and a great city was built around them and by them.
Tuck-point is a technique used by the operatives to repair mortar joints that have weathered or been otherwise damaged. It is a difficult and delicate process. If you want the structure to appear uniform it takes great care to match the color and seams of the original mason.
Our temple is in disrepair gentlemen. Operative masons can not use their tools to fix it. We must take that golden trowel and repair broken joints. The storms ahead can be held back by the temple we build with the other brothers who have the same respect and reverence for that structure and more importantly the organizations that occupy it as we do. Reach out to your brothers in other lodges. Visit with them and work with them. Refer to the other bodies that we take part in as “us” instead of “them”. Take personal responsibility for what goes on around us. Thank your brothers on committees and the trustees for the work they do and help when it is within the length of your cable tow.
Our working tools can do great things. The city of Detroit was at one time evidence of that. It now stands as evidence of what can happen when we put those working tools down. Can we pick them back up and make the necessary repairs?
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