Our obligations as Masons can sometimes be fulfilled by simply telling another brother that we are here, and that you, our brother, are cared for and respected.

There was nothing special about them—just a pack of small cards in his front pocket, bound securely with a rubber band. Everywhere he went, daily in his travels and errands of life, the cards went with him. From time to time he would take them out and look through them one by one. Each card told a story that represented a man, his life, and his journey.

There really wasn’t anything unusual about the cards, except that one man chose to carry them and to get to know the men they represented. Nothing exceptional here, except that one man took his obligations and promises seriously enough to cause him to act, to do what he could by being a brother to another. The small pieces of thin cardboard were prized by most as a symbol of a tradition they proudly maintained and of a brotherhood they deeply cherished. To those in the pack of cards, they were reminders of something that once interested them, like a forgotten stamp album. The man sought to remind the owners of their value.

The man was a Master Mason, and in his local Blue Lodge he found something that probably can be found in most lodges throughout the land. He found a pack of cards—dues cards—that had not been claimed by lodge brothers paying their dues for the year. There, with the Lodge Secretary, reposed the dues cards of Masons, men who once petitioned, were elected, and eventually raised, and who had been greeted with the hand of brotherhood. Here are men now considering whether Masonry holds any future for them; if our fraternity remains a viable alternative for how they spend their discretionary dollar. So far, the vote is in the negative as their cards remain with the Secretary.

Along comes the hero of our story, and he sees what many of us miss. He knows each unclaimed card represents a brother, and he is not content to give up and simply report another “NPD” to the Grand Lodge. With the Secretary’s permission, he takes a number of the cards belonging to men whom he does not know, faces that he perhaps has never seen. He begins to call each one of these men or maybe pays a visit to those nearby. Not for the collection of dues, mind you, but simply to say that we are here, and that you, our brother, are cared for and respected by at least one man in the Lodge. And so the story goes, day after day, call after call, visit after visit.

Is our man a hero? Maybe. But at the very least, he is a man who listened to what we had to say in our Masonic initiations and who struggles to live out our teachings to all who come our way.

Can you be a Masonic hero? Sure! Call your Lodge Secretary. I bet he’s got a pack of unclaimed dues cards—men who would love to hear from you.