Four common objects represent privileges for which we all should be grateful.

Many years ago, I recall seeing a newspaper advertisement showing a young boy, his hands on a table as he looked intently at four particular objects evenly spaced in front of him: a pencil, key, ballot, and Bible. A caption underneath the picture read: "Half the world is trying to destroy these four symbols and what they represent." These simple objects represent our privileges and freedoms as Americans.

The pencil symbolizes work and ambition. Of course, today the com-puter has superseded the pencil. Nevertheless, the two are the same in essence, even if technically different. Success in any age is impossible without the ability to write. We can't communicate without words to translate our thoughts, and pencils, in whatever form, are the tools of the trade.

Fortunately, pencils are equipped with erasers. No one is perfect. Mistakes happen. However, in all our fumbling, we can be thankful that there is a purpose to our striving and that ideas, though written on paper, translate into real-life deeds and achievements. A pencil can be a very ordinary sort of tool. Without it, however, we are lost. With it, we can write our name on the pages of time. With gratitude, we recog-nize the Mayflower Compact, which the Pilgrims signed, as representing in writing our American privileges and freedoms.

Similarly, what extraordinary things the ballot permits! It gives us our right to choose and decide. We can be for or against anything, but we have a choice. Not everyone in the world has that right. We should not take it for granted but, instead, be grateful for it. After all, freedom of choice is why our country was founded and why the Pilgrims wanted to settle in America.

The key is symbolic of our safety, individuality, and privacy, yet it opens opportunity. Some time ago, one of the slogans of General Motors was, "This is your key to the future." How we loved that sign of status and possession-to be an owner of our own car! Ownership is a powerful privilege, bought by hard work, which gives us freedom from want and the ability to shape our future. How grateful we should be for the principle of property rights and the benefits it brings!

A fourth symbol of significance in the drawing was the Holy Bible. For most of us, the Volume of Sacred Law has been our guide to belief in something meaningful and relevant. Reverence is one of the virtues of a great person. Our respect for God and one another is derived from Holy Scripture. "Love the Lord thy God ... and thy neighbor as thyself" (Luke 10:27) is a sound maxim for strong moral and ethical relationships in life.

Worship God and help one another. That has been the Masonic philosophy through all time. It is the reason behind our Order's RiteCare Childhood Lang-uage Program. Much of the inspiration for these charitable contributions originates in the Bible. Along with so much else, the Bible offers a clear direction whereby we can seek the best in others, the world, and ourselves.

Read through the list of the Bible's champions, and then measure yourself against any of them. They were persons of conviction. They believed in something worthwhile and had the faith and courage to pursue it. So, this symbol, too, represents gratitude, in this case for the biblical inheritance that inspires us today as it inspired the Pilgrims three centuries ago.

Therefore, first consider the pencil, key, ballot, and Bible. Then "bless the Lord thy God for the good land which He hath given thee." (Deuteronomy 8:10)

Donald C. Kerr is a retired Presbyterian minister, residing formerly in Baltimore, Md., where he continues to be Chaplain Emeritus of the York Rite, Chapter 40, and a member of Corinthian Lodge No. 93. Presently, he is a member of the Valley of Tampa and Chaplain of Sahib Shrine Temple, Sarasota, Fla.