Gary Leazer, 32°
P.O. Box 870523, Stone Mountain, Georgia 30087-0014
garyleazer@mindspring.com

Whether our lives are a tragedy or not depends on the choices we make.

I am not a Shakespeare scholar. I find reading his plays difficult, but sometimes a part of one of his plays jumps out at me and stirs some idea within me. Such is this passage from Macbeth,

Life's but a walking shadow,
a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon
the stage,
And then is heard no more; it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

Macbeth speaks these words upon hearing the news of Lady Macbeth's death. This profound loss stirred within Macbeth an equally profound reflection about life. What does life mean? Does it really matter? Will the world notice I was here? Macbeth's response leaves little mystery as to why this play is known as a tragedy.

Fortunately, Macbeth's words aren't the final judgment about life. Life does not have to be a tragedy. Whether our lives are a tragedy or not depends on the choices we make. Life isn't a onetime choice, but involves a lifetime of choosing-choosing justice, self-restraint, compassion, and faith.

A successful businessman lived in Dallas, Texas. He was a success in every way our culture esteems. As the top executive of a large and growing corporation, he enjoyed bonuses that topped the annual salaries of most Americans, and was, in general, the exemplary American success story. However, with the pain of defeat and fatigue on his face, he told a friend how he had "spent his entire life climbing the ladder of success, only to find it leaning against the wrong wall."

Wouldn't it have been great if someone had been around to tell that businessman, "Hey, before you get all carried away climbing up that ladder, why don't you give some thought to where it is taking you?" What a difference it might have made if some wise person had been available to help explain to this businessman how to make life good, fun, and fulfilling?

I wonder, where is the ladder we are climbing as Masons taking us? What does life mean to us as Masons? Does life really matter? Will the world notice we were here? Will our lives be a tragedy or a source of pleasure to those who remember us when we are gone? Will we step forward to someone climbing a ladder leaning against the wrong wall and share some wisdom we have learned about life and what is really important in life with him?

Gary Leazer served 14 years on the staff of the Interfaith Witness Department of the Southern Baptist Home Mission Board before his involuntary resignation in October 1993. His primary responsibilities included research, writing, and conferencing in 40 states and four foreign countries on interfaith issues. Leazer, not then a Mason, conducted the original study on Freemasonry for the Southern Baptist Convention. Bro. Leazer began the Masonic Report in March 1995 as a supplement to his CIS (Center for Interfaith Studies) Quarterly Report. He was raised a Master Mason on February 8, 1997, in Clarkston Lodge No. 492, Clarkston, Georgia (Master this year), and became a Scottish Rite Mason in the Valley of Atlanta in 1997. He was a participant in the 1994 and 1996 Scottish Rite Leadership Conferences and is a frequent speaker at Scottish Rite and other Masonic meetings.