Benjamin Franklin, the man we are proud to have as name-giver for this Lodge, was born on January 17, 1706 in Boston, Massachusetts. Among many other notable quotes, and to celebrate his birthday, I have picked out these simple pieces of wisdom. They apply to all humanity, but especially to Freemasonry:

Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.

It is simple enough to tell a man how to help himself, how to find the right way (for himself) through life. Likewise we can spend hours guiding through our words, and influence others to a certain extent, at least so that they remember what we have said. However, when we invite a fellow-man upon our journey as Masons, and live our Masonic experiences together, when we involve a man in our lives, we give far more. We teach a lesson, by self-doing, by involvement, by integration, which cannot be taught in the classroom. We bring friendship and companionship. We build trust as much as faith and, just as important, we learn too.

Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.

Life is full of good intentions, good advice, good examples. They can be experienced from the outside by any person, but only truly lived by those who take part, who are within, who are involved.