About a Brother and Brotherhood

December 6^th, 2011

So I met my host brother yesterday as he came home on break from University.  He is attending a Uni in South Africa learning to be an electrician.  His name is Sifiso but everyone calls him stixs because he is super tall and skinny.

Anyways, the first question he asked me was… wait for it… I literally just stared at him in disbelief at this question… he asked me “Do you know the Free Masons and their plot to form a new world order.”

I was like come again thinking I was hearing him wrong.  We were chatting about music and then he through this question out of nowhere.  No I heard him right, I am half way around the world and here my host brother wants to talk about freemasonry.  I guess I have Jay-Z to thank for this inquiry since he apparently has some clips talking about the theory that the illuminati and the Free Masons are in cahoots to take over the world and “do evil” as my host brother says it. 

After my sudden shock and initial statement of “no I don’t know what you are referring to” because I was still processing that I actually understood him correctly, I had to make a quick decision how to deal with this question.  I could immediately tell him that several men in my family are Free Masons and really freak him out, which I secretly would have gotten joy out of, but no if God insists that I have the “No Freemasonry is not evil” conversation once again then so be it.  But really God?  I am on vacation from real life.

So I launched into a very abbreviated and simple explanation that its just a theory.  I know he wasn’t trying to attack me since how could he possible know that I am connected to Freemasonry, so I had to make sure not to get defensive in my explanation.  I explained that masonry was in fact started as a form of support for stonemasons, and then transformed into a social fraternity for men and their families that is deeply rooted in the ideals of brotherhood, charity, and honor.  I told him that I actually knew members of the Freemasons and as far as I’m aware they are not working towards a new world order.  I explained that yes they have “secret” meetings that only members are allowed to attend but that is no different then meetings most governments have.  I also explained the illuminati connection and the theory that people have used Freemasonry and its prominent place in society, historically connected with the elite, to get ahead or perhaps to accomplish something that does not have the best interest of society in mind (also no different then many governments, but just because a government is corrupt does it mean all its citizens are equally as corrupt?).  Looks like that final paper on Freemasonry to earn my History degree paid off.  Who would have thought that it would come in handy in Africa?

The convo ended with my host brother saying, “Well then I guess we are just miss-informed.”  Just like that conversation over.  I expected a rebuttal towards the contrary or a multitude of questions that this conversation usually stimulates, but no.  Either I had confused him completely, scared him with my intimate knowledge of the topic, or he simply doesn’t care that much.  Whichever way, that was that.  Then we got back to talking about music for the rest of the afternoon.