VOLUME LVII October 2011 NUMBER 10 - Grand Encampment ...

Each of the 325,000 Shriners probably has his own individual
and personal reasons why he is a member of
our Fraternity. On examining these reasons, we will
probably find to our surprise that we have many more good
reasons for belonging to the Shrine today than we could have
named five, ten, or even thirty years ago.
We may have come into the Shrine because of obvious opportunities
for pleasure and fellowship, but without being aware of
any change, we found ourselves taking part in activities with serious aims. We discovered
the greater pleasure, the more satisfying joy of serving others.
We found, for example, the richly rewarding experience of taking part in what
has been called the world’s greatest philanthropy – our Shriners hospitals for
children. These hospitals, in the ninety years of existence, have transformed over
a million boys and girls from helpless misery into normal, self-reliant human beings.
We have taken these children for treatment and care regardless of their
race, creed, color, or ability to pay.
Speaking for myself, I am a Shriner because I believe in the ideals upon which the
Shrine was founded. I believe the Shrine provides an unexcelled means for an individual
to express those ideals in a tangible, productive, satisfying way.
Shrinedom has given me a keener appreciation of what it means to be an American.
In the Shrine I have found myself surrounded by men full of the joy of living, men of
hope and optimism and understanding. They are loyal to the principles of Masonry
and the Shrine, for they are identical with the principles of brotherhood and liberty
embodied in the ideals of Americanism.
This friends, is the Shrine. These are a few reasons I wear this fez. I am proud of that
symbol and of the 325,000 of my fellow Nobles who wear it.
Mike Severe,
Guest Message
Imperial Potentate – Shriners International
Chairman, Board of Directors – Shriners Hospitals for Children
4 october 2011