The Power Of The Pen

Short Papers Competition 2009 © 2010 Internet Lodge and the author Paper 7/2009 Title The Power of the Pen Author Bro Frank Harris – Minnesota they read something interesting somewhere about the Lodge or one of its members? My interest in Master, Gordon Charlton, who managed to write an interesting article every month about a Masonic subject for about four years. All of his articles appeared on a local bulletin board in my home city that charged a small fee to users for services rendered. For those of you who don’t remember bulletin boards, they were the ancestors of the internet and they, like the dinosaur, have gone to bit heaven, the place in the sky where all lost computer words now reside. I was so interested in the monthly articles that I followed WB Charlton’s career and learned that he was involved in the forming of a new lodge on the Internet that would make use of the computer and its special attributes to become a truly universal lodge. Other Masonic activities kept me busy for several years until 2002 when I planned a vacation trip aboard a small ship that circumnavigated the British Isles. Prior to boarding the ship I went to Freemasons’ Hall in London and attended a lodge meeting. There I met a brother who renewed my interest in Internet Lodge. Next day I boarded the ship and after a delightful cruise returned to London, planning to attend another lodge meeting at of Minnesota in a dispute over recognition of a second Grand Lodge in France and thus I was unable to attend lodge or submit a membership application. Fast forward one year. The United Grand Lodge of England and the Grand Lodge of Minnesota resumed fraternal relations and I submitted an Email a computer crash had wiped out my application so I had to restart from square one. Some years ago a major corporation had an advertising slogan “Eventually, why not now?” Now for me was eighteen months after my decision to become a joining member. My hope is that Internet Lodge’s computers will never again delay a membership application as a delay may mean a loss of a Charlton, the power of his pen and the invention of the computer. It will be very interesting to learn their trials and tribulations during the joining process. This information should be a great help in finding joining members in the years to come.