To Divest..

I'm in the financial business. I've been in the mortgage industry one way or another for over two decades. One thing I always tell my clients or customers when we come to a block or a problem where we cannot afford something is that, "math doesn't lie". It is what it is. If you cannot afford it guess what you can't afford it. Basically a certain percentage of your income either based on ratios or an algorithm in a fancy computer will tell you if you can or can't afford it. But guess what? Math doesn't lie but then you have water, and electricity and heat and a novel one A/C. Pay those out on top of your house payment and guess what you're broke. So let me ask you why do we the same with our Temples and Fraternal Halls? Why do we expect that we can turn something around we have never really thought about, thought through or managed. Let me tell you after 20 plus years in the mortgage business let me tell you a secret you already know. 95% of the folks out there have no plan for retirement. So these folks our well meaning friends are paying the bills on our temples and lodges. And let me tell you a secret you already know we have no plan on how to save our buildings. We have ideas, we have speeches we sell things, we try and we mean well but the patient is dead, sorry guys. We invest more money in crumbling mortar I guess because we are Masons. If we invested half of what we exhort for rents and invested that in the Fraternity we wouldn't have a membership problem. In my small jurisdiction if you spent your "already funds" on rent you'd have enough left over for meals, books and drinks and you wouldn't touch all of what you collected and that doesn't include joining fees. Lodges would be flush. And so would your masonic experience. Please think about it. Thats all. S&F, JL PM