Judge A Man Not By His Leather

I had the pleasure of taking a short ride this past Saturday and to escort a good friend and fellow Masonic Brother. We hooked up at a local restaurant just before noon, both us us were wearing our colors. As is so often the case when we ride with our Widow Sons Masonic leather vests people are hesitant to look at us.

I am well known in the small town where we met, but even people who have known me for 20 years stayed clear and refused to make eye contact with me.

Although a Masonic Lodge exists in most communities throughout both Canada and the United States few people take notice because most of the activities of Masons participate in, attract little public attention.

Of course this is not true of our Masonic brothers of the Shrine. They are very public and their contributions to charity and in particular the Sick Children's Hospital program is well known. Shriners are easy to recognize parading in public wearing their bright colors and uniquely styled Red Fess headdress. Few people realize that all Shriner's are first Masons. Just as all members of the Widow Sons Motorcycle Association are also Masons. As Masons, members of the Widow Sons are committed to both community work and undertaking works of charity.

As Jay and I sat In the restaurant I could see from the corner of my eye people whisper as they gave disapproving glances in our direction. These are basically good people but they let their imaginations run wild.

Perhaps imagining bad biker gangs invading their quiet community is their way of creating excitement in their otherwise ordinary lives. Reports from close friends tell me the talk around the coffee shop after we rode out was; who are these bad bikers and what is Grey Rider doing associating with them?

I find it strange even shameful how quickly people are to judge others in this world. Here is a picture of my friend Jay. I took this picture of him standing beside his Gold Wing when we took a few minutes to stretch our legs.

Like so many Masons Jay is an outstanding member of his community and has a reputation for both his generosity and compassion for others.

Over the years Jay has committed thousands of hours towards the further development and betterment of his fellow man. This has included extended effort in many areas including serving as an Officer on four fire departments and his contribution to Masonry. He is a loving husband and a respected member of his community.

He currently serves as a senior Masonic Officer for his Grand Lodge. On this day we were riding up north to a small community to help them celebrate the 50th anniversary of their Masonic Lodge.

Jay currently serves as a Senior Officer for the Grand Lodge and his visit was in an official capacity so he had to arrange to have his tuxedo sent on ahead. I was attending merely as a guest so I didn't have to bother with such trappings and in fact I was the only one in attendance not dressed in a suit.

The rest of the Masonic brothers in attendance, about 8O of them, were not offended by my more casual appearance to this very special occasion. They accepted my casual manner because accepting rather than judging is the the Masonic way. Masons believe we should all judge others by their conduct and not by what they wear or where they are from.

I wish everyone in this world would learn to live their lives with this sense of acceptance. We as a society must realize that not only can we not judge a book by it's cover, we also can not judge a man by his leathers.

If my good friend Jay has any fault at all it might just be that he loves Riding Iron.