0:11

you've reached the internet's home for all things

0:13

masonry . Join on the level podcast

0:15

as we plumb the depths of our ancient craft

0:17

and try to unlock the mysteries , dispel

0:19

the fallacies and utilize the teachings

0:21

of freemasonry to unlock the greatness within

0:24

each of us . I

0:26

have you now Welcome

0:43

back to another episode of On

0:45

the Level Podcast . We

0:47

have a great episode today . We have a very special

0:50

guest , a good friend of mine , brother

0:53

Kevin Oatman of Manatee

0:57

Lodge number 31

0:59

in Bradenton , Florida . Welcome to

1:01

the podcast .

1:02

Thank you , brother , it's an honor .

1:09

Thank you for inviting me .

1:11

I've been looking forward to this , so I'm glad we're

1:13

able to find the time to be able to get

1:15

together and talk .

1:17

You're a busy guy . You've got a lot going

1:19

on .

1:22

I do , yes , I do ?

1:23

I want to talk about that .

1:24

Oh , okay .

1:25

I'll tell people probably don't know your name

1:27

listening all over the world in

1:29

Freemasonry , but they will . Brother

1:32

Oatman joined , I want to say like

1:34

two years ago , does that sound

1:37

?

1:37

right , it was 2021

1:41

, early . Yeah yeah , yeah . I

1:43

became a nurse in 2020 , but I

1:45

actually got in about , I think , 21

1:47

. Yes , right after COVID .

1:50

I think I had the . I think I had

1:52

the honor of doing at least one , if not

1:54

two , of your lectures for you . You

1:57

have that and that's what you know

1:59

.

2:00

again , that's where I was introduced to

2:02

you Again that's where I was introduced to

2:04

you ? Yeah , Of course from that point on . I've been inspired for

2:06

what you've been doing , and what

2:08

you do and how you hold

2:10

yourself up , so that's really

2:13

, really yes , Thank you . I

2:15

love you .

2:15

Yes , sir , you've been a good friend

2:17

and a lot of help to me as I was finishing

2:20

up in my lodge . So , yeah

2:22

, greatly appreciated . It's just odd to

2:24

be at the beginning of somebody's journey

2:27

and mine is kind of like

2:29

waxed and waned and now I get to sit

2:31

back and watch guys like you really start

2:33

to blossom in the lodge and become

2:36

leaders . It's really

2:38

something to watch . It really

2:40

is you guys , you in

2:42

particular because you're're very intense

2:45

person , I guess is the best way to say it . I

2:48

feel like you . Really , when you latch onto

2:50

something , you go for it all the way Is

2:52

that , fair

2:57

to say

3:00

, my family was military .

3:01

So with that and part

3:03

of you know most of that regulations

3:06

and stuff that I'm just if

3:08

you do something you don't have

3:10

to do it , you do it 100 , you

3:12

do it right , and then you

3:15

know my mindset is to

3:17

go 110 , 120

3:19

, so uh it doesn't , matter what

3:21

I do and you're aware of all the things

3:23

that I'm , you know , involved with and you can , I think I only know I do and you're aware of all the things that I'm involved with .

3:25

And I think I only know some of the things you're

3:27

involved with , and it's already pretty impressive

3:30

what I know .

3:31

Well , thanks , I mean .

3:32

I'd like to cover some of that , actually

3:34

because people should know your background . It's

3:38

a small town in Sarasota where we

3:40

both lived and

3:43

you still live in that area . We both lived

3:45

and you still live in

3:47

that area Because I was in the automotive

3:49

industry and had a friend that I met at a convention

3:51

who said I should come and try

3:53

this F3

3:55

Nation thing one day . And

3:59

you know who I'm talking about . He

4:01

works for Gettle Automotive .

4:02

Group .

4:03

I won't say his name and embarrass him here , but

4:06

he's a very good man and he talked

4:08

to me for a while and convinced me to do it . And

4:10

I went at five in the morning and

4:13

there's this group of guys just killing

4:15

themselves , jogging burpees

4:18

, running up and down hills . I

4:20

mean we were doing sit-ups

4:22

and push-ups . It was like intense

4:24

. I was like a pile

4:27

of like dog food at

4:29

the end of that thing and I was just sweating

4:31

. And then they throw you in the middle and they

4:33

start asking you all these questions and they give you

4:35

your cool name . So

4:37

I went through the whole thing . Then

4:40

I came to find out you were part of that after

4:42

I met you and now I

4:44

see all the time online and then

4:46

I'm looking behind you and I can see you're

4:48

obviously a very fit

4:51

person into personal fitness . So

4:56

maybe you could just explain a little

4:58

bit . What is F3 Nation ? Let's start

5:00

there .

5:01

So first . I want to ask you what

5:03

was your name , what was your F3 name then ? So

5:06

I'm Comic-Con . Okay , that's it

5:08

. Okay , that's right . So , F3

5:10

Nation is a men's

5:12

workout group . At first

5:14

it started out as nationwide , started

5:17

in North Carolina , but it has grown so much

5:19

in the last 10 , 11 years

5:21

that it's now international

5:23

. So basically it's a

5:25

workout group for men . It's

5:28

free and it's held outside all

5:30

the time and we've got five

5:32

core principles . But one reason

5:34

why we require it to be outside

5:37

is because we want it to be accessible

5:39

to any man , whether

5:42

you're rich or poor

5:44

, whether you're minority or

5:46

anything . Being outside

5:48

allows that person to have

5:50

that access . Should we be inside

5:52

, then you may have to get a membership or

5:54

you have to be in a community or something

5:57

, but by doing it outside

5:59

, rain or shine , that gives access

6:01

to any of the men . So

6:03

we call it f3

6:05

because of the three F's , which is

6:07

fitness , fellowship and faith

6:10

, and pretty much the faith

6:12

part of it is pretty much like masonry

6:14

. We have to have , in a way , you know

6:16

, some form of belief of , you

6:18

know some spiritual belief , but

6:37

I assume where we are in Florida it's like masonry

6:39

. It's mostly Christian probably

6:41

.

6:41

We do , we have our fitness .

6:42

You know it's just . You know we just have a faith

6:45

and a lot of us , you know , close it

6:47

with the prayer , but we do

6:49

have brothers and packs

6:51

who close it with just a spiritual

6:53

saying or something like that . It's not an obligation

6:56

, but you know those three F's tie it

6:58

in . So it connects us

7:00

and to us , it improves

7:02

us and makes us better as men

7:04

, pretty much similar to what the Masons

7:06

do . Yeah , the purpose of it

7:08

is to improve ourselves and who

7:10

we are as men . It

7:13

makes us better . It makes people

7:15

better husbands . It makes us better

7:17

spouses , you know , better leaders

7:19

you know , yeah , your wife is going

7:21

to .

7:22

Your significant other is going to like you a lot more

7:25

if you're svelte and lean . You

7:28

guys are definitely . I mean I saw

7:30

the one time I went . I might

7:32

have gone twice . I think Bing's father

7:34

was there . So there's like we're

7:36

talking about people in their 70s working out

7:38

with guys in their 20s .

7:40

Correct . Yeah , so you could go out there , like

7:42

the other day the morning when I was out there , we

7:45

had a young guy who's 18 years

7:47

old , but he was doing the

7:50

same thing as everybody else as

7:52

well , as we also had someone

7:54

who was 74 years old . So

7:57

, of course , living here in Sarasota

7:59

, the demographics is just

8:02

how do I say

8:04

with respect a little bit of older age

8:06

graphic .

8:10

But what it is ? Florida is the place that old

8:12

people go to die . That's what it is .

8:15

Well , that's what we've got the reputation

8:17

for . But I was just at one

8:20

of my runs this morning and

8:22

the group that I'm involved with my running

8:24

I've got 70 and 60

8:27

year old people out there running with

8:29

me . So when I

8:31

have some of my other older

8:34

friends say , no , I can't do

8:36

that , that's not possible . I wish I

8:39

don't see that , because I'm around

8:41

people who are 60s , 70s

8:44

and even 80s who are out

8:46

there . No , they're not running 15

8:48

, 20 , 30 miles like some

8:50

of the younger runners and

8:52

some of the athletes are , however , at

8:55

least they're out there and they're doing

8:57

something and they're active . So

8:59

you can't let age dictate

9:02

what you can and can't do , and

9:04

it's just like with masonry you

9:06

can't let age or anything

9:08

stop you from where you want to go

9:11

Through my travels , you know , while

9:13

I've pretty much considered to

9:15

a lot younger a

9:17

younger mason within my

9:20

last three , three and a half four years in

9:22

my travels I've seen leaders

9:24

coming out of masonry as young

9:27

as 20 , 25 years old

9:29

all the way up to 80

9:31

and something , so you

9:33

can't let age define who you are and

9:35

what you're capable of absolutely

9:38

as long as you're alive .

9:39

Yeah , the fight continues . Yes

9:42

, now I'm

9:44

very aware of your background

9:47

and all I see are medals

9:49

, and I know that you

9:51

run marathons . Are these all from different

9:54

marathons that you've run ?

9:56

They are Now . You

9:58

can't see them . They're all the way around the room . One

10:01

good credit about it is I've been running

10:03

since high school , so it's not

10:05

a new thing . So these have accumulated

10:08

over the years , you know over the last

10:10

30 , 40 years wow

10:13

, how old are you now , if you me ? Asking

10:15

. So in july I will hit

10:17

the double nickels . I'll be 55

10:19

55 .

10:20

Yes , you've been

10:23

running since . For over 30 years

10:25

now I've been running since high school , yeah

10:27

.

10:27

So I started running cross

10:29

country . As most

10:31

people know , I'm a small guy , so

10:33

of course I was too small to go . I

10:35

went out for a freshman football and the coach

10:38

said nope , you're too small and you

10:40

think I'm small now ? I was really small when

10:42

I was in high school . And you think I'm small Now

10:44

? I was really small when I was in high school . So the only

10:46

thing that really that involved athleticism or activities that

10:48

I could really be good at was

10:50

running .

10:59

So I jumped in there and started my cross-country career with high school and kept going since then

11:01

. It still seems like it'd be harder for a shorter person than for a

11:03

taller person . Like you know a tall

11:05

guy , you'd think you'd have a bigger

11:07

stride . Make it easier for him .

11:09

It's funny because the other day at work , you

11:12

know , someone says , kevin , you walk too

11:14

fast . It's like it's because I have to

11:16

. You know , all my life I've had to keep up with

11:18

tall people like you . Yes

11:20

, my stride's a little bit faster , but

11:23

yeah it is . But

11:25

I think it's more of the effort and

11:27

, you know , in the long run it benefited

11:29

me because putting more effort

11:31

into those strides , whether it's walking

11:33

or running , it just built up

11:35

that endurance . And you know that's

11:38

what you know I pride

11:40

myself with , my run is the endurance part

11:42

.

11:43

You're so well-rounded . It's fascinating

11:45

, because this is something that

11:47

our fraternity is lacking , I think

11:49

. We are very , very good

11:51

on focusing on the internal of a man

11:53

but not so much the external .

11:56

Yep .

11:58

And I've traveled a lot in my short time

12:00

in the fraternity and I see we

12:03

don't like to eat healthy , we don't like

12:05

to do healthy things , we don't like to exercise

12:07

generally as Masons , and

12:10

so I think it's a really good

12:12

message for Masons that you just

12:14

said it doesn't matter how old you are

12:16

, you can do something to

12:18

fight it and

12:21

go , keep going yeah

12:23

.

12:23

And it's and it's weird . Even you

12:25

know , and as you get to know me and I'll explain

12:27

later you know I

12:29

contribute a lot of different facets

12:31

of my life and putting

12:34

it all together whether it's getting up at

12:36

four or three in the morning to go running

12:38

, going to the workout or

12:40

, you know , being involved with my church

12:42

till seven , eight , 9 , 10 o'clock at night

12:45

, those

12:47

different strengths and experiences

12:50

make me a better person . So

12:54

being able to be , not necessarily

12:56

. I don't run to stay fit . It helps

12:58

, but mentally it keeps

13:01

me fit and by being

13:03

fit mentally it helps

13:05

me when I'm at the lodge and

13:07

doing anything I want with the masonry

13:10

. So I think the impacts

13:12

of those different spectrums of my life

13:14

come together and helps me

13:16

become a better person . It makes me a better person

13:19

. Oh for sure Whether it's inside the lodge or whether

13:21

it's outside .

13:22

Yes , you

13:24

actually served in the military .

13:26

No , I did not , so I'll give you

13:28

a little bit of history of my background . So

13:30

I was born in Vietnam

13:33

back in the 60s . You're Vietnamese

13:35

, I am I am . Vietnamese . Well

13:37

, let me say I was born in the Vietnam . However

13:39

, I'm more Filipino than Vietnamese Right

13:41

. So , as history

13:43

knows , throughout the history

13:45

of Vietnam as well as the Philippines , the

13:48

Philippines have always wanted to , you

13:50

know , leave their country because of

13:52

the government , stuff like that . So the majority

13:54

of the Filipinos headed east

13:57

, which is over to China or to Vietnam

13:59

. So a great deal of the population

14:01

of Vietnam is Filipino

14:04

. It's got a lot of the Filipino

14:06

in there . So out

14:09

on the streets and stuff , most of the Filipinos

14:11

recognize me more of them as

14:13

being more Filipino than I am Vietnamese

14:16

. So I was born

14:18

during the midst of the Vietnam War , what

14:21

you know . Yes , I was Wow

14:23

. And when I was about a year

14:25

and a half , a military family adopted

14:28

me and they brought me to the States

14:30

and so I've lived

14:32

pretty much with the exception of being

14:34

stationed , you know , throughout

14:36

the country , throughout the United States

14:39

. I pretty much grew up here in

14:41

Florida , so I've lived

14:43

or been familiar , lived , in Florida

14:45

for over 52 years

14:47

now .

14:48

Wow , yeah . So you

14:50

think we would talk about this stuff , but we don't

14:53

. We're really just , we're

14:55

winging it when we record these podcasts . So

14:57

if I'm getting too personal , please

15:00

tell me to go pound sand . But

15:02

what happened to your parents ?

15:42

So we don't really have an official

15:45

. I'm assuming you're meaning my biological

15:47

parents . Your biological parents yes , so

15:49

I was pretty much

15:52

abandoned and I was found by

15:54

a Vietnamese orphanage . So

15:56

their story that they related

15:59

to my , you know

16:01

, american parents or adopted parents

16:03

was that they were killed . So

16:05

but there's no proof of that . As

16:07

well , as it's

16:10

funny , I don't even know what my real birthday

16:12

or real age is because , at

16:14

the time , you know , back in the sixties

16:17

there were no documentations associated

16:19

to who I was or what I was . So

16:22

at the time when the babies

16:24

were being adopted out and

16:26

getting out of the country , they had

16:29

to have a birth certificate . So

16:31

they took a lot of the birth certificates

16:33

of those babies who have already

16:35

deceased and put those with those

16:37

who did not have them . So

16:40

, I was given somebody else's

16:42

.

16:42

Whoa .

16:43

And that's how I was able to come over to the United

16:46

States , wow . So

16:48

really , I don't know if

16:50

I'm 55 or 54

16:52

years old at 55 , and I don't know my

16:54

real birthday .

16:56

That is insane brother .

16:57

Yeah , wow , I didn't

16:59

know that . Yeah , so a great

17:01

deal know you've researched right , I'm

17:04

sure by this point in your life yeah

17:06

, because um , the western

17:09

world was not able to have

17:11

access or go visit vietnam until the late

17:13

1990s . But

17:15

once um it opened up

17:17

, I had the advantage to be able

17:20

to travel over there . I went

17:22

there two , three times , but

17:24

on the last two trips I

17:26

was able to look at my adoption papers and

17:29

do some research , because even back

17:31

in the late 1990s

17:33

or even early 2000s , research

17:35

of that time on the web is not as

17:37

detailed and informative as what

17:40

it has been in the last five , ten years

17:42

. So since then I've been able to

17:44

research things and gone back , and the

17:46

last time I went I actually

17:48

hired a tour guide to take

17:50

me out into the Mekong

17:52

Delta , to the area where

17:55

I was from , and I was

17:57

able to go back and actually see where the

18:00

orphanageage I was at and

18:02

talk to him mind-blowing yeah

18:04

and then on that trip . What

18:06

I did because I know it's a third world country

18:09

in that area it's very , you know , um

18:11

, they don't . They didn't even barely have

18:13

electricity I was able

18:15

to . I took like four or five suitcases

18:18

with me of school supplies

18:20

, you know , clothes and stuff , and I

18:22

took it to the orphanage and they were so happy

18:25

yeah .

18:25

You're such a good person . I

18:28

would have never thought about that , but that makes

18:30

perfect sense that you would do that .

18:32

Yeah , I'm sure they really

18:35

appreciated that too . They did . But

18:37

it was an interesting country because a

18:39

trip , not only because I was able

18:41

to go back and see where you know my home

18:44

country and what it was like . But

19:09

I also was told too by my mom that

19:11

, if you can , to almost all the Asian

19:13

countries as well

19:15

as Central America and South America

19:17

. so much more of appreciation of the world

19:19

and the people , but you

19:21

get so much appreciation of

19:24

what I was able to benefit

19:27

by being an American here in the

19:29

United States . So , you see

19:31

things so much different

19:33

in ways that most Americans

19:36

don't even realize what they have

19:38

and don't have .

19:40

Yeah , I've talked many times about

19:42

how I feel like I won the lottery . When

19:44

I was born . You know , I'm tall , I got blue eyes

19:47

, I have my teeth , I have most of my hair

19:49

, I live

19:51

in the United States as

19:53

a man Like

19:56

I got all the boxes ticked off , so like

19:58

, if I don't succeed , what kind

20:00

of a loser am I that I had all these benefits

20:02

and can't succeed ? But , um

20:04

, for you I'm sure it feels the same a

20:06

little bit , like you feel like you hit the jackpot

20:09

, being raised in the united states

20:11

versus over there , like that's a massive

20:13

advantage for you .

20:15

I have and and I don't take for granted

20:17

of what I have I knew it was a blessing

20:19

and a gift for being able to come over here , because

20:21

I have access to free education

20:24

. I had access to , you know , get secondary

20:27

education with my college

20:29

degrees and stuff , as well as being

20:31

able to become a brother for them

20:34

, you know as a . Mason , a lot of

20:36

countries aren't able to do that , but

20:38

so so yes

20:40

, I've always appreciated and

20:42

thankful for what I was giving

20:44

and the advantages so like . When

20:47

I hear people today complain because

20:49

they can't do this or go somewhere

20:51

, I just shake my head .

20:53

so , excuse me

20:55

yes , but it's like a double-edged

20:57

sword , because I'm I mean , we

21:00

are very lucky in this country , there's

21:02

no doubt about it .

21:04

We have we are yes , air

21:06

conditioning , electricity , internet

21:08

we can .

21:09

You know we're only limited by

21:11

our own desires and drive

21:13

. Really , I mean , even your circumstances

21:16

can be overcome if you're persistent enough

21:18

, right , I mean your economic circumstances

21:21

that you're born into . Now

21:23

, this is what I want to look at the

21:25

other side of the coin , because I

21:27

try to put myself in somebody's shoes

21:30

whenever I'm interviewing them

21:32

, thinking about what their life must be like

21:34

, and

21:44

I can see the one side , how you feel so lucky and you appreciate probably more than the average

21:46

american things , that everyday things that are happening to you . But then , at the same

21:48

time , you said you lived your whole life in florida and

21:51

you're filipino slash vietnamese

21:53

. Now , there isn't a huge

21:55

filipino slash vietnamese community

21:58

in florida now you have

22:00

to stick out like a sore thumb wherever you are

22:03

right , Like in school , grade

22:05

school .

22:06

And it's funny . People ask me you know

22:08

, do I know much about my culture

22:11

or history ? And until I got out of

22:13

college , no , I didn't . Because

22:15

if you're a Filipino

22:17

living in Gainesville

22:19

Florida back in the 70s Filipino

22:22

living in Gainesville Florida back in the 70s you're not

22:24

going to find any Asian or Filipino culture

22:26

in Gainesville Florida . Right

22:33

, so you're trying your hardest

22:35

to assimilate Right and just be like everybody else . You're

22:37

not trying to Exactly yes , yes .

22:39

So I mean , yes , you're right

22:41

, I did stand out , you know right

22:45

, I did stand out , um , you know um . So how hard was that for you growing up . I mean kids

22:47

can be , I mean if , even if you have nothing to pick on , they'll find

22:49

something to pick .

22:50

Oh , it was yeah , I was an instant target

22:52

you know , um , and fortunately

22:55

my parents were able to , you know , help

22:57

me understand at an early age that I'm

22:59

going to be different . But I

23:02

wasn't different , I was unique

23:04

.

23:05

And .

23:05

I think that's what helped , because

23:07

, yeah , kids could be mean

23:09

oh merciless , it was merciless . But

23:12

you know , I think that's what

23:14

helped me become as strong

23:16

as I am now is because I

23:18

have to admit , yes , I was bullied , I

23:20

was tortured , I was harassed when I was

23:22

a kid , I mean even up to , I hate

23:25

to say , even to now . You know , I'm

23:27

used to that , I get that all the time

23:29

.

23:30

But you know , as a grown

23:32

man yes , yes

23:35

, that's something .

23:36

Yeah , it happens to this day

23:39

and age .

23:39

I mean , I guess you're like an easy target for a

23:41

bully , because bullies tend to go for people

23:43

they feel confident they can harass

23:46

, beat up , do whatever they want and they're

23:49

never going to fight back .

23:50

And it doesn't help that I'm only 5'1"

23:53

.

23:53

That's what I'm saying . Your height must make

23:55

a bully feel like , oh , this is

23:57

the guy I'm going to get .

23:58

Yeah , so , and it's funny , and I

24:00

think this might lead up to something that you

24:02

and I were discussing a couple of days ago . You

24:05

know we can today's society

24:07

is pride on . You know proud to

24:09

say that , hey , we accept everybody . We're

24:11

, you know , we're equal . We

24:14

do this . But to this day and

24:16

age there is so much

24:18

stereotyping

24:20

and there's so much bullying and harassment

24:23

, and that is

24:25

with . I've gotten more

24:27

harassment and discriminated

24:29

as an adult than I did as a kid

24:32

.

24:32

Really .

24:33

Yes .

24:33

Wow , see , this

24:36

goes to show you both

24:38

sides of the argument can be right , because

24:40

people you said it in the beginning like you

24:43

get upset when you hear people talk about

24:45

like , oh , I can't believe , I , I can't

24:47

do something . But you're like

24:49

, bro , go over there , you

24:51

can't even vote in my country , like you

24:53

know you have . But at the same

24:56

time , we have a long way to go . Still

24:58

we do . We shouldn't feel like

25:00

we've achieved the pinnacle of

25:02

cultural excellence we have . We

25:05

have definitely improved ourselves since the

25:07

50s and 60s , for sure , without

25:09

a doubt , but we have a long way

25:11

to go before where we should be , I

25:14

think we do and what a

25:16

lot of people don't realize is

25:18

, you know they're

25:20

guilty of it themselves .

25:22

Yeah , they don't realize it yeah because I

25:24

hear things at work all the time , things that are

25:26

said , um , yeah , and

25:28

and it's , you know it's well

25:31

, you travel a lot extensively .

25:32

You said , and right , I didn't

25:35

travel until I was an adult . I grew up

25:37

in upstate new york and the

25:39

only people I knew were other people on my

25:41

block . Basically , I had a pretty

25:43

small life and , um , you

25:45

know , my own parents were quite

25:47

racist . In hindsight , like we

25:50

would be driving and I remember if we

25:52

saw a black person on the side of the

25:54

road , my mom would be like roll up your windows , don't look

25:56

out the windows , kids , right ? Uh

25:58

, I would be so scared I'm like , oh god , like

26:00

they're gonna get me . And uh , you

26:03

know , then when we moved out of state and I was

26:05

like thrown into like a whole different world

26:07

. I was subjected to so many different people

26:10

and cultures . And , right , you know , I worked

26:12

at disney . That was my first real job

26:15

, and talk about diversity . It's

26:18

like an explosion of diversity

26:20

all over me , right , you

26:23

know , I just , I just love it , I

26:25

just love it . There's no amount of diversity

26:27

. That's enough for me now . And I don't

26:29

know what changed in me , because I started

26:31

out a very american , closed-minded

26:33

, the way I was raised

26:35

and I as an adult , I think I attribute

26:38

it to star trek okay

26:40

start growing up I watched

26:42

. I didn't have a father or male

26:44

, you know , so I learned most of my

26:46

moral system from that show . Right

26:49

, they harped on diversity

26:51

being a strength . They did and I

26:53

think that's what got into my core

26:55

as a child and as an adult

26:57

, I feel like I'm always fighting

26:59

, because there's always a fight when it comes to that

27:01

stuff in the world , right and

27:04

um , you know , I can be very annoying to

27:06

people because I'm always trying to squash

27:08

it and I'm trying to bring light to it . And

27:10

uh , people , you know , they just want

27:12

you to just be quiet , man , just just let

27:14

it go . It's in the past , leave it alone . It's like

27:16

it is for you , it

27:18

is yeah , and that that is

27:21

true .

27:21

And then when I um bring up the issues

27:23

, I bring up things that are sad

27:25

, mostly , yeah , especially with my co-workers

27:28

or even people in f3

27:30

and so forth , and even with my nights in

27:32

columbus . You know when I bring it up . It's

27:34

not like that . I'm sitting there , condone , you

27:36

know condoning it or , you know , getting

27:38

on to one it's just I'm trying to educate

27:41

them because some of the things

27:43

that are said , you know there's

27:45

certain sectors or certain classes . If

27:48

you were bluntly stereotyping

27:51

or saying something offensive , you

27:53

know we're very cautious about what

27:55

we say about those different classes

27:57

because so much light has been shined on them

27:59

for so long that

28:01

people focus on that correct , but

28:04

other things that people have said

28:06

. You know um with this

28:09

again , the demographics here in sarasota

28:11

they tend to be the older , um and

28:14

their mindset yeah

28:16

, not to say that's a not to say it's

28:18

the excuse . So that's allowable

28:20

you know , but their mindset

28:22

with the way we're brought up was different

28:24

. Yes , so , with

28:27

me being from Vietnam and

28:29

then growing up around

28:31

these Vietnam veterans

28:34

, I've gotten

28:36

so much harassment and mistreatment

28:38

.

28:39

Well , yeah , your people were the enemy

28:41

when they were in the military .

28:43

Right . I remember when I had a discussion

28:45

with my mom and my sister they

28:48

were American and my sister was

28:50

Vietnamese as well and

28:52

she said and I was telling her , explaining to them you

28:55

know how much discrimination and

28:57

bullying and everything was harassed , and

29:00

they said , well , that's weird . But

29:02

my sister said I never had that , you

29:04

know , no one ever did that to me . And my mom

29:06

would say I never saw that . And I was like because

29:09

, growing up , most

29:12

people if they associate

29:14

an Asian lady

29:16

or female , they associate to

29:18

geisha , girls , quiet , petite

29:21

, but when , especially the

29:23

generation you know , greatest

29:25

generation and so forth , and the boomers

29:27

, when you think of an Asian male

29:29

you automatically think of the Korean

29:31

War the Japanese . War , the Vietnamese War

29:34

, so those were their enemies

29:36

. So unfortunately , I

29:38

was the you know impact

29:41

or the effective that came out of

29:43

those three wars . So that's

29:46

what made the difference . But

29:49

you can't change the past

29:51

. You learn and I think because

29:53

of all that it's made me a stronger

29:55

person .

29:56

My skin is very tough . I

29:58

think there are two kinds of people in this world

30:00

. There are victims and there are

30:02

people that overcome . And

30:05

I have family that had the exact

30:08

same upbringing I had , and

30:10

you can see the victim

30:12

and what that life looks like as

30:15

an adult . Everything

30:17

is someone else's fault , everything

30:20

my mother's fault , somebody else's fault , everything

30:22

my mother's fault , somebody else's fault . And then there's the other

30:24

type of person , who apparently

30:26

is you , who is like what

30:29

else ? What else you got ? Give it to me

30:31

. Like I'm , I'm gonna fight , I'm gonna succeed

30:33

, I'm gonna overcome . What , what

30:35

do you got ? Like ? Tell me I'm too

30:38

short , okay , I'm gonna outrun you . Tell

30:40

me I'm not smart enough

30:42

, I'm going to beat you at that game too . Like

30:44

. I feel like you are the type

30:46

of person who might've gone through life facing

30:49

every challenge as exactly that like

30:52

something to overcome and prove yourself .

30:54

Exactly , and you know , and and

30:56

it's not that I'm out to prove myself

30:58

to anyone , but when you tell

31:01

me or , in a way , say that

31:03

I'm not capable of doing something

31:05

. It doesn't matter if

31:07

you're 10 foot tall or my size

31:09

. I'm going to do my best to prove them

31:11

wrong , and that

31:13

kind of helps me to where I'm at

31:15

, you know , with the

31:17

masonry as well as the other things I do

31:20

.

31:20

This is why you're such a huge asset to the fraternity

31:23

because you have such a well-rounded life

31:25

, um , you have the leadership

31:27

skills from your job , uh

31:30

, your career , I should say , um

31:32

, and also just your upbringing and who you are

31:34

as a person , with the military , parents and

31:37

, uh , you know , having been , let's

31:40

say , and having to overcome that kind of stuff , teaches

31:43

you a certain patience

31:45

with people . I guess you could say

31:48

you have to tolerate , tolerate

31:50

yeah , that's a better word . You have to tolerate more

31:52

than the average person , right

31:55

? And so when they talk about

31:57

subduing your passions , you're like you

31:59

know , I got that , no problem . But

32:01

everybody else is like that's , their biggest challenge

32:04

is trying to subdue their passions . So you're

32:06

ahead of the game in many ways when you come

32:08

to the fraternity .

32:09

Well , thank you .

32:10

I mean in many ways , because it's good kind of words

32:12

. Yep , you talk about your

32:15

um knights of columbus . You mentioned

32:17

that . I would love to talk about that . So

32:19

not only were you a military

32:21

? Uh , brat , uh

32:24

, you were physically active

32:26

your whole life and still are to this day

32:28

. Uh , you have a government job

32:30

, you , you have a very respectable career

32:32

don't tell too many people that

32:34

I have a government job I'm

32:37

not gonna say where that's for

32:39

.

32:39

I get harassed about that as well , really

32:42

, yeah , because when

32:44

you tell them that you're with the government or something

32:46

, they think that I'm aligned with

32:48

those who are in power that I

32:50

sit there and agree with whatever they do

32:52

you know what I work

32:54

for the municipality . I don't necessarily

32:57

agree with everything that's going on or

32:59

what they support . So that's .

33:01

It's funny because of all things that I

33:03

gotta hide in my life or should be keep

33:05

, I do not tell people what I

33:07

do out there , unless yes

33:09

oh well , I think , uh

33:12

, people you know , for some reason , when you work

33:14

for the government you get a certain level of credibility

33:17

uh , that that's better than even

33:19

a lawyer or doctor .

33:20

Oh no , yes and no , it's got that

33:23

. You know how to say two-sided thing same

33:25

thing with attorneys . If you say you're a lawyer , some

33:27

people are going like oh gosh

33:29

, as long as they hate you , and it's the same thing with

33:31

the government .

33:32

They either hate you or you

33:34

know what I do , and I'll tell everybody what I do .

33:37

I'm actually a comprehensive

33:39

planner , urban . I'm actually a comprehensive urban planner for the

33:42

municipality here in

33:44

Manning County . So therefore

33:46

, with all the growth , the development

33:48

, I'm heavily involved with that . That's

33:51

what I do . But

34:05

when someone finds out that I work for the county as a planner , then all of a sudden I'm the target or the blame . So

34:07

how I tell , how I explain it to people is , you know , in those old movies when the townspeople have the pitchforks and bars going

34:09

after the city or the mayor , that's

34:12

basically what they're doing . But

34:14

as well as if you tell them that , when

34:17

I tell them I work for the county , they're

34:19

like they think I know everything

34:22

, from what time their garbage gets picked

34:24

up or why the traffic light

34:26

on Manatee Avenue is out

34:28

. So that's

34:31

why I'm cautious about what

34:33

I tell people what I do .

34:35

That makes sense . Yeah , I totally

34:37

get that .

34:39

But I'm proud to work for them .

34:41

Yeah , that's great . I love

34:43

doing it , but yeah , I hope the

34:45

benefits are good .

34:47

They are One big reason why I'm there

34:49

. Yes . And the retirement's

34:52

great too .

34:54

So we've got all of these things in your

34:56

life that are leading

34:58

you to be a leader . And now

35:00

we come to like your faith and this is

35:02

something that you've also been like

35:05

everything in your life , apparently , like all

35:07

in , like

35:11

all in . You've been involved in the Catholic church . You didn't play

35:13

around with a non-denominational church or a

35:15

Baptist or Presbyterian , no Catholic

35:17

. You've been Catholic your whole life

35:20

, practicing Catholic Correct

35:22

. I don't mean that you go to church on

35:24

holidays , you're practicing

35:27

. Could you talk a little bit about , like

35:29

, how involved you've been in the church ? and

35:33

how that leads into the Knights of Columbus , because

35:35

that's something I want to talk about .

35:37

So it's funny , I'm not what we call

35:39

them trifectas and

35:41

we call some Catholics trifectas because

35:43

they only come out on Ash

35:46

Wednesday , easter , christmas . No

35:48

, I go to Mass all

35:51

the time . I'm at my church four

35:53

and five times a week . So

36:05

and I was , it's funny again and why I have so much faith is growing

36:07

up . My family didn't go to church , but for some reason something told me

36:10

, as a six-year-old , I

36:12

need to go to church . So by the

36:14

time when I was six years old

36:16

, I found my way to

36:18

church , whether it was a teacher

36:20

to come by to get me or somebody

36:23

else , a parent coming by to take me

36:25

to church , or if I walked . I

36:27

went to church every

36:29

week since I was six years old

36:31

and again my family didn't

36:33

go to church . So that was all

36:35

on me , that's almost 50 years

36:37

. Correct . So even

36:40

at that young age , when my mom , you

36:42

know , made me realize how

36:44

appreciative life was because

36:47

I'm here in the United States , I just

36:49

felt like there's that God

36:51

put me in the right place at the right

36:54

time and my

36:56

contribution , or

36:58

for me to help pay back

37:00

, is being

37:02

faithful . You know having strong faith

37:05

and that's what I continue to do . And

37:07

you know , as I grew up , that faith

37:09

becomes stronger . And you know , as I grew

37:11

up , that faith becomes stronger . And to

37:13

this day , you know , one of the things that people have said to me is Kevin , we

37:15

know your faith is so powerful

37:18

and what you do , we have no doubt

37:20

of what you're capable of doing . So

37:23

I chose , you know , to

37:25

be Catholic because

37:27

it went along the lines

37:29

of what they believed and what they stood in . But

37:31

because they are regiment , you know

37:33

, just like the military , you know you go

37:35

, do this , you do this . Today

37:38

, we're going to do this . And what helped

37:40

is in my travels . No

37:42

matter where I was in the world , I'm

37:44

going to get the same message . That's

37:47

what I did and I did and that

37:49

was such a great advantage

37:51

. A bit of a two is , when I traveled , whether

37:54

it was in the Central America , south America or Asia

37:56

when I went to mass . It

37:58

was the same thing . So

38:01

, yes , I , you know , I have the

38:03

. Catholicism plays a big role

38:05

in my faith .

38:13

They made an impact on me to the point , as she's saying , of the knights of columbus . I am

38:16

dying to hear about the knights of columbus because I only know about them . Um

38:18

, my wife's father was in the knights of columbus

38:20

, but he's definitely

38:22

not , uh and I couldn't talk to

38:24

him . And , uh , one time I was

38:26

at lunch and these guys I thought my wife

38:28

thought they were masons having lunch behind us because

38:31

they had what the same exact

38:33

kind of badges we have on um

38:35

, but when I asked them they were they . They

38:38

kind of held up their nose like what ? No , like

38:40

we're not masons , uh , we're

38:42

knights of columbus . And I said , oh , okay , and I shut

38:44

up because I've heard through the masons

38:47

that the knights of columbus don't like us . Um

38:50

, I see nothing in Masonry against

38:53

the Knights of Columbus . So what

38:55

is that about ? Well , what are the Knights of Columbus

38:57

about ? And where does this like they don't like

38:59

us thing come from ?

39:01

So Knights of Columbus is a

39:03

Catholic organization for men

39:05

. Okay , that's dedicated

39:07

to , of course , community

39:09

service and serving God . So it was

39:12

originally formed back in 1833

39:15

by one of the priests who

39:17

happened to be up in New York and

39:20

what he realized is , back at that

39:22

time , a lot of the

39:24

workers the steel

39:26

workers , things like that , or

39:28

different trade works like

39:30

that or different trade works- yeah . When

39:33

the husbands of course , at that

39:35

time the man was the only

39:37

breadwinner . But

39:44

if something happened or they were , you know , had deceased , the family was left without a

39:46

head of a household or working you know someone to take care of . So

39:48

the Knights of Columbus were formed

39:51

to support

39:53

the widows and

39:56

their families and providing

39:58

for them should one

40:00

of their husbands or their fathers

40:03

passed away . And so that's

40:05

how the Knights of Columbus came into play

40:07

. And

40:09

again , if I'm moving forward , I

40:12

have so much respect for who they are and what

40:14

they are and what they do .

40:16

Well , you're one of them .

40:17

I am .

40:18

Yeah .

40:18

But at the same time they emulate

40:21

what the Masons do

40:23

. Really it's no secret now

40:25

. It used to be secret . We couldn't

40:28

tell people what we did or how we did

40:30

things . We couldn't tell people

40:32

what we did or how we did things

40:34

. But from my perspective , all the quote , unquote , ritual

40:36

and you know , esoteric and

40:38

stuff was so is

40:41

almost like mere image

40:43

of what Masons do .

40:44

You were in the Knights of Columbus before you were

40:46

a Mason .

40:55

I was , so I've been a Mason for probably 15 years now knights of columbia for 15

40:57

years excuse me .

40:58

Yes , yes , my apology , yes the knights of columbus .

40:59

So I started out , um , and I

41:01

eventually became the grand knight

41:03

as of um , yeah

41:06

, about three years ago I became the Grand Knight

41:08

for my council , so I

41:10

just recently , is that ?

41:12

like equivalent to the Master

41:14

.

41:14

Correct , it is .

41:16

Yes .

41:16

So it's equivalent

41:18

to the Master and a lot of times

41:20

I got to be careful because we address

41:22

our Grand Knight as worthy

41:26

, whereas we address our Master

41:28

, masters worshipful . So I had to be cautious

41:31

. One reason the

41:33

Knights do not like the

41:35

Masons or against them and

41:38

according to some , most

41:41

and even the Pope has , you know , you

41:44

supported this is they don't . You

41:47

cannot be a Mason if you cannot be

41:49

a Knight of Columbus if you , if

41:51

you're a Mason . And the reason why

41:54

is because with Masons , we

41:56

don't actually use the word

41:58

God , we

42:00

use address as the great architect . We

42:03

do ?

42:03

We say God all the time . We do

42:05

, but we don't say it we

42:08

say God , we don't say Jesus

42:10

, though Correct , I think that's probably

42:12

the one that is the itchy .

42:14

Part of it too , but in their eyes , if

42:17

we're not allowed to say Jesus or

42:19

God wherever we want

42:21

, and we're restricted . That

42:23

goes against one of our beliefs and

42:25

what we stand for , so , therefore

42:27

, that's why that's

42:29

basically why ?

42:31

Well , that's too bad . You would hope

42:33

they could have a little bit of tolerance . You

42:35

know You'd

42:42

think they would , but if you go to other parts

42:44

of the country .

42:46

the Knights of Columbus work

42:49

together with the Masons of

42:53

Columbus , work together with the Masons . They understand how they work together

42:55

and that they're not contradicting each other or who they are or what they believe

42:57

in . You know , when I became a Mason

43:00

, I'm not surrendering

43:02

or I'm not losing any of my faith

43:05

or giving up anything that I have

43:07

with my Catholicism and

43:09

what I've told many is my

43:12

masonry empowers

43:15

my faith more than anything

43:17

you know , the knights have

43:20

to admit . over the years they become

43:22

less restrictive , less you

43:25

know how do I say demanding

43:28

? So we could sit there and tell you everything that goes on . They're

43:30

free about that , you know . So we could sit there and tell you everything that goes on they're

43:32

free about that , you know we could

43:34

do whatever we want , whereas

43:36

the Masons , you know we're

43:38

a little bit regimental

43:41

, more protective

43:43

of who we are and what we do . So

43:45

I think that's the big difference and

43:48

I'm proud , you know , I have nothing to be ashamed

43:50

about . I'm proud of it , of being the knight

43:52

of where I am .

43:54

I think it's good for people to hear

43:56

that from your lips , because I

44:00

have family and friends and their biggest

44:03

thing about what they don't

44:05

like about Freemasonry is they just don't believe

44:07

me , that they think it's its own

44:09

religion , that it's its own faith that they're going to subvert religion

44:12

, that it's its own faith that they're going to subvert what you believe

44:14

and make you believe in something that masons

44:16

believe . But horse shit

44:19

, it's not true , it's not

44:21

. I can't tell them that . But you know

44:24

people hear you . You're . You've been active

44:26

in in catholicism for 50

44:28

some years , almost . Well , you

44:31

said at least 40

44:33

, 40 okay , for a long time

44:35

yes and you've been active

44:37

and you've participated and you've given

44:40

and , uh , you , you get it

44:42

, you know it and you join the fraternity

44:44

. I'm sure you had some hesitations

44:46

at some point everyone does

44:48

because you just don't know for sure until you join

44:50

. You know , uh , right , but now

44:53

you're here , and not only again are

44:55

you here , you're active in it . You're

44:57

an officer in a lodge , you're going

44:59

to be the master of the lodge , um

45:01

, and god knows where you're going to go from there . Hopefully

45:04

, uh , I'll , I'll live

45:06

to see you become the grandmaster

45:08

one day . That would be an honor for

45:10

me to see that . I'm

45:13

looking forward to it , actually , and I have no doubt you'll get there , because

45:16

you're so stubborn once

45:18

you get into something , which is the trait

45:20

I admire . But it's something

45:22

people need to hear , because you

45:24

just said it . It didn't detract from

45:27

your faith in Catholicism

45:29

, it enhanced it .

45:30

It did . Yes , it

45:33

sounds cliche , but

45:41

everything I've learned from my Knights and my experience with them have helped me become

45:43

a leader and understanding more of what you are , and going back to the idea

45:45

that I keep saying it's almost mere

45:47

image to what masonry does , it

45:50

kind of helped me understand

45:52

where we're going

45:55

, where I'm going and what I need to

45:57

do , and so by being the grand

45:59

or excuse , the grand knight , I

46:02

understand the importance of what needs

46:04

to be put in place for leadership

46:06

as I'm hopefully bound

46:09

for the east yeah that's going to help

46:11

me . So you

46:13

know , the masonry

46:15

helps me become a better person , not only

46:17

with my faith , with my Catholicism

46:20

, as well as the night , but at

46:22

the same time , everything I've got out

46:24

of Catholicism , especially the nights

46:26

, have helped me to where I am

46:28

today and

46:33

you know I'm going to keep that

46:35

faith and that's where it's

46:37

going to go , who knows if it gets out . and they may say I'm not like me anymore

46:40

. I just look at it . As you know what

46:42

God has a plan . He's going to

46:44

put me in a place , and

46:54

it's funny because when I first got into masonry , in my mind

46:56

I'm sitting like there's going to be a point where I'm going to have to decide which one

46:58

or the other , and it wasn't

47:00

long after I joined masonry

47:03

that I knew at some

47:06

point it's like okay , I know which

47:08

way I'm going to go if I have to decide

47:10

.

47:10

And here I am still , and

47:13

so far , you know

47:15

, things have been you know well

47:17

for me at this point , but well

47:19

, I think it's important to note there's

47:22

nothing in catholicism that says you

47:24

can't be a mason , um , no , these

47:26

are . These are individuals

47:28

, choices , um , and

47:31

so it very much is a regional

47:33

thing too . It's like where do you live

47:35

and and who's in charge

47:37

? As if you're going to be accepted

47:40

or not . Yes , and

47:43

we talked a little bit about this before we started

47:45

recording I'm

47:47

not a Catholic . I was raised Presbyterian

47:49

and I don't

47:52

even know what the difference is

47:54

, honestly , because

47:56

I've never been to a Catholic church . But

47:59

you know

48:01

, the tenets and the

48:04

belief system is very

48:06

different from the practice . Practice

48:14

and I've I've been told recently that I'm no good for masonry , that people say that

48:17

I'm divisive and tearing things apart . Um , and I think that's because

48:19

I'm not afraid to talk about things that

48:21

should be talked about , and people

48:23

maybe don't like that right

48:25

, but uh , in freemasonry it's

48:27

the same like . The system is beautiful , it's

48:29

almost perfect and

48:31

it works every time if

48:34

you follow the system , but

48:36

the people can

48:39

screw up a wet dream . I mean , people are just

48:41

people .

48:42

It is .

48:44

If people's only experience with masonry

48:46

is through someone that maybe isn't a great

48:48

mason , you can see how

48:51

they that that person and everyone

48:53

touches . Yeah , it's creates like a deadly

48:55

spiral of negativity , correct

48:58

? You know ? The only answer to that for us

49:00

and for Catholics is to be a

49:02

good representative of the

49:04

system , not , like the

49:06

people around you , necessarily be more

49:09

faithful to the

49:11

system than you are the people

49:13

, yes , and you'll be okay and

49:15

you'll be a good representative of whatever system

49:17

you believe in it is , and

49:20

and that's the thing too is , even

49:22

with the Knights , but especially

49:25

in my , you know , home

49:27

life , traveling

49:29

is the key word .

49:31

Okay , yes , I'm proud to say I'm

49:33

a traveler man , because that has so

49:36

much , you know , symbolistic

49:39

to me , because if you travel

49:41

, or if you go from , let's say , council

49:43

to council or church to church , or

49:45

even in the lodge , you're

49:48

going to get so many different perspectives . Okay , you're

49:50

going to get so many different perspectives

49:52

, so

49:57

many people that you can't sit there and force yourself to go one way because you're

49:59

going to see so many ways of doing things . Whether you

50:01

know if you're in Thailand

50:04

and you're traveling on the left side

50:06

, you know reading signs that are

50:09

totally oblivious , the people are the

50:11

same , the process is the

50:13

same . Whether

50:19

you're at the Knights of Columbus and you're up in Tennessee , your faith is going to be

50:21

the same . The people may be different , but your faith is going to be the same . So

50:23

same thing with masonry . You know , I

50:26

understand and I know you know a great

50:28

deal of how my brothers in the lodge works

50:30

. But when I've traveled , you

50:33

know , throughout the district you

50:36

get different perceptions and

50:38

you see me different people , so

50:40

you cannot be tuned

50:42

to just one idea

50:44

, one format . You see so many different

50:47

ways of doing things and perspectives and

50:49

I think that you know , embraces

50:51

that strength of who we are as a brother

50:54

.

50:55

That's . One great thing about this

50:57

fraternity is that it encourages travel

50:59

, because I

51:01

always heard from a young age that the cure

51:04

for ignorance is travel . If

51:06

you stay in one place and only know the same

51:08

people your whole life .

51:10

You're ignorant of so many things in this world

51:12

, right , and you really do need

51:14

to get out and live a little bit and see a

51:16

little bit more of the world to understand

51:18

the bigger picture yep , and

51:21

, and at that , and , and , and

51:23

you know , going back , I , yes , I'm kept

51:25

from gainesville and there

51:28

are people my school classmates

51:30

and friends that I know who are still

51:32

living in gainesville that have not traveled

51:34

out to my father in Tallahassee . That

51:36

doesn't take away from who they are and what they are doing

51:38

. It just gives the rest of us

51:40

an advantage and the benefits of

51:43

being able to see the

51:46

rest of the world and you can be friends

51:48

with those people .

51:49

but I would venture that

51:51

they sometimes say things you think are outright

51:54

dumb or ignorant and you just have to kind

51:56

of keep to yourself and be like

51:58

well , they don't know any better .

52:01

But that's what makes

52:03

the world go round our differences . But

52:06

what makes us better as brothers

52:09

, amazingly , is we can accept

52:11

those differences . We can accept those differences yes , we can accept

52:14

other ideas .

52:15

Yes .

52:15

We don't have to support them , we

52:17

don't have to agree with them .

52:19

Right .

52:19

But we can accept them , and that's

52:21

what makes us brothers and true

52:24

brothers . Yeah , and you know again with

52:26

the Knights . They're great

52:28

men . Some of my brother's greatest

52:30

friends and greatest brothers are great , but

52:33

there's most of them are so selective

52:35

and they don't even want to open their minds

52:38

that there's other organizations

52:40

or other things that

52:43

can help yeah , you know with

52:45

their faith in society . They're just so

52:47

not willing to

52:49

open their minds to that .

52:51

That's too bad , that's unfortunate . When

52:54

you get in that place , you're

52:56

basically dead already . I mean

52:58

there's no growth , there's

53:01

no opportunity for improvement . You're just

53:04

going to decay and die when you get to that

53:06

place .

53:07

Yeah , so I have to admit . Just

53:10

last week I was nominated

53:12

to be the District Grand

53:15

Knight .

53:16

Congratulations .

53:17

So that's true of all of it . However , I turned

53:20

it down . What ? Because , well

53:22

, it's an honor , but

53:24

at the same time , I want to

53:26

focus my attention

53:28

to my journey and this is more important

53:31

. Focus my attention to my journey and this is more

53:34

important . And

53:37

at the same time , too , I would feel like , if I'm standing up there amongst the district

53:40

, leading these guys which I know most of them which

53:42

way they're thinking or what they want

53:44

to proceed with . I don't

53:46

necessarily agree and again , I could

53:49

accept it but I don't

53:51

feel like it's my place to be their

53:53

leader and not really

53:56

support everything that they're wanting

53:58

to do .

53:59

Well , that's okay , just give it a few more years , we'll

54:01

make you a district deputy in the 23rd

54:04

Masonic District .

54:05

I'd rather focus my journey right now

54:07

, as , hopefully , I'm bound for the

54:09

East . I want to focus my attention to

54:11

that .

54:12

Oh , you're the junior warden of your lodge . You're

54:15

on an unstoppable journey to the

54:17

East . Now there's no getting out of it . You're in

54:20

for the long haul now .

54:21

And I'm looking forward to it . I'm already , you know

54:24

, preparing myself . I'm looking forward to it

54:26

. I'm sure you are . Hopefully , you know , eventually

54:28

I'll get there , but I'm looking forward to it

54:30

.

54:32

You know I'll bring it back to

54:34

the beginning we talked about . I was there

54:36

for your . I was definitely there the day

54:38

you were raised a master mason . Yes

54:40

there were several

54:42

brothers that day , as there usually are

54:45

when you do a master mason degree . I

54:50

didn't know you at the time other than I had done another degree , so I kind of saw you and maybe we

54:52

shook hands and said hello . But

54:55

I was in the mood

54:57

the day you became a Master Mason Like

54:59

I was . It might have been the first

55:01

time I was allowed to play the

55:04

third base in the Master Mason degree

55:06

, we'll say , and it's a big

55:08

role . So I take it seriously

55:10

and I was good friends

55:13

with the master anthony . Uh

55:15

, tomorrow , tomorrow . Yes , and he was

55:17

. He happened to be solomon . So well , he and I were

55:19

standing there and I'll tell the story . I hope

55:21

it's not embarrassing to you no

55:23

, no , no , no .

55:24

Because memorable , because you know what correct

55:26

right . If it's a memorable thing that help

55:28

teaches others , that's great

55:30

well you had .

55:33

You had a diverse group that

55:35

went through with you . There was like an older gentleman

55:37

and a younger gentleman and you were kind of in

55:39

the middle and

55:42

I was like , hey , you know what . I

55:44

went to Anthony and I said you know , I

55:46

think I could like really rough not

55:48

rough this guy up , but I think I could do something

55:50

different . And he said go

55:53

for it . And I was like , are you sure , Because

55:56

I don't know if he's going to be okay

55:58

with it . And he said trust me , he's

56:00

going to be okay . Not only is he going to be okay with it , he's

56:02

going to love it . I said , okay , all right

56:04

. So you came around

56:06

and I

56:09

struggled a little , but I did get you up over

56:11

my head . I grabbed you and picked you up over my

56:13

head and then I'm saying what I gotta

56:15

say and doing what I gotta do . Um

56:17

, I realized once I had you up there

56:19

, I had no plan for what to do once

56:22

you were up there . So I

56:24

just kind of put you down and we finished the whole degree

56:26

. But honestly , my , I couldn't

56:28

stop thinking about I hope I

56:30

didn't offend this man . I hope he's

56:32

okay with this . And

56:35

you got up at the end and said

56:37

some pretty heartfelt words that day and

56:40

you looked right at me and said , thank you , I

56:42

appreciate everything you did today and I thought

56:44

, okay , he's okay . There

56:47

was like an hour where I was just beating myself

56:49

up Like I went too far . You

56:52

did it now , Chris . You went too far .

56:56

Unfortunately , Brother Anthony

56:58

, he knew who I was

57:00

and what type of person I was .

57:02

He knew how athletic you were .

57:05

And it was a great opportunity not

57:07

only for you , but it was a great experience

57:09

for me , because I'll never forget it

57:11

and I'm sure you'll never forget it . I

57:13

won't Again . It was the right time

57:15

at the right place . How many other

57:17

opportunities are you going to be able to do that , or

57:20

?

57:20

anybody ? Never , you're not . I'm

57:22

like six foot three . You're how tall

57:24

. How tall did you say Five foot one ? Five

57:26

foot one I was like . This just seems like

57:28

it's supposed to happen right now .

57:30

So yes , and it did , and

57:32

you know it's been and not only

57:34

did that make that stronger

57:37

bond with you , but it made

57:39

that experience memorable

57:41

.

57:41

Yeah , I'm sure it was memorable for everybody in the

57:43

room that day .

57:45

But now when I go and see it happening to others

57:48

, I'm like that's it .

57:51

That's it , we had a special day

57:53

yeah , I don't think that's ever been done

57:55

and I doubt it will ever be done again hey

57:58

you know , what and if .

58:00

If the experience you know resonates

58:02

through others and helps them you

58:04

know experience get more out of the

58:06

experience , then that's

58:08

the best thing that can happen .

58:10

You know , I well , really honestly , ever since

58:12

then you've been a big supporter . You

58:14

you always came to my lodge . You always

58:16

helped when you were . We asked you to help . You're

58:19

wearing the t-shirt that you purchased . You

58:22

didn't accept a free t-shirt . You had to pay

58:24

for it because that's the kind of person you are and

58:27

you've been a supporter and I

58:30

really appreciate that and I feel like now

58:32

I can maybe return the favor , maybe I can

58:34

start to support you a little bit now

58:36

.

58:37

You've always supported me . I mean

58:39

, you know more ways than one you

58:41

know , and it's like anything

58:43

else , it's the little impacts or

58:45

let me rephrase that , the big impacts that

58:47

you make on someone behind the scenes

58:50

.

58:50

That's the importance , right , the right . Well , that's

58:52

where the important stuff really happens , you

58:54

know . Yes , those meetings

58:57

.

58:58

Yeah , you're gonna help

59:00

me out eventually in the next couple

59:02

years .

59:02

So I I'm very much looking

59:05

forward to your journey

59:07

and seeing it . You've been

59:09

, you know . You came to my lodge and you did an awesome

59:11

education which we were going to talk about today

59:13

. We'll talk about it another time

59:15

. Yes , and

59:21

you're continuing to do new educations for your lodge . I saw you

59:23

in my lodge do the playing cards presentation

59:25

.

59:26

Yes , sir .

59:27

I saw the presentation you

59:29

let me look at it the Jack the Ripper presentation

59:31

, which I'm

59:33

sure went well , and you told me you're doing another one tomorrow in

59:36

Lodge . That sounds really interesting

59:38

, actually about the

59:40

booze club and the Knights

59:43

of Columbus and all these other groups .

59:45

Yeah , because a lot of times and I'm sure

59:47

I'm not the only one when we do

59:49

tell our friends and co-workers

59:52

and peers that we're involved with

59:54

the Masons , they're like well , what

59:56

is that ? Is that like the moose ? Is that like

59:58

the eagles ? Is that like such

1:00:00

and such ? So basically

1:00:02

, the presentation I'll be presenting

1:00:05

soon is the differences

1:00:07

between those organizations

1:00:09

and you know what they do

1:00:11

for the community and how you

1:00:14

know what we do versus

1:00:16

what they do . That way we

1:00:19

get a better understanding of who we

1:00:21

are , but that way we know what

1:00:23

to say to separate us

1:00:25

or distinguishes us from

1:00:27

those organizations

1:00:29

.

1:00:30

I wish I could see it in person

1:00:32

. I'll see it . You'll

1:00:35

do it again .

1:00:36

Well , I'm hoping most of your guys will

1:00:38

be there some of your guys , because

1:00:40

we've got the traveling they're planning to come get it .

1:00:43

They're planning to come get it . We don't have much luck

1:00:45

with that , though . Wherever we go , somebody

1:00:47

else always comes and they always outnumber us

1:00:50

. Yeah , the

1:00:53

last three times we've gone to places and we've been outnumbered

1:00:55

and didn't come home with a traveling gavel yeah

1:00:57

, so , yeah , I'm looking forward to seeing some

1:01:00

of you all there tomorrow night , um

1:01:02

at our meeting .

1:01:03

But , um , yeah , so , um

1:01:06

, yeah , I'm

1:01:08

. I'm honored to be asked to do the

1:01:10

Masonic education for Manny

1:01:13

31 . But I take

1:01:15

a different approach and I know

1:01:17

, once in a while I'll throw in . You know

1:01:19

what masonry does or basic

1:01:21

things . You know what we can do on education

1:01:23

. But I truly

1:01:25

believe that when I come up with some of these unique

1:01:28

presentations that I've come up in the last year

1:01:30

or so , it draws

1:01:32

a different interest for the brothers

1:01:34

. Yeah , you know , sometimes when

1:01:37

we say , okay , we got Masada's

1:01:39

education , they go like , okay , what are we going to do

1:01:41

? Somebody's going to print something out

1:01:43

. Yeah , exactly . So

1:01:46

I just feel that if I add a

1:01:48

different uniqueness or an interesting

1:01:51

element to something you know

1:01:53

, somebody could say well , jack

1:01:55

the Ripper , that's not , you know , you're just a presentation

1:01:57

. But if you really read into the presentation

1:02:00

I made , it makes you think

1:02:02

of who we are as Masons

1:02:04

, what we do and how it contributes . So

1:02:06

it's not the presentation itself that

1:02:09

I'm doing to educate , not

1:02:15

the presentation itself that I'm doing to educate .

1:02:16

it's the thought or the mindset or how you're thinking about this presentation

1:02:18

yeah that to me is stronger

1:02:21

, to build that connection

1:02:23

for what my son , masonry

1:02:25

, is yeah , it forces them to look at

1:02:27

something they know , they think they

1:02:30

know in a different light , correct

1:02:32

, and

1:02:35

that kind of drives people's and this is the point of Freemasonry

1:02:38

. We are supposed to come together with

1:02:40

our different backgrounds and different religions

1:02:42

together and

1:02:45

ask the big questions and

1:02:47

we're all supposed to give our perspectives

1:02:49

, we're supposed to try to read into

1:02:52

what the stuff means and we're

1:02:54

supposed to try to find a personal answer

1:02:56

for ourselves . And

1:02:58

those educations are

1:03:00

really triggering one of the main things

1:03:02

that's required to be a good Mason

1:03:04

, which is critical thinking and

1:03:07

trying to look at something even mundane

1:03:09

in a different way , a little

1:03:11

more critically .

1:03:13

Yes . So , as you can see , you know

1:03:15

from what I've told you about my history

1:03:17

, that's basically the

1:03:19

you know my whole life . I'm

1:03:22

not typical , I'm

1:03:24

different , I'm unique . So

1:03:45

whatever I've had to do or whatever have been brought to me , I've had to step out of the box

1:03:47

and think how am I going to be able to accomplish what everybody has been able to do , but in a different

1:03:49

way that would help me adapt to what's going on and succeed ? It's by faith , whether it's

1:03:51

by education , fitness or masonry . You got to step out of the box

1:03:53

every once in a while and look at

1:03:55

it from a different perspective

1:03:57

, and that's how I see

1:04:00

it . Many could say that

1:04:02

, well , Kevin , we didn't do it this way

1:04:04

or we've never done it this way . Tradition

1:04:07

calls this . I understand

1:04:09

tradition , I respect

1:04:11

that , but at the same time , you've got

1:04:13

to make it interesting so it

1:04:16

doesn't become the

1:04:18

norm .

1:04:19

Does that make ?

1:04:19

sense . I think that's how .

1:04:21

I approach things that's so needed

1:04:24

in our fraternity because

1:04:26

we have been around a long time . We

1:04:28

have . We have been around a long time and the reason , as you

1:04:30

said earlier in the podcast

1:04:33

you said we

1:04:36

maybe have held closer to some of our

1:04:38

tenants than others have , and

1:04:42

that's something that everyone loves about the fraternity

1:04:44

, but at the same

1:04:46

time , you don't have to hold

1:04:48

everything that closely . You can

1:04:51

innovate Not can innovate you not , not

1:04:53

with ritual work , not with , like changing words

1:04:55

, but like even in the way

1:04:57

that you talk about something can be innovative

1:05:00

, or the visual aspects

1:05:02

that you bring to your powerpoints can be created

1:05:05

and things that people the

1:05:07

playing card thing when

1:05:09

you're relating like everybody's played

1:05:11

cards their whole life . But when you start

1:05:13

to look at each individual card as you do

1:05:15

and you break it out and kind of tie it into different

1:05:17

masonic things , it starts

1:05:20

to make you . We're supposed to look

1:05:22

at the whole world around us in this

1:05:24

way , with wonder and critical

1:05:26

eye and like try to find

1:05:28

meaning in everything , and so I think

1:05:31

this is really a highly

1:05:33

overlooked part of the fraternity is

1:05:35

people that bring their

1:05:38

personal experiences to

1:05:40

the mundane and and present

1:05:43

something to me . This is what masonic education

1:05:45

should be presenting something to masons

1:05:48

in a way that makes them think about Masonry

1:05:50

, but also make them think about themselves

1:05:52

in a way . I

1:05:55

don't know if you're doing that on purpose , but that's what I

1:05:57

see in the presentations .

1:05:59

I do . Just , you know , without

1:06:02

going in full detail , with the cards

1:06:04

, yes , you take a normal

1:06:06

deck of cards , Everybody knows

1:06:08

it . But when you look at each

1:06:10

of those things that you just said , but

1:06:12

then with those cards , you're

1:06:14

never sure of what you're dealt with

1:06:17

. Just like life , you're never

1:06:19

sure what you're going to be dealt with in

1:06:21

hand . But looking at those

1:06:23

different symbols and see how they play

1:06:25

out , it makes you think

1:06:27

how am I going to strategically

1:06:29

play the right cards in

1:06:32

order to succeed ? So that

1:06:34

is the whole backbone of that presentation

1:06:37

. Not that the king represents

1:06:40

this and this . It's putting

1:06:42

all that together with your

1:06:44

experience in masonry and how

1:06:46

you're going to put those things , those facets

1:06:48

, together in life . So

1:06:51

hopefully your journey will become successful

1:06:53

.

1:06:54

I love it . That's such a good tie into

1:06:56

everything we've been talking about today . When

1:06:59

you play cards , people say that it's a game of

1:07:01

luck . People that know cards

1:07:04

know that it's not a game of luck . It's a

1:07:06

game of skill and it's

1:07:08

how you react to the cards you

1:07:10

were dealt , what you show to people , what

1:07:12

you think in your head , how

1:07:15

you the decisions you make . There's a lot

1:07:17

of skill in cards . The losers are

1:07:19

the ones saying ah , you got lucky . You get

1:07:21

all the lucky cards , like right

1:07:23

strategically , and it's

1:07:25

just like with masonry .

1:07:27

Yes , it's strategic . It's

1:07:29

a matter of how you play your cards

1:07:31

if you plan ahead or

1:07:33

whatever you're dealt with as you go through it

1:07:35

. Hopefully in the end you'll

1:07:37

have the right cards to

1:07:40

have a successful journey if you

1:07:42

play your hand right .

1:07:43

Yes , your hand right yes , and

1:07:45

I think that's something that I caught , like

1:07:48

I , I don't know , as I get older

1:07:50

, I think the veil lifts from

1:07:52

of the mundane kind of goes

1:07:54

away a little bit as you get older and

1:07:57

I don't have time for the bullshit anymore

1:07:59

. So I , I surround and

1:08:01

if you've listened to the podcast you know , um

1:08:04

, I'm a big . For me it's

1:08:06

like I'm . I'm drawn to people

1:08:08

that were broken and

1:08:11

overcome , because

1:08:13

there's just they're living life and

1:08:16

you can see somebody that's unplugged from

1:08:18

the matrix pretty quickly and recognize

1:08:21

. And then it's a special

1:08:23

person that uses whatever they've overcome

1:08:25

for positive and for to help other people

1:08:27

and to show , even though you're getting

1:08:30

so much negativity all the time , you're

1:08:32

trying to use it in a positive way

1:08:34

, the way you deal with it . And

1:08:36

I for sure saw that in you when you were

1:08:39

raised that day as a Master Mason

1:08:41

. You exuded that in

1:08:43

the things that you said . Everyone

1:08:46

gives a speech . Mostly

1:08:48

everybody likes to stand up and give a speech when they

1:08:50

become a master mason and some

1:08:52

I've heard many , many , many guys

1:08:54

say the same thing . You know it's the standard

1:08:57

stuff . Thank you , this , this , this

1:09:00

. You can tell when somebody's speaking from

1:09:02

the heart and it's an authentic

1:09:04

thing and you were . So I was kind

1:09:06

of drawn to you from that moment because I

1:09:08

saw , okay , this is somebody

1:09:11

who's must have been through a lot and they're like , but

1:09:13

you were very positive and thankful and grateful

1:09:15

uh yes and you have

1:09:17

. You have your shit together despite everything you

1:09:20

think so okay and that's one

1:09:22

thing I need to . You're showing

1:09:24

that you have your shit together , even though maybe on the inside

1:09:26

you don't it does .

1:09:29

And , and you know , go um , just stick

1:09:31

on what you just said too . What many

1:09:33

people don't realize , and you know , of

1:09:36

course , my lodge does , but I'll tell everybody

1:09:38

else out there . And one thing

1:09:40

that helped me get

1:09:42

over , you know , fight my battles

1:09:44

is because

1:09:47

of the effects of war or

1:09:49

your being over there . I am

1:09:52

blind in my left eye

1:09:54

and I'm deaf in my left ear , so

1:09:56

growing up I don't think a lot of people

1:09:58

know that about you . Oh , and

1:10:00

I don't really put it out as much , but

1:10:03

we had one of our great

1:10:05

brothers . You know to me is a legend

1:10:07

Brother

1:10:09

. I worship Robert Litter . He

1:10:11

recognized that when I was going through

1:10:14

catechism . And because

1:10:16

of that strength , of that

1:10:18

brotherhood , he was able to help

1:10:20

me overcome those

1:10:23

challenges with my hearing and my

1:10:25

sight , to get me to where I am

1:10:27

. So , yes , I've

1:10:29

been through a lot of challenges

1:10:32

, things have been thrown at me

1:10:34

to think that I'm not going to be able

1:10:36

to do what everybody

1:10:38

else is . But here I am

1:10:40

and that's what's given me the strength . And

1:10:42

you know , masonry is

1:10:44

the same thing . It's a challenge

1:10:46

, I have to admit it's not

1:10:49

easy . And I tell people . You

1:10:51

know , when I tell people , People need to know that .

1:10:53

you know you think it's easy . You're

1:10:55

just going to get in the line and cruise control right

1:10:57

to the east .

1:10:58

And 147 recently got

1:11:00

a new EA , which is a good friend

1:11:02

of mine , and I told

1:11:04

him . When he reached out and inquired

1:11:07

about it , I said I think

1:11:09

you'd be great at it , You're a good fit

1:11:11

. But let me tell you this

1:11:13

it's work . It's

1:11:15

not something that you could sit around

1:11:18

and just I said it's a lot of

1:11:20

work , You're

1:11:27

willing to work , you'll get so much out of it and I'm looking forward to his journey

1:11:29

as well . But yes , it's been a challenge and , of course , when

1:11:31

I was going to the South , people

1:11:33

said , Kevin , there's a lot of work

1:11:35

that's going to occur for you for the next three

1:11:37

or four years and I'm like , okay

1:11:40

, I'm not afraid of work , bring

1:11:43

it on and , believe me , they've

1:11:45

given me a great deal , but you know

1:11:48

what ? I'm ready for it . There's

1:11:50

no challenge that I can't overcome , and

1:11:53

this is no different than anything

1:11:55

that I've had in my life , so

1:11:57

I'm looking forward to it .

1:11:59

I'm looking forward to it too . Your

1:12:01

lodge , manatee Lodge , number

1:12:03

31 , is the

1:12:05

oldest lodge in our district , district 23

1:12:08

. I'm sure they talk about

1:12:10

it all the time . Whenever I talk about Manatee

1:12:12

I always do the fact

1:12:15

that you were a Moonlight Lodge . People

1:12:17

would only meet on a full

1:12:19

moon because that was the only time they could

1:12:21

see to get there and home . And

1:12:24

you go , look at the past master's wall and

1:12:26

you see the history . My

1:12:29

lodge , sarasota Lodge , has history too , but

1:12:31

not like yours , and

1:12:33

I felt the weight of that more

1:12:36

when I became master . Honestly , um

1:12:38

, I saw it and I appreciated it . But when

1:12:40

you're the master and you realize

1:12:42

that your name is now added to

1:12:45

the collection of men

1:12:47

in the unbroken chain that

1:12:49

goes back to those days , the weight of it

1:12:51

. Sure , if you're a good master

1:12:53

, you'll feel that weight um a lot , and

1:12:56

I sure did , and I know you will too . And

1:12:58

I just want to say , like , that lodge

1:13:00

has some , all lodges

1:13:02

have their interesting situations . All of them

1:13:04

do , and manatee is no different

1:13:07

, like you . Um , really , you

1:13:09

talk about this history and the majesty of the lodge

1:13:11

, because it should be , but

1:13:13

you know you have ups and downs

1:13:16

, you have peaks and valleys . Your lodge

1:13:18

, wasn't

1:13:21

long ago your master was removed

1:13:23

by the Grandmaster Correct

1:13:25

. Everyone was shocked

1:13:28

. You have a past district deputy that

1:13:30

came to the Master Mason Association

1:13:32

and didn't shy away , didn't try to

1:13:34

cover it up , stood up like a man

1:13:37

, like a Mason , and explain

1:13:39

the situation and said please work

1:13:41

with us , please be patient with

1:13:43

us and the

1:13:45

district . We rallied because we all have our issues . We rallied because

1:13:48

we all have our issues . We can

1:13:50

understand , you know , and so

1:13:53

you , coming from such a historic

1:13:56

lodge , people might think

1:13:58

you're on Easy Street .

1:14:10

But you know , you're kind of in a rebuilding phase

1:14:12

in that lodge now where

1:14:14

you've got to rebuild things , which means a

1:14:16

lot of work . Yeah , so when I first went in

1:14:18

there and saw that wall with

1:14:21

all those past pastors and the history and I'm like wow

1:14:23

, just can you imagine ? And I have so

1:14:25

much respect for every one of them and as

1:14:27

I've got , as through the , through the years , I've

1:14:29

gotten to you know their tenure

1:14:31

and their year was and how they you

1:14:34

know who they are and how they possess

1:14:36

I get

1:14:39

much respect . But to me it's not

1:14:41

intimidating because I

1:14:44

hopefully can

1:14:48

. One of them up there has

1:14:50

its unique personality

1:14:52

. They were unique in their own ways

1:14:54

and I've never thought

1:14:57

of myself as being the norm like

1:14:59

everybody else . I'm unique . So

1:15:14

I'm hopefully going to be able to go in there and do what those past masters have

1:15:16

done and successfully run that lodge but at the same time put my uniqueness in there , yeah

1:15:18

, and become a legacy to . Yeah , you know , when they say past master or

1:15:21

worshipful kevin , they know

1:15:23

that there is a difference between

1:15:25

my year and what those past masters

1:15:27

have done . Um , you know

1:15:30

, it's much respect and

1:15:32

I will hopefully not

1:15:34

disappoint them if I should ever

1:15:37

get in the East . But at the same time

1:15:39

I want to do

1:15:41

something respectful , but I want to set

1:15:44

my own uniqueness in

1:15:46

my own year of tenure and that's

1:15:49

what I'm going to do .

1:15:49

I can't wait to see it . I know that is going to happen and that's

1:15:51

what I'm going to do . I can't wait to see it . I know that is going to happen and that's why you're going to be a great

1:15:53

master , because you're going to bring all

1:15:56

of this history you have with you to that position

1:15:58

. You're doing it now . I mean

1:16:00

we always talk about

1:16:02

being the master , but that's like just

1:16:05

another chair , like you know . You're doing it now

1:16:07

. I mean you know you're doing it now . I mean you're already

1:16:09

bringing it to your . You're handling the

1:16:11

trestle board for your lodge . You

1:16:15

know you're trying to do a lot of things that they haven't done for some time

1:16:17

and these are all good for

1:16:19

the lodge and it's good for you to

1:16:22

have the ability to do this for

1:16:24

them , because this is how we show our love . We

1:16:27

work that's

1:16:29

big in masonry . We do the work . That's

1:16:32

big in masonry . We do the work . And

1:16:36

when you do the work , it's meant to be hard .

1:16:37

But you appreciate what is being done

1:16:39

, yes , and you appreciate and respect

1:16:42

the work that past masters and everybody

1:16:44

else before you came , yeah , and of course

1:16:46

you know it's not intimidating

1:16:48

, but at the same time I don't want to disappoint

1:16:51

everybody who came before me and

1:16:53

I'm going to do my best to you know

1:16:56

, keep , Manatee and

1:16:58

keep its history , and that's the big thing

1:17:00

. As you mentioned the challenge that we had , you

1:17:02

know , yes , it was a challenge

1:17:04

and a lot of times I felt

1:17:07

the impact of , you

1:17:09

know what had to code last year

1:17:11

. You know , on the backside , but

1:17:14

, you know , the whole time it's like you know what

1:17:16

. This is just a one-time

1:17:18

thing . Things are going to move

1:17:20

forward and you know what . We've got to

1:17:22

adapt . We got to move on and

1:17:25

don't let it get to us and

1:17:27

just move forward . And that's what we're going to

1:17:29

do . I

1:17:38

mean , the biggest thing I think Manny31

1:17:40

is set out to do right now is to ensure that we keep

1:17:42

that legacy going . We keep that history going and you know we're going to

1:17:44

hit some mountains and valleys , as all other lodges

1:17:46

have . And you know what . We're

1:17:49

no different than than any other lodge . We're going

1:17:51

to peak and we're going to go down , but

1:17:53

we're going to keep going . We're not going

1:17:55

to stop and cease to who

1:17:57

we are . We're going to keep going . And

1:18:00

100 years from now , when you've got

1:18:02

all those past masters and

1:18:04

hopefully myself as well as the

1:18:06

current master , when

1:18:08

those brothers , 100 years

1:18:10

from now , look back , they're going to sit there

1:18:12

and say they kept it going

1:18:15

.

1:18:15

Yeah .

1:18:19

And as I drive into the lodge , we have

1:18:21

a I think it's a graveyard or

1:18:23

cemetery . I'm trying to think there's

1:18:25

a difference between a graveyard and cemetery . You know

1:18:27

the difference correct .

1:18:28

No , I don't know the difference .

1:18:29

So a cemetery , well cemetery . Well

1:18:31

, graveyard is right next to a church

1:18:33

. A cemetery doesn't have a church

1:18:35

so I'm trying to remember . I

1:18:37

think we have a cemetery across the street

1:18:40

so every time I drive by it really I

1:18:42

and yes , and we have past

1:18:44

masters and masonic's

1:18:46

, uh , mace brothers in that . So

1:18:48

every time I drive by there I'm thinking I

1:18:51

can't let them disappointed . They're watching

1:18:54

me from across the street . They're watching us

1:18:56

yeah . And they're making sure , and

1:18:58

I'm making sure , they can still

1:19:00

see us across the street .

1:19:01

That's something important that I

1:19:03

think more Masons should have on

1:19:05

their mind as they're in the line is that

1:19:09

don't disappoint the work that everyone

1:19:11

before you brought . Don't

1:19:13

disappoint , don't disappoint . Don't do things

1:19:15

for you , do it for them , do it for the people

1:19:18

behind you . It's not about you . You're

1:19:20

just a link in the chain .

1:19:22

And that's what I've always said . It's not the title

1:19:24

that I have . You come up to me and call me

1:19:27

Kevin , you could call me brother , but

1:19:29

it's not the title , it's the work

1:19:31

and the effort and the initiative

1:19:33

and the love and the passion that you have

1:19:35

that makes the difference . So

1:19:37

if I get into the East , I

1:19:39

think that's great , but , yes , it's a chair

1:19:41

. I'm just there to make sure that

1:19:43

we keep going and that legacy continues

1:19:46

, and that's what we need to all

1:19:48

focus on .

1:19:48

I need you to stop saying hopefully and I

1:19:50

think you got to remove that

1:19:52

stuff from your vocabulary it's going

1:19:54

to happen . It's going to happen .

1:19:58

Yeah , I do . But yes , I

1:20:00

am very positive about my journey and

1:20:03

I can't wait to see where it goes .

1:20:05

You're doing a great thing for Manatee Lodge

1:20:07

and also for our district , because you

1:20:09

are a traveling man , you do visit

1:20:11

other lodges . You're active in the Master Mason Association

1:20:14

. Now , if you listen to the

1:20:16

podcast , one of the things

1:20:18

I like to do , now that it's

1:20:20

just me and I'm interviewing a lot of people

1:20:22

, is give them an opportunity

1:20:24

to have the last word on the way out

1:20:26

. I've taken

1:20:28

up an hour and 20 minutes of your time . Um

1:20:34

, I've taken up an hour and 20 minutes of your time . Uh , we didn't get to the playing card

1:20:36

uh , presentation , so I propose you come back and we do talk

1:20:38

in more detail about that , now that people know

1:20:40

who you are yeah , we can talk

1:20:43

about some of your education next time . but

1:20:45

um , I I

1:20:47

want you to know from me , um and sarasota

1:20:49

lodge you're appreciated . Uh , you helped us from me and Sarasota Lodge you're appreciated

1:20:52

. You helped us a lot and you're

1:20:54

continuing to help us . The guys really do appreciate

1:20:57

everything that you do . Zach

1:20:59

called me that you were there and

1:21:01

he said you're always such an awesome person

1:21:03

, you're always willing to help and

1:21:05

that's just being a good brother

1:21:07

. You're a good brother . It is

1:21:09

I'm grateful

1:21:12

, I'm grateful , I'm hopeful . I

1:21:15

know you won't disappoint . I have no fear

1:21:17

that you're going to disappoint . Sure , listen

1:21:19

, you're human . Like I'm human , we

1:21:22

will make mistakes , we will have a bad day , but

1:21:24

at the end of the day , I think you're going to look back and

1:21:26

be really proud of the things that you've done and

1:21:29

the people that you've impacted , as

1:21:31

you are currently impacting people's

1:21:33

lives already . So

1:21:35

, yes , I wanted to give you the last word

1:21:37

on the way out . We have listeners all over

1:21:39

the world that are Masons far

1:21:41

outside of Florida . So what

1:21:44

would you like to say to those brothers ?

1:21:48

Well , first , chris , thank you for having me

1:21:50

on here . It's been an honor , honor . I've listened

1:21:52

to your podcast , for you know , for

1:21:54

a while and , seeing who you've had

1:21:56

on here , it's they've

1:21:58

inspired me , they've impacted

1:22:00

me and I just feel

1:22:02

honored that I can be one of your guests . So

1:22:04

hopefully I'll be doing the same for

1:22:06

others out there . My

1:22:09

word of advice it's just like

1:22:11

when I have people coming

1:22:13

up and asking me for the advice about

1:22:15

my running . Over the years

1:22:18

, I've experienced a great deal of things and

1:22:20

I'm going to tell you the same thing to those brothers

1:22:22

Do what's best for

1:22:25

you . You're the only

1:22:27

person that could tell you and know

1:22:29

what's right for you . I

1:22:31

could go out and run 15 miles

1:22:34

in the morning . That works for me . If

1:22:36

you can't do it , then

1:22:38

you could only do two . That's

1:22:40

best for you . Same thing with

1:22:42

masonry If you feel

1:22:45

that you can do it a certain way , you

1:22:48

do it . However , what fits

1:22:50

for you . Don't let anybody else come up and tell you they did it this

1:22:52

way or it works best this way . You do it , however , what fits for you . Don't let anybody else come up and tell you they did it this way or

1:22:54

it works best . This way you

1:22:57

do what's best for yourself , and only

1:22:59

you and the great architect

1:23:01

can tell you that .

1:23:03

I love it , thank you , thank you , thank you for

1:23:05

that . That's a great message for the brothers

1:23:07

to hear . It's a personal journey in

1:23:09

this fraternity , just like it is , and

1:23:11

we're here to be better people and

1:23:14

so do what's best for you to become

1:23:16

a better person , correct ? Love it all

1:23:19

right thank you , brother .

1:23:20

Thank you , we'll see you next time from on

1:23:22

the level podcasts we're all

1:23:24

right , thank you , have a good

1:23:26

one

1:23:33

one

1:23:40

.