The UGLE system can lead to feeling of superiority to those who end up with the "better Provincial Ranks", and envy and a feeling of being "passed by/cheated of one's opinion of self-worth" by those who receive a lesser Rank. It can lead to clicks forming and thus is in desperate need of reform. Some months ago it led to a very sad letter to the M&Q magazine, as it was then, from someone who felt he had been "insulted" by receiving a lesser promotion than he felt that he should have received, and made him feel that he had "wasted" 30 odd years in Masonry. It makes one wonder what exactly he was trying to achieve and about his motives for doing so. It made me agree that he had indeed wasted 30 odd years in Masonry because he had failed in that time to grasp the basics.

Mike Martin was kind enough to explain the London system of honours, which I think boiled down to everyone receiving the same Honours Rank as a sort of "long service award". A system I feel far fairer and more suitable than the Provincial Honours system, which at the very least needs reforming, and ideally scrapping.

Roy L.

"SELUME PROFERRE"

My own feeling is that anything that undermines the fundamental principle of "all being equal on the Square", is unmasonic and should not happen. Thus my favouring the Scottish system of acting District/Provincial ranks only.

I can understand the wish of rewarding an individual for services to a Lodge/Province/Charity/Freemasonry as a whole., (perhaps the system of "buying Charity jewels" needs looking at and converting into a badge of merit for services rather than a contributions of sufficient size to be qualify for such a jewel) etc. I do not feel that awarding a "Rank" is the most appropriate way forward. That only leads to envy if someone sees another Brother get a higher "Rank" than he was awarded for comparable work. That's a bit like the edict in Orwell's 'Animal Farm' where "all animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others".

I have seen where a Lodge up here wishes to show a Brother that his contributions to whatever (in this case as Secretary for a number of years and his work on behalf of the Lodge behind the scenes) was noted and appreciated.  The Lodge in question commissioning a special Lodge Jewel and presenting him with it in open Lodge. That is a more common occurence . Especial services are worthy of such commemoration and don't inspire the same feelings of envy/jealousy/ etc., as a "Rank" does. I also feel that on occasion, it diminishes and undermines the respect felt by the Bethre for holders of Provincial Rank, no matter how worthy the individual might be to receive it. You are right; there is so much dark blue about nowadays that it no longer means what it used to mean, or what surely it was intended to mean

The question is how you go about it. I can hear the howls now in UGLE Lodges if it was declared that the current system was scrapped and everyone was to go back to wearing light blues again. (I already have done).

Agreeing that there is a problem is sadly not the same as finding an ideal solution to it. I do feel it is worthy of continuous debate though, in the hope that in due time a more appropriate system will be arrived at by keeping the debate going and allowing ideas to "flow", rather than it being shut away because it has all been said before. It has indeed all been said before, but that up to now has not brought about a conclusion.

Roy L.

"SELUME PROFERRE"

I too feel that the London System is far better and of course the Scots really do it well in my opinion, as they do with many matters e.g. honorary members, Brethren in arrears, elected PGMs and GRand Master Mson for a fixed term of office, etc.  I do feel there should be a long service award say 20 years in The Craft gets a collarette then a bar for each subsequent 10 years. I won't even start on what I think about Charity Festivals and their Jewels!

Thankfully this Honours matter is no longer a problem for me as we do not have such an Honours System in LDH. If a Brother in our Obedience is awarded a Degree in A&ASR above the 18th then that is for hard work done and harder work to come, it is NOT an honorific. I have the 18th degree and I feel that is as far as I will go , the 30th and above being a "Holy Grail" glimpsed though a veil and always just out of reach. Still, I am not unhappy with what I have achieved so far in 21 years as a  Freemason.

There were a fair few howls of protest from those close to achieving dark blue when HQ reduced the number of honours available a few years ago - likewise removing dark blue from those that have already got it will prove to be upsetting, and I believe the majority of dark blue holders would be upset, with only a minority being pleased to see the back of the system.

There is no perfect answer - just as there are no perfect freemasons