Greetings Brethren:
Part of the mission of Freemasonry is to “make good men better”. While we get lessons from our ritual, we can get important life lessons from other sources as well. We don’t hold exclusive rights to Truth or Knowledge. Recently I watched the TV series “Ted Lasso”. It’s about an American football coach who is hired by a struggling English soccer league (not unlike in the movie “Major League” sort of way). But despite knowing absolutely nothing about soccer, Ted rises to the occasion and completely transforms the team. Ted knew how to read people…and he was able to lead, motivate, and inspire them despite not knowing anything about the game they were playing. Ted was a true leader of people, not just a coach of sport. Throughout the series, he transformed the lives of not only the people on his team, but himself as well.
One of my favorite lessons from the show is “be curious, not judgemental”. In a key scene, Ted faces off in a game of darts against his boss’s ex-husband and the former owner of the club, Rupert. Rupert had presumed Ted was a “know-nothing” and wasn’t good at darts. Rupert challenged Ted to a game, and if Rupert won he’d get to decide how the team should be run. Ted, however, showed he was very good at darts and had been grossly misjudged. How often do we look at a situation and presume we know everything that’s going on? How often do we claim we could have done it better? The lesson is essentially about asking questions before rushing to conclusions – something each of us can be guilty of, myself included!
Another great lesson from the show is “be a goldfish”. When one of his players is having a bad day and is kicking himself for messing up, Ted asks “Do you know what the happiest animal in the world is? It’s a goldfish. It only has a ten second memory. So be a goldfish”. We all kick ourselves when we make a mistake or flub a bit of ritual, or we hold grudges when wronged by someone or something. Ted’s advice…shake it off and make tomorrow a new day. Be a goldfish, forget about it, and make the conscious choice to be happy in what you do.
There’s a lot more that can be said about the show and the lessons it teaches. It helped remind me that we belong to a great group of men in this Lodge and in this Fraternity, and we can help each other grow and be stronger along the way, despite our differences or abilities. We can be a real team, just like the team Ted coaches. And while the lessons we teach aren’t exclusive, they are universal. There is no big secret about what we do or what we teach in Freemasonry. We just have a unique (and fun) way to tell that story. But the lessons Freemasonry teaches, and the men we interact with, can help shape us, and those around us, in a way that can be truly transformative. You just have to believe.
Bill Marshall
Worshipful Master
コメント