Category: Grange Principle and Practice

Meandering Around the Grange Way of Life

---

By Walter Boomsma, Guest Columnist

To Degree or Not to Degree

As we approach what have become annual degree days, there’s an opportunity to give some thought to our heritage and tradition. If it’s not obvious, I admit to having a bias that moving away from the things that made the Grange successful and strong is not always in our best interest. But I’m also not unreasonable. As you may know, the degrees are no longer considered the only path to membership. I’m okay with that.

But it might be a mistake to imply that those degrees no longer have value. One potential challenge we have is the vocabulary we’ve fallen into when talking about them. We often ask questions like “Have you had the four degrees?” or “Have you taken the degrees?” That creates a somewhat passive approach that potentially limits our engagement in the degree work.

The degrees are not a product; they are a process. That process was created to help members learn the “lessons of the Grange.” One could rightly question whether or not the process is as effective as it was in the early years of the Grange, but the expression “don’t throw out the baby with the bath water” comes to mind. In recent years, the Grange has approved of alternative paths to membership, including an obligation ceremony. I’m not aware of any hard data, but I suspect the vast majority of new members are not experiencing (my preferred term) the traditional degree work.

If you’re among them, I’d ask you to wonder if you have missed something.

But I would quickly add that even if you experienced the degrees, you probably have missed something. I know I did! It is only after repeated exposure and study that the lessons of the Grange became clearer and more meaningful. We may think the degrees are no longer relevant, but the lessons they contain are perhaps more relevant and important than they were in the early days of the Grange. I have lobbied in the past for finding creative ways to offer those lessons—or even to reinforce them. (Imagine an online self-paced class!) That desire is actually the basis for “Exploring Traditions” columns. 150 years ago, oral instruction and symbolism were state-of-the-art teaching techniques. They are still valid, certainly. The key is to remember that those lessons are a process, not a product to hand out.

So, while opportunities to experience the lessons of the degrees are infrequent, they are no less valid or important. You might be surprised at what you can learn by participating or observing. One of the moments I remember from my first time participating happened in the Second Degree.

“We are now to teach you how to plant the seed. Behold these inanimate kernels of corn! But the germ has life—the future plant is there. We loosen the soil—we bury the seed; and in so doing impress upon our minds the truth of the immortality of the soul. There is no object in which, to appearance, life and death border so closely together as in the grains of seed buried in the earth; but when life seems extinct a fuller and richer existence begins anew.

From this little seed we have, first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. So with the mind, when duly nourished with Faith and Hope. But be not deceived! Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Therefore sow such seeds, and so cultivate them, that at the Harvest the ripened grain may meet our Heavenly Father’s approval and be garnered in the Paradise above.”

In my mind’s eye, I can still see those seeds as the Master completing the motions and saying those words. “When life seems extinct, a fuller and richer existence begins anew.” How can I not like thinking about that?! Every end is a beginning.

Find a way to engage with the lessons of the degrees. You won’t regret it.

---

Any degree or ritual quotations are from the forty-seventh edition of the 2023 Subordinate Grange Manual or the most recent edition of the Pomona Grange Manual. The views and opinions expressed in “Exploring Traditions” are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official doctrine and policy of the Grange. Information about the book “Exploring Traditions—Celebrating the Grange Way of Life” can be found at http://abbotvillagepress.com, on Mr. Boomsma’s Amazon Author Page, or by contacting the author.

Meandering Around the Grange Way of Life

---

By Walter Boomsma, Guest Columnist

Dilemmas and Decisions

I confess to having recently watched several fictional movies about time travel. The science is interesting. The application is fascinating. When someone travels back in time, there’s usually a dilemma about whether to take an action that might alter the future. Seth Godin points out, “When you give people a choice, they make a choice.”

Traditions rarely happen deliberately. But the development of the Internet is one example of how traditions will change dramatically. For example, somewhere along the way, Grangers developed an interest in cooking and recipes. Consider how many Grange Cookbooks exist and notice that recipes continue to be a feature in the National Grange Magazine. It’s not just limited to Grangers. You can probably find a recipe box and several cookbooks in most homes today. That may not always be the case.

It may not matter how many cookbooks you have. If you can’t find (or don’t have) a recipe box, AI (artificial intelligence) can create a new recipe for you in just a few seconds. It may not be unique or have secret ingredients. Without getting too technical, it will create your recipe by analyzing and combining vast pools of information. Some will no doubt see this as good news. Others will see it as bad news. They’ll all be correct.

In a very real sense, this is one of the major challenges we face as an organization. No, not cookbooks and recipes, but balancing the old with the new.

We may not be time travelers to the past, but we have similar dilemmas and decisions. We are given choices and shouldn’t ignore them.

Time-travel movies often make the point that small changes can have big effects in the future. It’s true for both organizations and individuals.

An individual who decides to read for ten minutes every day is potentially altering his future, and if you appreciate the ripple effect, the future of others, and, literally, the world.

The Grange decided in 1867 to give women equal standing (at least in theory), full voting rights, and leadership positions. We can rightfully claim that those radical decisions contributed to women gaining the right to vote fifty years later.

While our crystal ball is often cloudy, it’s worth keeping an eye on it as we make decisions. It’s important for individuals and organizations to accept the idea that we can at least influence our future if not control it. As we travel through time, it might be fun to consider what the Grange Way of Life looks like in the future. The decisions we make and the actions we take will determine it.

“As we are again to separate, and mingle with the world, let us not forget the precepts of our Order. Let us add dignity to labor, and in our dealings with our fellow men be honest, be just, and fear not.

We must avoid intemperance in eating, drinking, and language, also in work and recreation, and whatever we do, strive to do well. Let us be quiet, peaceful citizens, feeding the hungry, helping the fatherless and the widows, and keeping ourselves unspotted from the world.”

---

Any degree or ritual quotations are from the forty-seventh edition of the 2023 Subordinate Grange Manual or the most recent edition of the Pomona Grange Manual. The views and opinions expressed in “Exploring Traditions” are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official doctrine and policy of the Grange. Information about the book “Exploring Traditions—Celebrating the Grange Way of Life” can be found at http://abbotvillagepress.com, on Mr. Boomsma’s Amazon Author Page, or by contacting the author.

Meandering Around the Grange Way of Life

---

By Walter Boomsma, Guest Columnist

Is It Test Time?

I never really understood the connection between the Grange and agriculture,” was a comment I heard from a member recently. I was both surprised and not. On the one hand, that connection can be complex and, at times, overwhelming. But on the other hand, it’s also basic and helpful.

One reason we often miss that connection is that we aren’t reminded of it often enough. When was the last time you attended or participated in a degree day? Well, you’re going to if you keep reading. We only have time to scratch the surface, but let’s start with the First Degree and listen to some of what the Master teaches at the outset. I have added some bold print for emphasis.

“The ceremony you are about to witness is to introduce you to the Ritualism of the Grange. There is far more to the Grange than Ritualism. The underlying philosophy of the Grange is portrayed by the oldest and most successful method of communication known to man—the use of symbols…”

It is important to note that this is a lesson for candidates, people who, for various reasons, have decided to join the Grange—it is not an explanation of the Grange to someone who is unfamiliar with it. That’s why it sounds backward. Someone unfamiliar with the Grange should be hearing the “far more to the Grange than Ritualism” first. The Ritual was always meant to play a supporting role.

To fully appreciate that point, would you advertise an open house at your Grange so folks could “Come to see what we do” and then conduct the degrees? I hope not.

But we could, with a little effort, find in the degrees some information that would be useful during an open house. Listen to what the Master has to say in the very next paragraph.

“The chief objective of the Grange is to build a better and higher manhood and womanhood, and to develop a mutual respect and concern through brotherhood.”

Could it really be that simple? Remember, the degrees are for people who’ve decided to join. The Master is reminding them (and others attending) that they have joined to help build a better and higher manhood and womanhood, and to develop mutual respect and concern through brotherhood. If we jump ahead to the Overseer’s greeting to the candidates, there’s a clear connection.

“Additional laborers and maids are needed for work in the field and household, and we accept you as willing workers, now in waiting for the tasks to which you will be assigned: For in our fraternity there is work for all, and the idler has no place among Patrons of Husbandry.”

Here, we need to understand symbolism because the Overseer is suggesting a comparison and using it. To paraphrase, “As we work together to build and improve our collective lives with mutual respect and concern, it’s like working in the fields and homes. There is lots of work for us… we are united by our objective and will work together fraternally.” (Fraternally means friendly or brotherly. It suggests a common purpose or interest—we’re not fraternal just for the sake of being fraternal!)

Granges—any organization, really—gets in trouble when they lose purpose. Ironically, one of the hazards of ritual is that it becomes a habit, done without purpose or thought. The founders didn’t form the Grange to “do the ritual.” The Master and Overseer make that clear at the outset of the first degree—if we listen. It should be hard to miss, actually, because one of the very next things we hear from the Lecturer is a reminder that “The first and highest object of our Order is ‘to develop a better and higher manhood and womanhood.’” If you are a member who celebrated the degrees, you heard that three times in the first few minutes.

When I’m teaching adults, I often say, “If you hear me repeat something three times, that might be important—maybe even a test question.” I suspect the authors of the degree work were thinking the same. We don’t, unfortunately, test candidates on what they learn during their degrees.

Or maybe we do—just not in a traditional manner with questions. If we understand the Grange’s chief objective, the test is how relevant we are to our communities and how actively we pursue and achieve it.

---

Any degree or ritual quotations are from the forty-seventh edition of the 2023 Subordinate Grange Manual or the most recent edition of the Pomona Grange Manual. The views and opinions expressed in “Exploring Traditions” are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official doctrine and policy of the Grange. Information about the book “Exploring Traditions—Celebrating the Grange Way of Life” can be found at http://abbotvillagepress.com, on Mr. Boomsma’s Amazon Author Page, or by contacting the author.