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Let me tell you a story. It starts during a time when I was a younger man than
I am today.

I had left home to strike out on my own. I wanted to travel, see the world, and
find my place in it. After several years of wandering I became tired and
weary. The places I had seen left no great impression on my mind and
although I knew where I was and there were people around me, I still felt lost
and alone.

Then one day I met a man who made an impression on my life. He didn¶t seem
as lost and forlorn as I was. He knew where he had been and knew where he
was going. He seemed so proud & wise beyond his years, and always spoke
honestly with me. He was a good and truthful man who loved his God, his
country and his family. He reminded me somewhat of people who were
familiar to me as I was growing up. He was as tall as John Wayne, heroic as
Audy Murphy, funny as Red Skelton, clever and inventive as Benjamin
Franklin, and as caring as Danny Thomas.

I told him that I wanted to be like him, and whether he could help me attain
the qualities he had. He smiled and said I was welcome to travel with him. He
took me to the edge of town to a nice little neighborhood. There were only 5
houses on that street and they were all painted blue. We entered the one that
he said was his and told me he wanted me to meet his brothers. After we had
all met and talked at great length, the man asked me to sit outside for a while
so he and his brothers could find out if there was room for me in their home.
He came back a while later and said that if I was willing, I could come and
share their home and they would become my brothers too. I told him that was
what I wanted, and they welcomed me with a great ceremony. Afterwards they
called me brother and I always felt welcome, at home, and comforted in their
presence.
After spending time in that house which was painted blue, I came to discover
greater and lesser mysteries about life, myself, and the brotherhood of man. I
found that there was a guiding spirit in that home. We called that spirit
Mother, and I learned that she had been there from the time they laid the first
stone. I was taught that she would always be there as long as men like me and
my brothers lived there. My brothers and I would meet there regularly.
Mother looked after us by paying the bills, preparing meals for us, giving us
guidance, and generally looking after our home. When we met, mother taught
us many things. We learned of ancient history and of the symbols and stories
passed down to us by our brothers from long ago. We learned about tolerance,
temperance, good manners, and how to become better men. It didn¶t occur to
me at first, but I eventually came to realize that I no longer felt all alone in the
world. I had someplace to go where I felt safe from the uncertainties of the
world, and could share my feelings and good tidings with my brothers. I took
an assessment and realized that over time, Mother (with the help of my
brethren) had transformed me into a man very much like that man who I had
first met. The man who had first taken me to the door of that house.

Then I noticed something that I didn¶t quite understand. I looked around and
that man was no longer there. He had gotten older as did I, but was still in
good health. Some of the brothers who first welcomed me into that house
which was painted blue were also noticeably absent. I wondered where they
had gone off to. So I asked mother what had happened to them and where
they had gone. She proceeded to tell me about another house in a similar but
different part of town where the houses were all very big. They weren¶t
painted blue, but were painted red and other colors of the rainbow. Each
house also had a Great Mother within it. One who was prettier, larger, and
wore fancier gowns that ours. She would entertain them with lavish dinners,
theater, marvelous toys & machines, play games, take them on trips, and
entertain their every desire. She gave them hats of different styles and colors
to wear. Some were red with black tassels, some were black, some were white.
She had funny hats and costumes of all sizes and colors. Mother explained
that the other Great Mother gave them these things and entertained their time
in ways that she could not afford, and that was where they had been all this
time. I heard the other brothers murmuring ³She¶s telling him about the
funny hats. Oh no, do you think we¶ll lose him too´? I had to chuckle because
from the way mother described it, the rainbow colored houses across town
sounded like Never-Never Land and those who lived there were the Lost Boys.
I wasn¶t going anywhere. Mother wasn¶t losing this one.

I asked Mother if they were mad at us or if we may have done something to

drive them away. She told me that they were still good men and were still my
brothers, but came to love the other Great Mother and the houses of other
colors more than her. I saw that she spoke with great sadness. The sadness of
a mother whose elder sons had moved away from home, leaving her alone
with her younger children.

I told her that I would try to find these men and tell them that their old
mother missed them. I would tell them that we have new brothers they have
never met and it would please mother greatly if they could stop by for a visit. I
saw the man who first brought me to the house which was painted blue and
gave him the message. He told me that he missed me and invited me to come
visit him at the big house on the other side of town. I told him that I might do
that one day but thought he should come home and visit us first. He said he
would when he could find the time, but the other Great Mother kept him quite
busy. I told him that if he could ever find his way back to our neighborhood,
that there would always be a seat for him in our house, and a place set at our
table. That was many months ago, and I wonder if he is still busy working and
playing with the other Lost Boys at that rainbow colored house across town,
or if he had forgotten our invitation. I know that I¶ll see him again one day,
but I still miss him and all the other brothers who haven¶t come back to visit
in a long time.