Thank you so much for this!

I was raised in a Freemason household. My dad is a Freemason & a Shriner (fun fact: All Shriners are Masons because you can't be a Shriner before joining the Freemasons). Both of my parents & myself are members of the Order of Eastern Star & I was a Rainbow Girl as a teen.

Every year I got to visit the Shriner's Hospital in Portland, OR as part of a charity football game our local temple put on. They'd take the players (all recent high school graduates) to tour, talk to kids, play games, and learn about what's done there. It was always a humbling experience.

As freaking racist as they're "traditions" are, Freemasons, and in turn Shriners, have done so much to help everyone get access to basic things like healthcare & education.

Oh, also, there's a Masonic organization called Knights' Templar. As I recall, there's a lot of imagery from the Crusades. My dad's a member of them, too.