In 1919, Frank S. Land was head of the Scottish Rite employment bureau in Kansas City, Missouri. A young man came to him looking for a job; he was the son of a Mason who had lost his life in World War I, which had just concluded. The young man’s friends soon came to meet Land too, as he was friendly and easy to get to know. These young men formed first a baseball team, and later a club founded in Masonic principles. 

The club met at the Scottish Rite building, and in helping them to choose its name, Land told them about the famous historic men whose stories peppered the Scottish Rite degrees. The boys were intrigued by the story of DeMolay, and chose him as the “exemplar” of their new organization.

So, what did Land and other Freemasons learn from DeMolay’s story? And what did they share with the young men who founded the Order of DeMolay in 1919? The ideals that they adopted are simple, and yet profound. Here are some of them:

• There are people in the world who will tempt you to abandon your honor and violate the promises that you have made. Don’t give in.
• When you promise to be a friend and a brother to someone, that promise is a binding one for life. If you are tempted to betray a friend or a brother, don’t do it. Don’t give in.
• There are some things in life that are more important than wealth, power, and fame. These are the values by which people should shape their lives. When tempted to sell out your values for wealth, power, or fame, don’t do it. Don’t give in.
• Honor and honesty in life begin with a commitment to stick with your ideals. The Order of DeMolay created seven: filial love, reverence for sacred things, courtesy, comradeship, fidelity, cleanness, and patriotism. There are more, but these seven are good ones for a young man to adopt. If asked to do something that would violate these principles, don’t do it. Don’t give in.
• Life will not always reward you for sticking to your principles. Sometimes those who refuse to abandon their principles don’t win in life. But that is beside the point. Live your life as you know you should live it. When tempted to quit, stay the course. Don’t give in.

It was ideals such as these that can be gleaned from DeMolay’s story that probably attracted Freemasons to bring his story into the Scottish Rite degree system in the first place. And it is certain that these values attracted the young men who formed the first chapter of the Order of DeMolay to choose this story as theirs. Freemasons and DeMolays both belong to an organization that places loyalty to one’s principles and ideals above anything that would tempt them to abandon their commitment. Both have learned how important it is never to give in!