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"All the world's a stage,"
Shakespeare's "Hamlet," Hamlet's advice to the players
A dictionary defines "stage" in a variety of ways. Shakespeare used the word in its broadest sense, with several meanings. One meaning is "a place for performance". For us as Shriners, it is easy to relate to this sense of the word. We go out into the world and exhibit our best intent in parades and thru service to our patients and our hospitals. We perform our best intentions on the stage of public opinion.
Another sense of the word is "a stage of development". Each new level of our life, each new challenge met and dealt with, is a stage or a new level of development. We have been and are going through a period of rapid change for Zenobia, actually several stages of development, and several stages of performance, all occurring here within our own Zenobia Shrine world. Indeed, we are players.
Shakespeare was also talking about the seven stages or ages of man; from youth thru life to maturity and finally, ultimately, to death. We are, all of us, passing thru these stages of life. At each level, our performance changes and our expectations may also change. Yet, we maintain our continual expectation of continuity - that life, the stage, the world, our fraternity, and our existence - will continue. Even after we are gone.
God Bless The Shrine
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