For Secretaries and Worshipful Masters dues hold an annual dual-sided promise:

• Resources. The annual swell of the coffers to last throughout the year, often a sigh of relief for Lodge purses getting all too thin, especially from fall,holiday,installation and new officer expenses.
• The Chase. For a very small number of Brothers, the start of a cycle of emails, requests, calls, formal letters, and on rare cases submission for suspension. 

As we approach the new year, I stopped to contemplate dues.  That Freemasonry requires dues on its face is nothing different than any other organization, such as Ruritan, Lions. Rotary Clubs and professional organizations. The responsibility from a member to the organization, to be split between local and national/state organizations. The baseline financial resources to pay the bills and routine operations. Yet, on a higher level there is more to it.