I read some interesting comments. I have seen clauses that state if a officer is absent x amount of times he can be removed from the position. I have no issues with offering monetary relief to the Secretary and Treasurer as you don't want constant turnover in those seats. But the Brother has the right and option to not accept the offer for whatever reason he decides.
Being voted into the progressive line is an honor bestowed by the lodge members on a person. My opinion has always been if you don't have the time or interest, decline the nomination.
Now I come to my final point. Old and new MasterMason's should go bacck and read the final two paragrapghs of the Third Degree Charge. Sadly, as we rush people through, we never get around to reading it to them. If we did, maybe the attitude of the Bretheren would improve. I quote it below as a reminder.
"Your manhood does not depend upon your position, but upon your character. The establishment as well as the acknowledgment of true manhood is in your own hands. Too many think that reputation ensures it; do not wait for that. Seek the true definition of a man and then exemplify it. Do not have two characters, one for your fellows and another for privacy. Be a true man in your own home as well as out in life. Scorn to debase yourself because the door of publicity is locked. Let even your own solitude keep company with the gentleman within it. Speak the same language to men that you do to your mother. Look upon women as you would have men look upon your sisters. Resent the unclean speech as a challenge against your claim to good breeding. Demand respectful treatment from your neighbor, but first command your own self-respect. Let nothing be more intolerable in your sight than the letting down of yourself to a lower level. Bid men come up to you, but refuse to descend a single step to them.
Do not measure your importance by your titles or your money, but by the texture of your character and the cleanliness of your speech. Make others know always that a gentleman stands before them. The teaching of this degree, then, is that it is your duty to make the most and the best of yourself. It is your duty as a man among men, as a son. or husband, or father; as a citizen of this great Republic; as a duly obligated Master Mason; as the most glorious climax of all created things; for the true man is the human image of the Mason's God."