I was in a masonic youth group called DeMolay back in DC. I never really got into it, and the ritual aspect was a turn off. They had tons of money though and we did some really cool stuff, ski trips and such.
I actually had a pretty strong interest in the Illuminati and decided to join for that reason.

There were tons of reference to the knights templar (again it was named after one), and while we had to learn plays and stuff about him ultimately I was never intrigued enough to go farther.
They never really made it clear the benefits of being a mason, and the exposure we got was strange. Again the rituals and performances we would do for the actual masons were all a bit odd. Dark rooms, intentionally mysterious etc. It really seemed the only reason t go farther was curiosity about wtf it was all about. That didn't seem to have an end either.
There were very little signs of the type of influence I expected although most masons I met were very nice. The guys who ran DeMolay in the area were a bit pushy and were always wanting us to recruit more people. They were not happy when I refused to give them the phone directory for my high school (which said in big letter that it should never be used for solicitation of any sort).
I am currently an Elk.