What Do Lions Stand For?

Which of the following is the motto of the Lions organization?
   We Believe!
   We Belong!
   We Serve!

If you said "We Serve" you're right.  Lions are all about serving, there's no doubt about it. It's their signature line and you'll see it on literature, in newsletters, on the web, even as a signature line on letters.

Do you know what the vision statement is for Lions Clubs?  "To be the global leader in community and humanitarian service."

To be the global leader in community and humanitarian service.... Wow!  You and me.  Part of the humanitarian movement! 

When was the last time you read the Lions Code of Ethics?  Let's read it together:

• To show my faith in the worthiness of my vocation by industrious application to the end that I may merit a reputation for quality of service.
• To seek success and to demand all fair remuneration or profit as my just due, but to accept no profit or success at the price of my own self-respect lost because of unfair advantage taken or because of questionable acts on my part.
• To remember that in building up my business it is not necessary to tear down another's; to be loyal to my clients or customers and true to myself.
• Whenever a doubt arises as to the right or ethics of my position or action towards others, to resolve such doubt against myself.
• To hold friendship as an end and not a means.  To hold that true friendship exists not on account of the service performed by one to another, but that true friendship demands nothing but accepts service in the spirit in which it is given.
• Always to bear in mind my obligations as a citizen to my nation, my state, and my community, and to give them my unswerving loyalty in word, act, and deed.  To give them freely of my time, labor and means.
• To aid others by giving my sympathy to those in distress, my aid to the weak, and my substance to the needy.
• To be careful with my criticism and liberal with my praise; to build up and not destroy.

To be honest, when I read this my eyes glaze over.... but there are key words that will help us understand what the ethics are that we're to live by as Lions -- "I may merit a reputation for quality of service," "to accept no profit," "to be loyal," "true friendship demands nothing," "to give my unswerving loyalty in word, act, and deed," "to aid others by giving sympathy to those in distress, my aid to the weak, and my substance to the needy," "to be careful with my criticism and liberal with my praise," and "to build up and not destroy."

So when you're talking to a prospective new member and they ask "what type of people are in the Lion's Club" what can you tell them?  We Serve.  We're honest.  We have integrity.  We're kind and fair.  We help the world, one person at a time.  THAT'S the kind of people I associate with!