Paprika Butter

At the USA Canada Forum last weekend Naresh, our Lions International President, was speaking to about 1400 Lions over a meal. I was gnawing on a hunk of bread slathered with orange paprika butter when he said something like, "If every Lion would bring in a new Lion..." and just then a paprika flake sent my taste buds soaring and my mind off somewhere else and I lost most of the rest of what he was saying.

3 days later while chauffeuring the DG back from a visit to Asotin, Naresh's words popped back into my brain and I tried to start a conversation with DG Crystal about how amazing what he said really was... What if every Lion would bring in a new lion this year? We tossed it around for a few miles while my tired eyes scanned the road shoulders for deer and badgers.


Just how would bring in a Lion work?  Think this through with me, please.       

I could commit to personally finding a new Lion! Actually, it happened the next day when a 20-something named Zach said he'd like to join my club. Yikes! Twilight Zone music out of nowhere and As a man thinketh slogans slowly roll across my mind.

Maybe you could get your son to join? Tell him it's time to do what a man should do in the world. Maybe someone else would invite their niece or nephew to a service project and tell them truthfully that their help is needed to change their community and the world.

Another Lion could look over his barbed wire fence and strike up a Lions conversation with the guy in the next field. Stranger things have happened.




Naresh has nailed it! "If every Lion would bring in a new Lion.." we wouldn't be listening to tired people griping about how the same 5 Lions do all the work on their club's projects.

"If every Lion would bring in a new Lion.." it would be so much more fun watching an ancient Tail Twister trying to remember everyone's names.

"If every Lion would bring in a new Lion.." there would be more support for Little League teams, soccer teams, band trips, FFA and 4H and Scout Troops.

"If every Lion would bring in a new Lion.." our contributions to LCIF and Leader Dogs and Care and The Northwest Lions Foundation would double.

"If every Lion would bring in a new Lion.." there would be more new officers and van loads of people visiting clubs and going to conferences.

"If every Lion would bring in a new Lion.." the old guys could quit worrying about their club existing after they pass on.

Sometimes a leader will say something so profound that when you turn it over in your head the best thing that comes out of your enlisted soldier brain is something like, "Oh, Wow!" or "Wow, Sir!"

At that point, if you are a good Sergeant, you translate it for your troops, get on with the mission and take the objective.

Naresh

Navita & Naresh Aggarwal with Crystal & David Walk

Our International Lions President Naresh and his wife Navita Aggarwal hail from India which so far away from District 19F that when I shook his hand in Chicago I couldn’t imagine that anything he would have to say could even remotely apply to our district full of wheat farmers and good old boys and girls.

Sometimes an old redneck like me can enjoy being wrong.  Dr. Aggarwal has a great head on his shoulders. When he writes he doesn’t waste words and when he talks he gets right down to business. In the current Lions Magazine he says, “Service to others defines who we are. It is our very reason to exist as a global organization. Our motto puts it in terms others can easily understand - We Serve -… Our motto is timeless. It is as relevant today as it was in 1917, and it will inspire us into our next century of service
.

Dr. Aggarwal and Lions Club International have developed the exciting and new Global Action Team which is actually a streamlining of ourorganization at all levels. He says, “It unifies the three key areas of Lions—leadership, membership and service into one team to strengthen our clubs, districts and association. It's a bottom-up approach to supporting and encouraging the one thing that unites all Lions: service.”

Dr. Aggarwal concludes, “Your clubs are counting on you. And so am I. Let's do everything in our power to make the Global Action Team a success!”

Check out the Global Action Team at this link or Google LCI Global Action Team.  This approach could very well be what your club and our District needs!!