Four
Links to Luminous Living in Lionism
Light
is a big deal to folks everywhere. Light lets folks see where they
are, what lies ahead, where they are going, and lets them see their
objectives. There are many links to luminous Lionism. I am only
focusing on four.
Let's
start with labor. Generally, the most rewarding outcomes involve
work: a purposeful expenditure of energy. Folks experience an
uplifting sense of accomplishment after working for a satisfactory
outcome. Their lives are so much better, lit with industry and
happiness. Folks have lived without labor, in darkness of dependency
and misery. Lions can add light to their own lives through voluntary
service, and to the lives of folks that Lions help.
Then
there is learning. Investigate and educate yourself about what you
are about to do. If a project fails expectation, learn what happened,
and how to resolve concerns. Same thing applies when a project meets
or exceeds expectation. When laboring with learning, folks
experience a sense of lightness. Working without knowing can lead to
very dark frustration.
Liberty
is the first letter in the acronym LIONS. Folks know how dark living
with no liberty can be. Liberty is that respect that folks provide to
the exercise of freedom by other folks. The light from labor and
learning dims, down to darkness, without liberty. With liberty,
anything seems possible.
Laboring
with learning within liberty makes the light that love brings most
likely. Robert Heinlein, in "Stranger in a Strange Land"
defined love as a state of being in which the happiness of another is
essential to one's own happiness. When Lions show, through their
work, concern for the well-being of unfortunate folks they
demonstrate love. Additionally, love is enthusiastic enjoyment of
work that promotes well-being. Folks can live without love; they are
the most miserable of any creature. Love, in whatever form, brings
light into life.
Lions
laboring with learning, promoting and living liberty, in a spirit of
love can bring light into the darkest life, can luminate a better
path, and can
Brighten
where Lions are