Let me commend you for the work that the Lions’ organisation has done, in this country and worldwide, to strengthen the bonds of civil society. We have grown to appreciate that voluntary organisations, religious organisations, sporting clubs, cultural clubs and other service organisations constitute an essential part of the fabric that hold civilised society together.
Too many of us still believe that our civic responsibility ends at the ballot box, that once we have voted we have done our duty to society, and we can get back to purely selfish pursuits. Not so.