A man is driving his teenage son home one evening. To break the
awkward silence in the car he tells his son that despite the fact
that they don’t chat very often he wants him to know that
he is very proud of the way that he has turned out. The son breaks
down and confesses that his plan for that evening was to take
his own life.
The message of this story is significant. The
right words from the right person at the right time can make
the ultimate difference to someone; a son, a friend, a colleague.
The above story led John Mooney District Governor of Lions
Clubs in Ireland to write a children’s book entitled ‘A
Wonderful Story’ in which a little boy has golden feathers
which he has to give to people whom he sees doing good and thus,
he learns to recognise the good in others. From this evolved
The Lions Feather Project which gives people all over Ireland
the opportunity to recognise the good in others and to tell
those people how much they value them.
You may have already seen the ‘feather packs’ which
The Lions Clubs across Ireland have distributed to shops, hotel
lobbies, restaurants, places where people gather. Each pack
contains a pin depicting a boy holding a feather and a bookmark
style card with information about the project on one side and
on the reverse side a simple line which the giver will complete:
'You deserve this feather because....'
There is a suggested donation of €2 and the money raised
will be made available in the form of grants to local and national
suicide prevention groups.
Click
here to read the rest of this article including
some frightening statistics on suicide in Ireland.
More information on this worthy initiative is available
at www.lionsfeather.com
For more information on Lions Clubs visit www.lionsclubs.ie
