Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Dean Kau

"When we serve others we are not motivated by selfishness, but by charity." Please describe an experience where you have had the opportunity to be motivated by charity in your leadership experience.

This is a secret. If you know who I did this to, please don't tell him.

At the beginning of our BYUSA experience this year, I noticed a boy in our office had a backpack that was falling apart. I had just had my birthday and had some money left on gift cards to the Bookstore. Instead of buying something for myself, I decided to give to him. I bought the backpack and paid the difference and had the Bookstore box it up nice. I left it in the office with some people that could give it to him. I didn't want him to know it was me because the backpack wasn't about me. I just wanted to do something nice for him.

The next week I ran into him in the office just as he was leaving with his new backpack. I complimented him on it and he told me how he had no clue who it was from and how appreciative he was for it. He said that it could have been a backpack from any student on campus and how that made him want to be nicer to those around them.

This has been an experience that really stuck with me. Though it was a very small act on my part, I was able to have a very real impact on someone else next to me. I lifted where I stood. I don't have to knit blankets for people in Africa; I can perceive the needs of those around me and help where I can.


Why is it important for you to serve and lead now?

It is important that I serve and lead now because the things I do today will become my habits of the future. If I want to be that sort of person later on, I need to be working to incorporate it into my life today. I want service and leadership to be a part of my nature, that is why I strive to cultivate them today.


How will you prepare yourself to be ready for those unexpected opportunities to lead and serve, like the college students who saved the truck driver who had fallen off of the causeway?

I will continue to prepare myself to be ready for unexpected opportunities to lead and serve by having my life in order. If I am doing what I need to, I can be an instrument and attend to the needs of others. I'll also continue to follow the promptings of the Spirit. To be of aid to others, I need to be placing myself where I can be of help.

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