Being Good for Something

A little over a year ago I received a BYU alumni magazine that had a picture of President Hinckley addressing the students at the Marriott Center. In bold letters at the bottom it quoted him, "You are good. But it is not enough to be good. You must be good for something. You must contribute good to the world." I immediately ripped out the page and hung it on the side of the fridge where I would see it everyday. I think this quote resonated with me because I'm a pretty good person, but this reminded me that my life is not just about me. I feel the pull and the desire to contribute more than I consume. Simply being good is not enough for me or Him.

There have been many times in my life where I've had opportunities to contribute good to the world, probably the most note-worthy being my mission. Since my mission, I've been itching to take a humanitarian aid trip somewhere and make another difference - working in an orphanage, building a house, whatever. Just something where I can contribute. However, since I started school, I have been thinking about how I can use some of the very specific talents the Lord has given me to make a more meaningful, longer-lasting difference. (Not that orphanages and homes aren't meaningful and long-lasting, but more that those aren't my skills.) I am also a HUGE advocate of the idea of teaching a man to fish - enabling him, not just feeding him. So at BYU I've been able to get involved with some social ventures. I LOVE it. I entered a competition with a BYU team and did some consulting for a self-sustaining school in Paraguay and found it incredibly fulfilling. I decided that I definitely wanted to look for more ways to contribute in the social entrepreneurship space.

So here I am. Two days away from boarding a plane headed to India. I'll be spending three weeks in India doing some consulting for a tech non-profit (Ekgaon) with a project that focuses on getting rural farmers out of poverty. Once a farmer can grow enough crops to sell and make a profit, not only does his family have a better quality of life, but he'll be able to send his kids to school and (hopefully) break the cycle of poverty for future generations. Ekgaon has had great success in India so we'll be helping build an expansion plan for other parts of India, northern African and more of south Asia. Then we'll be meeting with some potential financial partners and trying to convince them that this is a great investment. I'm super excited! I think this is a great opportunity to combine my experience in tech with my education at business school and contribute good to the world.


And that's the reason I decided it was time to dust off my blog. I want to keep you all posted on my efforts to follow President Hinckley's advice and my gallivanting around a third-world country (which should be interesting... and educational and fun). Hope you're looking forward to it. I am!