One learns leadership where one can. In the autumn of my second year at UTS, we students farmed potatoes in the upper acreage. Frank Zochol (’79) ran the project. The potatoes were for local food distribution plus our UTS kitchen. In late October we harvested all the potatoes and brought them into wooden bins that we built in one of the barns. We had about 15 or 20 bins about six feet high, six feet wide and 12 feet deep, bulging with potatoes. The next step was to sort the potatoes and put them, sorted, into small boxes for transport. Somehow, I have no idea how, I ended up being in charge of this sorting and transfer operation.

They had to be sorted by size and quality. I think it was early November. The weather was starting to cool off. I asked myself, Who wants to go out to the cold drafty barn and sort potatoes? Exams are coming. Terms papers are due. How can I convince people to do that? In my mind, the project loomed larger than that of bagging ammonia at Hungnam prison and loading it onto railroad cars. In the front of the chapel—yes, in prayer—I came up with the answer: make a competition: the great UTS potato sorting tournament. Have the teams compete to see which team can sort the most potatoes in one hour.

I announced the tournament at morning service the next day. I posted a schedule. We had about a dozen brothers teams at the Seminary at that time, and I assigned each team one hour—one at 2 p.m., one at 3 p.m., hourly until dinner, and then a couple after dinner, and then from first thing the next morning. I scheduled for one cycle of practice rounds and then one cycle of real competition.

With Frank Zochol’s help I set up the sorting area in the barn. It was a table with a makeshift chute down which the potatoes would be rolled, sorted and then deposited in the appropriate box. The first team arrived, made their adjustments on the set up, and I started them off exactly at 2 p.m. Just for the sake of practice, I timed their session to one hour exactly and counted exactly the number of boxes that they sorted.

Well, interestingly enough, as that first team’s hour drew to a close, the next team arrived a few minutes before their scheduled start. They watched how the team before them was doing. They made notes. As soon as that team was done, they jumped onto the equipment. They improved the arrangement. They speeded up the operation. They got a much better result than the first team.

As the second team’s hour drew to a conclusion, the next team arrived, again about ten minutes early. They researched; they did their little energy-efficiency study. As soon as the second team was done, they quickly made their adjustments on the set up. They shifted the location of the receptacle boxes. They shifted the location of the sorters. The potatoes flew down the chute. They shattered—shattered—the record of the team before them.

And so it went. Each team arrived early, examined how things were going, improved the procedure of the team before them, and demolished that team’s results. By the time we reached the seventh or eighth team, the results were five or ten times the results of the first team. Every team easily vanquished the team before. It became clear that the victor would not be the strongest team, but simply the last team! And by now we were running out of potatoes!

Well, we didn’t even finish the practice rounds before every last potato was sorted. And everyone had a great time. The creativity was amazing. Those potatoes were flying down the chute into their cozy little boxes. All I had to do was sit back with the stopwatch and count the boxes. The leadership task I had taken on in fear and trembling turned into a Sunday afternoon picnic.

For me, the lesson is that if you set up a good system, one that gives people room for initiative and rewards teamwork, industry and creativity, the project will take care of itself. I think the heavenly kingdom will be like that. This is one thing I learned at UTS.

In my second year, Dr. David Kim called for the composition of the official seminary song. James Baughman (’78) and I wrote one. It is a glorious song, in my opinion, but Dr. Kim chose another one. But here are the lyrics, because a song is a song is a song. And I still like this one. I can hear it sung by a thousand-voice choir. I can hear it sung by James and me in the dojang.

The river below in eternal flow
Is the power to endure;
The mountains grand, in majesty stand
Teaching us to be strong and sure.
Though branches of trees may reach for the sun,
Their roots are deep in the earth.
Like trees we reach for the Son of God,
And our roots are deep and pure.
Here tearful prayer to God
Lifts our hearts to the sky.
High, endless up above,
Touching all mankind.
The path through the woods that leads to the heart
Is a path of many tears.
Walking with you there, deepest love we share,
Precious moments when you are near.
Father we are the ones who will keep moving on
With a vision beyond the years.
‘Til the blessing we found at Barrytown
Fills your kingdom throughout the world.

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