I kept looking back at my past freshman year at Vassar. On the weekend nights at Vassar, same as many American colleges, it was not uncommon to encounter the smell of weeds and the noise of party music when walking across the campus. During those nights, I would keep walking and walking, till I reached our Sunset Lake and lied down on the small wooden bridge over the waterfall.
Gazing at the starry sky, peering at the placid water, listening to the soft breezes and the splashing waterfall, I thought about my college life, my friends and the future.
I thought about how several people in college inspired me to trust in my own voice from the heart, and to be faithful to the simplest yet the sincerest principles against the fickle and material ambience all over the world these days. Serving as the bright stars lightening my sky, they motivated me to re-examine my worldviews: to destroy, to recreate and to anchor.
Prof. Muppidi, my Political Science professor, is one of those people who’d influenced me most over the past year.
“Why are the others right? What do you think about this issue?”
He would always listen to us patiently regardless of our bullshits.
However, every time when we finished talking, his endlessly hard questions would make all of our assumptions no longer reasonable.
For example, why is every country dreaming for modernization?
When the Europeans went to colonize other people, what was science serving for?
During this process, everyone started to question all the presumptions told by the society and taken for granted. We learned to think about the significance of every word and phenomenon by ourselves and to make our own logistical judgments. We drew our own conclusions.
“Humanity counts.” Prof. Muppidi expected that the problematic modern moral values could be changed by our generation, and those complicate controversies of power and wars could be ameliorated by us, the ordinary individuals. I am willing to believe in this idealistic yet humane view, because “you need to open up your imagination of the world. Your imagination determines your perception and interactions of the world.”
Nowadays, perhaps you are surrounded by people who only care about themselves, but do you still believe that there are people who are sincere and diligent like you? Perhaps the newspaper headlines are occupied with those who brag about success, but are there still those who work hard and enjoy life with their families?
Not seen is not equal to not existing.
The majority does not represent the correct.
If trusting in kindness and humanity starts from you and me, will this world be a better place?
Tianqi and Yifan are my two special friends at Vassar.
Both of them love asking complex questions and expressing unique viewpoints. Neither Tianqi’s super open-minded views of love nor Yifan’s eccentric life plans were easily accepted by others.
However, neither of them was upset by non-acceptance. In fact, I often feel they are actually the ones who have really seen this world clearly. As opposed to the others who went to Mexico merely for vacation, Yifan dragged me with excitement, “Shiqi! I’ve been thinking a lot in Mexico! There was an old fisherman who simply sailed off and went fishing every day, but he was always so happy. Before the trip, I always thought that living in this world was about how to live with this world, but now I think the priority is to find ways to live with our own selves. We have to find our inner peace first!”
Not many people can understand Tianqi’s philosophical perspective, but he is always kind to everyone. Not long ago, I found him talking about the world: “Countries can change only when each and every person realizes that they’re born with unique responsibilities – to themselves and to society as a whole. When we all find something we love doing, when we’re all happy in our own little worlds the globe will take care of itself.” When I read these words, I was so moved that I cried out.
What I care most, is no more than a heart of confidence yet modesty, a spirit of independence yet humanity.
Three months ago, I came back to my hometown Beijing after missing it day and night. However, as soon as I arrived there, I was surrounded by high pressure. All the people around me were talking about internship, about career plans and about studying Finance. The overwhelming pressure was like the air pollution shrouding the city. However, even though the smog is covering the city, beyond the smog I still see the shining stars.
So, why not believe in dreams and kindness – the stars of our life?