Loving a university by seeing it?

by Forrest Sheng Bao http://fsbao.net

"They date. They talk, their likes and their dislikes." - Movie "Enchanted", 2007

“I would trade all of my technology for an afternoon with Socrates.” - Steve Jobs

My sister is going to visit McGill U. tomorrow. She wants to see whether she can "like it."

Maybe I am too old to understand how the next generation thinks - I'm 6 years older than her. But I just wonder. How can someone love a university by seeing it? Can you love a girl after seeing her? You may want to have sex with her but not sufficiently love her.

If I am gonna choose, I only care whether I can meet more "smart" people who can inspire me wonderful ideas. Just as Steve Jobs said “I would trade all of my technology for an afternoon with Socrates.”

I think it's pretty much the same as falling in love with a girl. Few months ago, I told a friend of mine, a boy, that I loved a girl. He said, "do not tell me you love her. You even don't KNOW her." Exactly! You need to know her heart.

A university is not like a park or a hotel. What make a bunch of buildings be called a university are people and their mental behaviors. So loving the buildings, the landscape, etc., does not mean you love this university. We are not coming to a university for a 4-year vacation. Whether you can enjoy exploring the unknown world is more important.

And thus, rationally, you cannot love a university by seeing it.