The 6th Must-Do at the University

By Old Ghost

“Reality is rude. You have to have dreams to support you when facing the real world.”

「現實很殘酷。只有理想才可以支持一個人面對現實。」

I think this was one of the most profound things I learnt during my university life.

I once read a comic on Facebook: 11 Ways to be Unremarkably Average. Immediately I was reminded of a saying: “Think about writing a book, but never doing it”.

This comic inspired me to gather a group of like-minded people to write a book about dreams. I truly believe in the idea of pursuing dreams, even after my failures at university - I had an extremely low GPA in my first two years; I was not able to fulfil my duties with the student society either. Although I aimed at being high-flyer of completing the so-called 5 Must-Dos at the university*, all of these failures hit me hard.

I then took a year off from university for a one-year placement in a multi-national corporation. You might say this is a kind of an escape but the placement experience made me think more about reality, the realistic side behind a polished brand name. Although everyone might view a current situation as a problem, the complex issues behind may deter you from correcting it. In everyone's mind, there is always a "Should". Yet, the reality does not follow the "Should" we have in mind. And sometimes it's the exact opposite, and you can do nothing about it.

Eventually, after nine months of determination, I teamed up with six like-minded people through my social circle and recruitment from Facebook. My key criterion of the team was to be ordinary, in the sense that they do not come from a rich family, yet are not very poor; that their university lives should not be described as successful; and that they were better for having been beaten by realities. They should be just the “you” and “me” that are so easily found at university.

The whole team of seven; me (nicknamed “Old Ghost” （老鬼）), KAY, Poison Boy, Mocha, Chris Wong, Sister and TA, all experienced failures. What we want to share in the book is to “dream realistically”:

Harsh realities and failures, such as the feeling of helplessness within a bureaucracy, the burden from one’s family, the hesitation in a new environment, reaching the limit of one’s ability, are what make us grow.

Indeed, after all my struggles, I realise that dreaming realistically is the way we should live our lives - be responsible to own duties, like taking care of the reality, and be responsible to our true self, like chasing after what we want in our life. This is the thing I learnt in my five-year university life.

* The 5 Must-Dos in the University: Study; be part of a student society; hall accommodation; working part-time; and dating

More: Alumni & Books 《大學第六件事──夢想與現實的雙行線》