MC Fro, M.Sc.

A few days ago, I had received a newsletter from the alumni association of my alma mater, the University of Lethbridge. While viewing the publication, I became overwhelmed with memories of years past, the classes; the professors; the atmosphere; the friends; the architecture; the parties; more or less the overall experience. I have longed to return to the campus, a visit that I have managed to make only once since convocation.

A new fire is burning in my belly now. The newsletter announced some new multidisciplinary graduate programs which will be introduced in the upcoming year. Some of them sounded extremely appealing for yours truly.

Many people do not realize the importance, nor do they appreciate the value of a good education. Many of my friends left the concrete walls of the University years ago, with nary a look back. Sure, they loved the time they spent there, but in their minds, they achieved their goals, and their lives are spent in pursuit of other dreams. I have known souls who were lucky to attend University/College, but never managed to make it past the first year. Often, I imagine these people attend a place of higher study because it is what is expected of them, sociologically speaking. Others choose to attend to find a mate who is (for the lack of a better phrase) a cut above the rest. Truth be known, all the above is hogwash.

People go to school for all the wrong reasons.

People think that with a college education, they will get a good job with an equally good salary and benefits. People believe that success is more achievable with a solid collegiate education. People believe that they will find a smarter, compatible, and otherwise more desirable mate at an institution of higher learning. These are all myths.

I have seen high-school dropouts make more money in a year than I could hope to achieve in my lifetime. I have seen people with Ph.D's declare bankruptcy and be incapable of maintaining a career of any sort. I have seen manipulative and abusive relationships develop between two intelligent, educated individuals.

You must want to go to College/University for other reasons.

It is the same reason why some people choose to follow the path of God and become a member of the clergy. It is the same reason why some people dedicate their lives to helping the less fortunate. It is the same reason why teachers become teachers, and why doctors become doctors. It is the same reason why I love to learn.

We all want to help, to do our part; to feel some sort of self-fulfillment. I want to learn so I can understand. There are so many interesting disciplines that I have interest in. I feel that my undergraduate degree has prepared me for the real world in many respects, but I still feel like I have a lot to learn. The universe is full of mysteries. It is the nature of the universe and the nature of the human mind, that makes it impossible for us humans to know all the secrets of the universe. But what we have learned in the few short thousand generations of modern civilization is incomprehensible. There is no possible way that one human being would be able to assimilate all the information there is. Professors spend their entire lives learning everything they can about a small part of their discipline of choice. They learn, contemplate, question, and critique every small detail about some facet of the universe, which the rest of us take for granted. To have that amount of dedication to their work is commendable. It is no wonder why we call them Doctors.

I have learned in recent years, that I am comfortable with the classroom environment, with the relationships I have had between my professors and myself. Research is an exciting thing; it allows the individual to participate in the writing of the largest book mankind has ever written; the Book of Knowledge. As long as we exist and we have a desire to find answers to the questions we ask, so will this book. I want to write a small paragraph in that book, and be immortalized with one small discovery.

Upon many meditations, I have realized that our time on this earth is infinitesimally small in comparison to the age of the universe. What we all do in our lives, is quite trivial in comparison. Those who we remember -- the ones whose names live on throughout the generations, have contributed significantly to the human race. These are the theologians, the philosophers, the scientists, the composers, the leaders, and the visionaries whose names have been spoken and admired for generations. There are the Homers, the Socrates, the Christs, the Newtons, the Gallileans, the Mozarts, and the Einsteins. There are thousands of them -- too many to mention. I could hardly hope to have the legacy that the aforementioned names have, but I would enjoy the fact that my name would eventually make its way into a small paragraph in one of the history books.

All people are born; and all people die. Only a select few manage to contribute something to the human race that immortalizes them. I have grown to understand that it's not about how long you live, it's about what you do with it. It's about time that I start doing something.