Su Li: Discover your love

To all the newly admitted students in 2002, especially undergraduate students, welcome to Peking University and join the big family of Peking University Law School!

I think the students, especially those entering the Peking University campus for the first time, especially those undergraduate students who are away from home for the first time, must be very excited. In fact, we are also very happy.

However, life is generally simple and therefore ordinary. When this exciting period passes, you will find that even life at Peking University is not as exciting as you imagined, at least not always. Maybe there are all kinds of inconveniences in the apartment and dormitory; maybe you have to get up early to get a seat in the classroom or library; maybe some courses, even some courses that you were originally promising are boring; maybe you find that the famous professors are also ordinary; maybe some of the ideas proposed with enthusiasm There has been no response for a long time; you may have been at home or in your original school, or you suddenly became the center of everyone's attention during this college entrance examination or postgraduate entrance examination, but now you find yourself lost in a group, so you have lost a lot of confidence and confidence. Being proud adds a lot of troubles; maybe the test scores are not very satisfactory or even very unsatisfactory; maybe many teachers may be too busy to notice your troubles and troubles; maybe some tutors are very busy, go out too much, or even We can’t see each other even once in a semester; maybe many of you have quickly forgotten the resolutions you secretly made before entering the school - you may no longer go to Weiming Lake to read English early, winter is coming, maybe you will stay in Sleep a little longer in a warm bed, and when you wake up, it's time for lunch...

I say this because I have been through this, and many of my colleagues have had similar experiences. Life is destined to dissolve many passions, ideals, determinations and pursuits, and even turn life into just "living". To quote a scholar I like, "Man is an animal who can imagine a successful life but cannot achieve it; he can imagine permanent happiness but knows that he will die; he can imagine a better world. , but knows that any improvement will be minimal during his lifetime; he can imagine an easy life, but he lives a life full of frustrations... Willing is unlimited, but there are limits to execution; wishes are unbounded, But in action he is a slave to boundaries.”

But we must learn to accept life and create life at the same time, because simplicity does not necessarily mean monotony, and ordinary does not necessarily mean mediocrity.

A few days ago, five students from Peking University’s Eagle Club died while climbing the west peak of Shishapangma. When we remember these alumni, we must think about why they chose such actions and why they did not want to stay quietly on this beautiful campus of Peking University. In a few years, they will become senior "white-collar workers" - the golden name of Peking University. Their signs and their intelligence are enough to ensure their comfort and leisure. Is it just curiosity? Just want to browse the magnificent mountains and rivers of the motherland? Is it just because "the outside world is wonderful"?

We will never be able to question them. However, I think their "restlessness" is because they have a restless soul and a desire to create themselves and transcend themselves.

I am not endorsing or encouraging everyone to climb mountains, take risks, or seek other excitement. At this moment, I even have to warn everyone to pay attention to safety, for yourself, for your family and friends, and for your and our future career. But "people need to have a little spirit." As Peking University people, as Chinese intellectuals in the 21st century, for the rejuvenation of our nation, we must have a heart that rejects mediocrity and has the courage to innovate.

Therefore, to be brave in innovation is to be able to discover and feel your life from ordinary or even ordinary life. It is to be able to enter an academic tradition and make your contribution in this tradition. Of course you study first, especially undergraduates; but study at university is significantly different from study in high school. Study here is not or mainly not about memorization, recitation, or repetition. The most important thing is to learn how to discover and research problems. , we must learn to understand and imagine, and only then can we innovate. Knowledge innovation is the requirement of our times, and it is also the guarantee of your future success.

Therefore, I hope that our undergraduates will not identify their majors prematurely and prepare to "hang themselves" on a certain tree early.

You must make full use of the superior environment of Peking University to learn more and understand more; not only the law, but also other things; not only the theory, but also common sense; not only books, but also society; not only others, but also yourself. You should be more "individualistic" in your studies, that is, strive to discover and pursue your true academic and professional interests. Don't tell me that you have chosen law. In fact, without sufficient information, it is difficult to say whether you made this "choice", or whether you followed other people's choices about you, or whether you followed the "trend of the times."

I hope that our graduate students will work hard to learn self-study and communicate with classmates, enter into the academic tradition, and bring their own observations and thinking into this tradition. Never expect a mentor—even a famous one—to teach you the secret to success. Real motivation to learn, topics worth researching, and success always come from yourself, from your discovery of your own abilities, and from your appropriate social positioning; and the tutor is only an assistant to a certain extent, and at most, it is only when you walk out of school. A "trademark" affixed.

For this reason, I do not require you to study "hard". I only hope that you can discover your love. Love is the real source of active learning and knowledge innovation. In fact, the person who studies "hard" is not because he knows how to work hard, but mainly because he has never felt the "hardness" of study - "hardship" is always an outsider's generalization of behavior, not the self of the hardworking person. Psychological feelings.

If you can find this kind of self-feeling during your several years at Peking University, then maybe the life in your diary is dull, and maybe you are also dull in people’s memories, but your heart, your The world in my mind will be bright every day. You will be happy and happy.

I wish you all a happy and happy three or four years at Peking University Law School!

2002-9-3 at Peking University Law School