UCI, like the rest of Irvine, is clean, organized, and highly image-conscious. It has extensive resources for faculty and students alike, and is well-ranked in national surveys. Any "prospective student" knows that. There is one element of its character, however, that is less desirable.
Every school has their mascot. UCI proudly flaunts the Anteater (zot!). Some mascots are more representative than others (Trojans? Tarapins? Banana Slugs?). After a year at UCI, I sometimes wonder if the school (or rather, the undergraduates) should enact a change: from the Anteaters (zot!) to the Sheep (baaaaaaah). According to some bored bloke that contributed the "Domestic Sheep" article to wikipedia (for whatever it's worth), sheep have "have a strong lead-follow tendency, and a leader often as not is simply the first sheep to move."
For all Irvine's strengths, I sometimes wonder if it is populated by sheep. Examples:
- The campus is eerily quiet. All the time.
- The sports teams are all but completely unknown. Even when they win national championships.
- Even the parking lots are downright boring- I never could have imagined so many small grey generic cars (b/c who would possibly drive such a thing? ;-)
- I'm taking chemistry this summer. There are approximately 180 students in the class. And twice in as many weeks, when I showed up to the classroom a few minutes before lecture, I find 50 or 100 students sitting outside, waiting for the previous class to vacate the lecture hall. Except, there was no previous class. Everyone thought everyone else had checked. So I walked into the classroom. And then everyone else migrated in. Baaaaah.
- the list goes on, and on, and on...
Interesting.
Yes, perhaps I am being unnecessarily negative. (If we try hard to find problems, we invariably find them, whether they are significant or not.) My purpose is not to tear down- though that is sometimes a prerequisite to building up. I recognize the privilege of living in Irvine and attending UCI. There's a lot of talent here, a lot of potential, a lot of good people. Much room for redemption; much room for good.
It's painful to see people being less than they were made for. That describes everyone, of course, myself included (see 1 John 1:9). The brokenness visible at UCI highlights--though still only in part--the depth of our fall, but the good glimpses hint at the unimaginable Love. The already/not yet Kingdom.
Given this situation, I start playing the What If game. What if I lived faithfully every moment of every day? What if I lived in true humility and true love? What if, "just for starters," I lived transparently and unashamedly? And what if we all did? Just for starters. After all, hope and purpose are simply nonexistent if we say "This is all there is," or "Academia is an end in and of itself."
Being a sheep isn't all bad. (And of course, the analogy only goes so far.) Instead, for a glimmer of hope, turn the analogy on its head. Sheep--and the sheep-herder--have been analogized before. And there, there only can we see and find hope, and purpose, and redemption.
