The Dome of Dreams
A Tribute to MIT’s Iconic Landmark
The majestic MIT Dome is a sight to behold! It is a universal dream – whether you go to MIT or not, to get ‘that’ photo at Killian with the Dome adorning the backdrop. Some grandiose few have performed flash mob proposals in front of the Dome, but for the simple rest when this backdrop adorns your graduation pictures, you feel a cut above the rest. You accept the firehose treatment, you accept feeling overwhelmed, you accept being only able to say that you go to school in Boston because you know that you are well set up to meaningfully achieve big.
To me, it is a shrine, a symbol of greatness and hope. It has always kept me in check – keeps me grounded but at the same time pulls me back up when things aren’t the best. When I’m stuck and frustrated with a research problem, a walk across campus—especially past the Dome—helps bring clarity. The Dome doesn’t hand me the answers; it leaves the problem to me to solve. But somehow, it renews my resolve and confidence to push forward. While writing my PhD thesis and preparing to enter the MBA program, I faced a choice: take the safer route or pursue something bolder. The Dome reminded me to aim higher—to take risks and be as ambitious as the names etched into its stone. When something good happens, I find myself returning to it, paying my obeisance for all it has enabled. When I spot it from across the river at the esplanade or while sailing in the Charles, it immediately centers me on the inside.
Whether it’s fall or spring, day or night, rain or shine, the giant Dome stands tall, protecting my MIT family. When something good happens, go there, bow your head and it will bless you, while at the same time reminding you of everyone who has been there, every blessed soul who has had the absolute privilege to gift the world – scientific discoveries, technologies, warmth, kindness and humility! It will remind you of the greats that have been immortalized there and how much there is to solve and contribute!
It seems this feeling that we, the citizens of MIT, experience looking at the dome is initially labeled as ‘Imposter Syndrome’. Do I belong here, am I deserving, will I make the Dome proud someday? Well, I say you will; the Dome will help you if you let it. It gives you not just expectations, but promises, not just responsibilities, but vision to “be the change you want to see.” If things aren’t how you want them to be, the Dome just picks you up, reminding you of how fortunate, and capable you are to be at MIT, and the endless possibilities and opportunities out there! It fuels you with hope and optimism, and whispers to you that it believes in you.
Treat this blog post as your positive affirmation for the day. Treat the Dome as a mode for affirmations every day. Take the time to take a step back, recount your goals and achievements, analyze why you’re pursuing the things you are, and reconsider options that you pushed aside. Then imagine yourself at the Dome 5, 25, and 50 years from now, and find a pathway from your now to your future, no matter how impossible it sounds. Then you will know that you are exactly where you need to be, in the embrace of our great old Dome. When you don’t want to do this exercise though, and whether things are straight or going south, just walk up to Killian, pan upwards, take a deep breath, and you WILL be fine!
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