草莓世代 The Strawberry Generation

Selena

There are bad guys and good guys, moral and immoral people, and extravagant and economical people in every age and every era; therefore, it is most unfair to discredit the cheerful young with the awful name of “the strawberry generation”.

Needless to say, there ARE some distasteful characteristics that this particular generation does possess, yet most of these traits are due to the environment in which this generation grew up that has encouraged them to behave so differently from their elders. Back in the old days, with many children in the traditional family, it is rather frequent and common that even the parents sometimes forget the names of their own children. And as long as their offspring grew up “nicely” and pairs off with a decent and suitable match, it is considered a heavenly blessing for the family. Nowadays, as the towering living expenses and the hustle bustle of work come weighing down on the parents, nobody can afford spending a great deal of time and money on so many children and this is where small nucleus families come into trend. As the number of youngsters is reduced in families, and less indicates the more valuable and the more adored, parents naturally tend to pamper their precious children.

Growing up in a richer and more comfortable living environment, members of the strawberry generation are not with their own potentials and capabilities. As the limitation from former times diminishes in the big environment, this bright generation is blessed with a much higher creativity and acuteness that will assist them to bloom into greater success. The older generation, having suffered from economic depression, earned their wealth and property through the hard work of labor, and they tend to cherish whatever they have acquired with their bare hands. For them, secure jobs such as teachers and government officials are preferred since they often carry a life-time guarantee. The younger generation, however, no longer values steady jobs; instead, what they look for are challenging jobs that enable them to develop their character and disposition in order to achieve the highest sense of self-achievement. This emphasis on self-realization not only demonstrates the strawberry generation as daring to dream big but also enables them to obtain superior accomplishments.