The Illusion of Strawberry Fields.

Strawberries are a pretty tasty fruit. It can be consumed alone, in fruit salads, dipped in chocolate, and well you get the gist of it. However, the strawberry this post is addressing is not pertaining to the fruit that gives us such pleasures. The word strawberry is an infamous term in Taiwan. In addition it is often a derogatory term used candidly to label indolent youths that are financially unsuccessful malingers that continue to thrive on their parents' good graces. Basically this being strawberry is more less being labeled a useless waste of space youth that does not contribute to the betterment of our society. While this term is truthful to a certain degree, it is in my opinion that the term strawberry was conjured up by a lack of understanding and openness to societal transformations.

Four decades ago Taiwan was not a hospitable place to live or work. To further prove this point my friend's father became an independent adult at the age 13. Furthermore my High School educated grandfather spent 12 hours a day 6 days a week hammering nails and working construction in order to support 6 children. My father has often told me of the rigors of working on his farm for his father in order to make a living. Those were indeed hard times. However now our society has changed.

In our current state it is no longer a necessity to be that assidious in our daily lives. In Taipei now there are numerous luxuries in place that were not in place 30 years ago. Due in large part to Taiwan's better economy throughout the 1980s and better living standards many people no longer need to endure the trial by fire our parents underwent to make a successful living. Our environment has been drastically transformed. Now it is not necessary to be 21 and and work hours of hard labor. In addition, the entertainment industry has blossomed too. We now possess modern movie theatres, numerous night clubs, and many other modes of fun.

The transformations in society is where this problem arises. Many of the older generation see most youths partying and having fun and they claim that we're a strawberry generation because we did not work or labor as assidiously as they have in the past. Since we have not mimicked what they have done, we this generation are automatically labeled as lazy indolent losers.

In no way will I dispute the fact that there are spoiled little brats that have never worked a day in their lives. However, as a society's modernity rises and it gains increasing affluence like Taiwan did spoiled kids are an inevitability. Just look at America we see TV programs about spoiled kids of Orange county. But does that represent the majority of American people? NO it doesn't. There are still many people pulling 12 hour days at firms in New York City or factories in the midwest. Fact of the matter is people still work very hard it's just the effort has adapted to society's evolution. Even though we have more luxuries and higher living standards the creed of hard work has not vaporized it has merely evolved and become suitable for our altered society. We have not been transformed into a bunch of lackluster bums.

On the contrary, this could not be anything else that is further from the truth. During my time spent in Taiwan, I can vouch for the fact that there are MANY people from ages 20 to 30 that work VERY VERY HARD. From my days in Hess I saw very young people in the form of my Taiwanese native co workers that worked hard and put in their best efforts. Furthermore one of my friends use to work at a television studio for 12 hours a day and 6 days a week. BEfore my friend JC quit his job he was constantly at work for the same amount of hours as well. There is also another friend of mine who I will call JL who also works a lot at a bank. In all the people of Taiwan still work very hard. If we are being called strawberries based on a few idiotic television ads or the fact that we did not do things exactly the way our parents did it then that's complete bullshit and incredibly rude and disrespectful to us as diligent human beings. I can continue to ramble on and on about how many people work hard the list is jut too long but these are just prominent examples. Most of my friends work hard as do most people in Taiwan. If they were called lazy strawberries it is fairly evident all of them would find that remark to be rather offensive.

Skeptics might disagree with me citing the partying and the constant quitting of jobs from numerous people. But, that is also a superficial perspective. So if we quit our jobs and party we are bad workers? That's poppycock. In our evolved society we now HAVE A CHOICE. This is the reality some work environments are not compatible with an individual's personality neither are some job functions. So if they quit take a few weeks off and find another line is that equable to being a lousy lazy bum? NO IT ISN'T. Maybe back then jobs were scarce and you needed to do things you did not like to maintain your survivability however, in our modern times that rule does not apply so much anymore because our surroundings are not as harsh. It's also common sense.

Lets create a correlation first. We're a on a mountain. Back then we needed to hike all the way down the mountain with our bucket to get water by the river. 30 years later we now have a pump to bring the water up to us. You see now we have a choice and that option to exercise. Maybe some of us enjoy the walk down the mountain and maybe some of us want to exercise the option of using the pump to acquire water. Either choice we make it doesn't mean we are lazy or stupid. Some individuals like the hike nothing wrong with that. While some says "Oh fuck that shit why walk down when I don't need to" there's is also logic in that type of thinking. So the rhetorical question being presented now is why do we have to work as hard as you did WHEN we can do it a less punishing way and still obtain the same results?

Now lets move on to clubbing. Yes back then in Taipei there was no Champagne bar, Luxy, Vibe, Roxy 99 or many other things. So a few of us go to clubs to get a release from the working day. There is nothing wrong with working hard and playing hard after work. It is quite shallow to assume everyone who goes to those places are just the moral fiber of society. Again this is what we call new options being presented. After work some of us like to go home open up their DVD stack and watch movies(me) while others like to go to clubs pick up women or men. It's just another choice that is available to us. Frequenting these places does not make us bad people nor does 2 hours a day at a club give the implication we are lazy human beings.


The basic message is just because our generation does not do things EXACTLY the way you do it does not mean we are lazy. There are still many people in Taiwan that work hard and are strong independent individuals. They deserve the utmost respect.