Look Around

Author: Megan Licious | |

I have just realized something amazing. Something humbling.

Above is a picture which captures forever my labor this morning. I am working on an English paper about the differences between Generation Y in American and Generation Me* in China. As I watch a documentary on the lives of those young people who in China**, I realize that the two things they want in life are to be successful and independent--things so easily afforded, even expected, of young people here in America.

In the documentary, one young woman, Wei Zhanyan, had to leave school when she was 13 to work and support the education of her brother. She looks into the camera and says, "My family’s poverty depresses me. Makes me ashamed. Even desperate. I don’t dare have any ideas or ideals. I have always wondered how come other families, other parents could support their kids education. But not mine."

Last month I was able to pay a month's worth of housing entirely out of money I had saved from working. Such a small thing, certainly having no long-lasting importance. But I felt empowered and uplifted--I had worked for every dollar necessary to live in my home for a month! Then I realize: here is a woman, not much older than me, who works in worse conditions for a home that will never be as secure or comfortable as my own.

Wang Xiaolei, another Chinese young adult, said what the rest of them would not: "Life is bad. Why does my life suck?" His baggy clothes and necklaces shudder as he exclaims, both inspired by American rappers he identifies with: "Hip hop empowered me because I can identify with some of those black people in America. We don’t have a good life, but we have to stay optimistic."

And here I sit, complaining to myself about a paper I chose to avoid, when instead I could be grateful for the opportunity to study about people from all over the world, to see their faces and hear their opinions, to have available to me journals and books unavailable to people all over the world, and to have the opportunity and right to record my opinions backed by the merit of others greater than I.

I was taking a break from writing my paper, kneeling at my mini-fridge and pouring myself a third huge mug-full of orange juice (probably more fluids than some children in the world drink in days) and eating food I got from the vending machine without any out-of-pocket expense of my own when I realized.

How selfish could I be? What is the reason I've been afforded these blessings? What is it I'm supposed to do?

The gospel is true. By that I mean that it is firm, honest, and upholding, a law which will never break, and thus our only security and rest. The Lord is merciful and God has a plan for His children. He will lead them to their protection, where He will teach them in all things--especially to love one another.

*Coined by Simon Elegant.
Elegant, Simon. “China’s Me Generation.” Time. 26 July 2007. Time. 3 Nov. 2008. <http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1647228,00.html>.
**“Young and Restless in China.” Dir. Sue Williams. Frontline. PBS. June 2008.