How are you? It has been a long time since I wrote to you last time. Hope this letter finds you very well.
These days, Mr. Ren and I have been struggling to finally decide our future career path. To receive the top education in the United States which is the forefront of IT industry or to shorten the studying period by staying in China and grasp opportunities as early as possible, this easy-looking question daunted us.
Maybe I could firstly share my father's experience with you. He did not make it to pass the college entrance exam when he was 16, although he was only one score below the cutoff. Considering the impoverished condition of his family, he could not choose to retake his final year but could only go to vocational technical institute. After graduation, he immediately started his whole-life career in power industry. In the next 30 years, driven by the soaring Chinese economy, power industry develops rapidly and unexpectly becomes one of the most powerful industry in China. My father transforms from a famishing kid to the backbone of three generations in my family. My father sometimes sighs while reminiscing. He could not expect what would happen if he did got the chance to retake the college entrance exam one year later, if he did go to college, if he did not come to the power industry, or even if he started to work three years later---- yes, even three years can make a difference.
I have been 25 years old now. I was more or less grown up in the 30 years when China has its earth-shaking changes. My peers and myself, we witness what a difference life will be if a person make a slightly different choice in their early days. You will have a completely different life a few decades later if you choose a different industry, if you enter a different sector, or if you graduate one year earlier. And there is a world of difference between the "good" life and "bad" life in present China.
People criticized our generation for being utilitarian oriented, for fantasying one-off success, for fussing and fretting and shuttling and sheltering. However, even though nowadays government started to revive the economic growth rate, trying to usher the society climate from fixing the eyes on a prosperous future into caring for the present life , the youth are inevitably overtaken by misgivings and fears when making decisions. So do I.
I am not writing to complaint to you or ask you to make decisions for us. I am writing to you because I think I finally start to understand your purpose of writing the Chinese youths in your book, although one year has already passed since our research project. I have been so low in understanding the whole situation and I am not good at complying with the trend of the times either. Shall I be grateful to be born later than my father's generation?
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发表于 2012-5-12 00:03:43
楼主
发表于 2012-5-13 17:20:49
