Editor's note: This article is from a college student born after the 90s. She is a Christian. She has written down the inner voice of the post-90 generation in China.
An Internet survey concluded that the post-90s have four main characteristics: 1.They refuse to be labeled. 2.Their life is connected by mobile and Internet. 3.Their value of consumption is "As long as I like it".4. They have a strong awareness of self-consciousness.
No matter what attitude we hold towards the post-90 generation, we have to admit that the post-90 generation have already grown up. The church must face and feed them. Therefore, we must put aside all sorts of prejudice regarding them. Let's listen to their inner voice and try to understand them.
The Post-90 generation were born in the 1990s. They have not experienced cold, hunger or war. Nowadays, those children, protected by their parents, have grown up and slowly set foot on the stage of our society.
Predecessors have different comments regarding the post-90 generation. Most of them have criticized this young generation. They are worried that the post-90 generation can't bear the responsibility of promoting social development.
What's the actual situation of this generation's life? We will take the university students in China as an example.
Boys are addicted to computer games. They are receiving higher education in universities. However, they stay up late and get up late. They skip class randomly.
When they were in high school, they made many efforts to get good grades in college entrance examinations. They started to read textbooks before dawn. They even did homework at midnight. Faced with the decadent life in the university, I'm afraid they can't accept this huge gap, either. They look for the pleasure of conquering in the virtual world. They could set up a kingdom for themselves online and enjoy glory there. They are buried in fantasy. What's worse, they are drunk with computer games in their best age even though they are quite aware that computer games are just fantasies and a waste of time.
What about girls? They compare food, clothes and boyfriends. They dress well and look shiny outside of their dormitory. However, their dorm is a mess. They skip class and lie in bed all day.
Once upon a time I went to the dormitory of my senior at around five o 'clock in the afternoon. When I opened the door, the room was dark. It turned out that someone was sleeping. She slept in the day and was energetic at night. She shopped online or watched TV series in late night.
When the sun came out, she was just like morning dew dried under sunlight. They are willing to change their decadent life. However, their enthusiasm for college entrance examination has disappeared. They also find it difficult to change reality. Bad habits give them rough skin and deep black eye rims. They are no longer vigorous.
There is another group of people different from the lazy students above. They go out early in the morning and arrive at the dormitory late at night. Their life is only centered in dormitories, dining rooms and libraries. They are pillars of society in their teachers' eye. Other students regard them as supermen and call them super scholars. It seems that they will never be tired or slack off. They swim in the ocean of knowledge all day. They are always busy preparing for tests of civil servants or graduate students. They attend tests for IELTS and TOEFL. You can also find them in the lab doing experiments.They are supposed to be vigorous and optimistic.
However, you can only see sad expressions on their faces. Reality forced them to work hard. The market of employment is fierce and their parents have great expectations on them. They think only studying can bring them hope of a better life. They have formed characteristics to relying on themselves and never yielding to difficulties at an early age.
When they are tired, they will always think of the sentence "If you want to be the best man, you should suffer the bitter things." I questioned myself whether being the best man is the best road? Or I just choose this road because everyone is walking on it? I don't dare to take on the road different from others, and I am not willing to do that. I don't want to be alone.
There are many negative comments regarding the post-90 generation in our society. They say we are the spoiled generation. They labeled us as mavericks, non-mainstreamers and the vulnerable ones. They concluded that we have no perseverance or dreams. In their opinion, we don't know gratitude and we don't have a serious attitude towards relationships.
However, is there anyone who really understands us and walks into our deep hearts? Our parents are mostly born after 1965. Most of them lost their stable jobs in state-owned enterprises after reform and opening up (Chinese Economic Reform of 1970). They had to start from scratch and find another way of earning bread. The big change made them realize the importance of money. Earning money is the absolute truth of their lives. Only the rich material life can bring them a sense of security. They also dream of providing their children a rich material life.
Our parents are busy making money under the pressure of life. They indulge themselves in the pursuit of material resources. It seems that they have offered their children an abundant material life. In fact, their children have lost the most important thing during their growth-love and accompaniment from their parents during their developing years.
One day, the girl grows up and meets a boy who really cares about her. She has never had this kind of attention and care before. She thinks it must be true love. Then the two silly children vow to love each other and be together forever.
Boys learn from the example of their fathers and try their best to look after girls. Girls learn from the example of their mothers and love boys with both heart and soul. However, they can't escape from the weakness and sin of human nature. The examples they follow don't know how to love either. As a result, boys and girls hurt each other.
We have a desire for love. We have the instinct to keep a loyal relationship of love and sacrifice for love with no regrets. However, it seems that the deeper our love is, the more pains we will suffer. It is the same case in love, friendship and family bonds. We have been told "It's never too late to learn" since childhood. However, no teacher has told us the meaning and way of love. There is no book that can tell us the meaning and way of life.
In my opinion, the post-90 generation have been hurt by material comforts. Of course, they have a rich material life, but they have lost the root of their life - love. It seems that they are casual in love and don't care much about it. In fact, they have a strong desire for love and really treasure it. However, it seems that they have no pursuit for their future; but, they have the great power to change the world with a fulcrum.
The problem is that we are lost in material comforts and unable to love. So I think post-90 generation need to understand the words and love of God the most. We are standing at the crossroads of life. We are eager for love; but, confused regarding love. We hope someone can guide the path of our life! I pray that God won't give up on us. I pray for God's help. If God doesn't pity us, we can only live under the huge gap between ideas and reality. Without God's help, we could only die in disappointment and loneliness. What a sad life!
Translated by Emma Ma
