The survey conducted by the Shanghai Women’s Federation finds me left with very mixed feelings. Is it good news or bad? I’m just not sure. I believe that women and indeed everyone should do what they can to improve their lives, and education is definitely an excellent means of doing so. I also believe in the importance of tradition, ethics, and values. I feel it is good news that China’s people continue to have a strong moral structure and sense of tradition. They not only act on their value system, they believe in it.
When I am stateside I look around me and find so much hatred and intolerance. No one really bothers to get to know each other anymore. Children do not ride their bicycles to the store, neighbors do not become friends, jobs are transitory and I find that even my own children do not show respect to their elders.
I do not know what has caused the terrific downfall of our society. I love my country. I am sad that the world I was raised in no longer exists. I am sad that today’s American youth is taught to “look out for number one” because no one else is going to look out for you.
We try to protect our children by teaching them not to talk to strangers but we are teaching them fear. We don’t let them play outside by themselves for fear they will be abducted. What are we teaching them? That human beings cannot be trusted. But why are they developing such hatred in their hearts? Why does everyone seem to be so disrespectful to everyone else, including their loved ones and indeed themselves?
I do not know. But I think that by letting go of our traditional values we may have in fact opened Pandora’s Box. We have forgotten that inside we all long for the same things. I cannot imagine that things will ever improve now that they’ve sunk so far. We are spiraling downward, I see it everyday and I weep for our children and our future.
I love my country. I love my family. I vote. And I try to teach my children tolerance, respect and the differences between right and wrong. Do I have hope for the future? Yes, though as you can tell it’s not very strong. Perhaps that is where I am failing.
So in reading the survey aforementioned, I find myself wanting to celebrate that traditional values are still strong in China, another country that I love. I am happy to know that the people believe in the moral structures that they follow. That they are not simply going through the motions because they must, but because it is their choice.
And yet, here I am a woman who knows what it is to long for love, to lose love, and to find love. I have a family, something that everyone longs for. Would I choose education and betterment of my life if it meant I might not be able to pass it along to my children, in fact that I might not get that family if I chose that course?
I guess I am lucky. I can choose education and family without sacrifice. And, ultimately, I guess that I hope that China can find a way to keep its traditional values while continuing to improve the lives of its people. Education can only improve everyone’s life. It brings knowledge that is invaluable on every level. Educating both men and women equally can only improve the country and its people, its families. China needs its educated to continue to flourish, continue to educate, to grow, to propagate. These women are indeed perhaps some of the best catches out there searching for love. And they indeed deserve to find it. After all, we are all the same inside.
