Member-only story
Bitter First, Sweet Later
The Chinese say, “Bitter first, sweet later”.
This means that it’s difficult to work hard early in life to raise children, but, later, one’s children will serve as a safety net in one’s old age.
Traditionally, it was encouraged to have more children in China.
I disagree that having children is necessary.
I also disagree with the idea of ‘bitter first, sweet later’.
Why can’t one’s entire life be mostly sweet? Why not strive to make life as sweet as possible?
Like a lot of Chinese people before, many people now still think that the more children one has, the more prosperous that person is.
Many unfortunately narrowly assume that every child that one has will grow up and earn a living; therefore, parents of these children will be fully supported and will have a lot of wealth.
I disagree with this narrow view.
There is no guarantee at all that one’s children will earn a decent enough living to raise a family of their own (if there were to be one) and their parents.
There is no guarantee that one’s children will live long enough to be of working age.
There is no guarantee that one’s children won’t become drug addicts or alcoholics or have serious…
