好方便！- Perhaps too convenient…

I was in college when I learned the term “方便.” It means convenient. I don’t often use this expression in English so I never paid much attention to it, and wondered if knowing it would even be worth while. It wasn’t until I came to Taiwan that I realized this is a very commonly used phrase. In fact, I heard it every day and began using it more and more. Had my perception changed, did I start to care more about what was convenient to the point where it entered my daily vocabulary?

Convenience is always on the mind of Taiwanese. They have built Taiwan to be a very convenient place. Modernization and innovation have been directed by convenience and, I have to admit, Taiwan is a very easy place to live. So convenient that Taiwan’s East coast feels like one large city. The cities, large and small, are all connected by standard rail lines as well as a high-speed train. You can travel through the major Eastern Taiwanese cities, spread out over a couple hundred miles, more conveniently than you can traverse the two miles from Harvard Business School to Boston University’s West campus. It’s truly convenient, but is there a downside to this?

When things are too convenient and life becomes too easy, we never have to work hard to get what we want. Always having what things at arm’s reach means we never learn to work hard to achieve our goals, or how to deal with things that are not immediately given to us. We become spoiled. Grown adults end up with a lack of appreciation; grown adults start to seem a whole lot more like spoiled children. Too many people expect instant gratification.

Perhaps this is another reason for the rise of the Strawberry Generation in Taiwan?

There are very real consequences to having a more spoiled culture. Taiwan has the lowest birth rates in the world: people do not want to sacrifice their personal freedom and money to raise a family. The majority of Chinese parents I’ve questioned have all said their lives changed for the better, and had much more meaning, after having a child. The selfish desire for freedom and money thus inhibits most people’s chance to experience this kind of true and fulfilling happiness. It’s sad to see wealthy and otherwise successful people sit around and wonder why they “just aren’t happy.”

But the move to modernization and the rising quality of life is not unique to Taiwan. It’s a worldwide thing; it’s what we all work for. I’m an engineer and I’m wondering what the most beneficial thing I can contribute to this world is. Wouldn’t innovation, new designs, things to make our lives easier and at least more enjoyable seem like a good idea? But, if that just spoils future generations, that means I’d be working to cause more harm than good.