I was reading an article titled “Why I never want Babies” and it really struck a chord with me. The women around my age in Korea are part of a generation that has been dubbed the “Sampo” generation. The word “sampo” means to give up three things – relationships, marriage and children. In the modern world you can’t survive on only one income. Two people need to be working in your average household and who does the burden of child-rearing go to? The women. We need to take a step back from our jobs or careers in order to do so especially in the first few years of the child’s life and by the time we can get back fully into the workplace, perhaps the positions qualifications have changed or the women gets fired due to poor work performance brought on by the sheer exhaustion associated with night time feedings, constant worry, or post partum depression, or of the like. There’s much more to this point but I want to move on to the next part of Sampo which is Marriage. Marriage is the bond between two human beings in the eyes of ‘God'(I’m using the name loosely), the law, and in the eyes of those surrounding. It’s the bonding of assets, of debts, of minds, of everything. And in today’s world with so many options, opinions, views, s***** desires, and a host of other human characteristics…. who has the time or the stamina to wade through all of that? And especially in the mixing of cultures there’s always tension. And the third point, relationships. I akin them to marriage but this is to put off any desire for human affection or physical desire. Today’s world is much more different than our parents or grandparents world. Divorce is such a common occurrence as well as cheating, lying, infidelity, and the list goes on. It’s definitely not worth the emotional trauma which in term will make performance in other areas in life suffer such as academics, career, finances, etc.

So. I’m 25 years old. And I consider myself a part of the Sampo generation but North Americanized. I don’t believe in relationships. I don’t believe in Marriage. And I don’t believe in Children.