Domestic Affairs

Grow up lonely as the one-and-only

By Ai Yang (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-07-30 16:54

Time Magazine, July 19, 2010, Vol. 176 No. 3 [Photo/Time.com]

And sometimes I wish I had a brother or sister to share my doubts and fears with, and I wish I had a brother or sister to together ensure our parents well-being, and I wish I had a brother or sister to turn to and cry with, when one day our parents' leave us. And yet on that very sense I feel alone.

Interestingly though, at a time when singletons like me have just graduated from universities, entered adulthood, found an okay job – and started realizing all the "me orientated" love and care and attention really did come with a price – there is really just you, no one but just you – the West on the other hand, seems to be considering following our model and producing their own single babies. In fact the July issue of Time magazine published a long article debating the pros and cons of having only one child in the family, and at least the author, mother of one herself, seems to believe it's not a screw-up situation raising one and only. And also according to the article it seems Germany and Austria are the pioneers in Europe in trying that out.

Of course I'm not saying that being a single child has screwed me up. In fact single or not, first of all I have long ceased to qualify as a child. Nevertheless the status of being the only one in the family will certainly affect more than just the childhood of a person, and it will have to take more than just ten or twenty years to define the significance of being the onlies.

In my case, one is indeed the loneliest number.