[Voices of the MZ Generation Column] Affirming a Life of Anxious Struggle

No One Is Good from the Start
Shining Moments Come After Days of Struggle
Overcoming the Culture of Cynicism Among the Young Generation

Attorney Jiwoo Jeong · Cultural Critic

Cynicism has become widespread in our society these days. People not only view their own lives with resignation but also tend to look at others' lives cynically. Especially among the younger generation, negative opinions about ‘effort’ are frequently found. Cynicism and resignation such as "No matter how much you try, you can't change the spoon you were born with," or "No matter how hard you try, the shining life and dreams belong to others" have deeply spread.

Under this trend, some even mock those who are anxiously struggling. Instead of making efforts themselves and supporting others' efforts, they become spectators who ridicule others' efforts. They take a step back and divide people into ‘those who were destined to succeed from the start’ and ‘those who won’t succeed no matter how hard they try,’ judging, mocking, and evaluating them like gods. Online communities and various comment sections overflow with such ridicule, judgment, and cynicism.

These spectators do not trust the imperfect efforts of humans but believe that only special people possess perfect genius, innate talent, or naturally determined brilliance, and that they themselves have the insight to recognize this. This kind of cynicism, which has become very common in our era, is directly connected to the attitude of consumer society-type humans who find everything bothersome and become addicted to convenient consumption. They come to dislike the attitude of working hard and producing persistently, devalue it, see it as ugly, and want to remain only consumers.

However, the truth as I know it is closer to this: even those born with genius talent and who appear incredibly beautiful have mostly struggled through painfully ugly times because they desperately wanted to become that way. The most naturally beautiful and proud handsome men and women obsessively care for every blemish on their faces, undergoing countless treatments and practicing facial expressions to look that way. Figure skaters who seem to have been queens from birth, the world’s best baseball or soccer players, all have gone through miserable, pitiful days and barely reached those shining moments.

No one can be good at something from the start. No one is famous, successful, or perfect from the beginning. Even people who look impressive, as if they were born with the destiny of being ‘cool people,’ have their awkward, muddy, struggling times. Everyone at some point receives looks like “You’re just trying too hard,” or “You won’t make it doing that.” They achieve a kind of ideal only after ‘desperately struggling,’ sometimes enduring resigned looks even from close family members, as if swimming with their feet on the ground.

Therefore, we must be cautious of a culture that fears effort yet mocks it. Life is not something to watch but something to live through practice. Those who make efforts eventually make life their own in some way. They do not let their lives be torn apart by others’ gazes but shape it with their own waves. They lead their lives with their own energy and live their own lives. Such a life cannot even be imitated by those who remain mere spectators.

Then one day, under the bright sunlight, it becomes very clear that the ugliest are not those who struggled and fought while rolling in the mud, but the spectators sitting in a row under the wall, giggling. I support you who struggle fighting against the culture of cynicism.

Jung Ji-woo, Lawyer and Cultural Critic