Lee Doo Seok / Chapter 1 first draft / summer writing

             Birth order no longer determines the way we live our lives like it did before in South Korea. In the 20th century, Korea had many things going on inside the country because of Japanese invasion and the war that caused the division of the country. At that time, parents could not afford to support all of their children because they had so many things to do such as farming, constructing and working at mines. Therefore first or second child of the family had to do a lot of things for siblings. However this situation brought changes in life depending on birth orders. If you were born as the first child or second child, you could be supported by the parents financially. Parents' biggest desire was for their first child to grow up and be a successful person to raise and support the rest of the family. My father was also the first child in his family, and he was the only one in the family to move to Seoul to study in college. This kind of distinction between siblings due to birth order brought many differences in lives. Therefore, birth order was one of the biggest factor in determining one's life and personality.

             It has become the 21st century, and things have gotten very different than before. Korean people no longer have to work hard to raise the family. Mothers don't have to stay outside making money, so they can take care of kids at home. Thus, first child no longer carries duty to supporting his or her siblings. Now, children grow up to live different lives depending on personality and heredity rather than birth order. We can see very often when a young child grows up to be a rather leader-like and enthusiastic than his or her older siblings. In my case, my brother acts more like an adult than I do, though he is seven years younger than I am. This situation was highly not likely to happen in the 20th century. Therefore, birth order should not be considered important like before when evaluating one's life adjustment.