EDITOR'S NOTE

Hi everyone,

We are a group of Singapore born-and-bred millennials (if this isn’t obvious) who care deeply about our country and what will be its future. We have been stereotyped as the “strawberry generation”, perceived by our Pioneer and Merdeka-generation grandparents and parents to be “softies”, untested and un-toughened by the hardships of war, and discounted for our non-participation in the nation-building effort that propelled Singapore from third world to first.

We have asked ourselves if that is true. We looked around our peers and did informal polls. Yes, many millennials are largely concerned about so-called “bread-and-butter” issues that impact our personal livelihoods and are generally apathetic, and perhaps even allergic to big-policy issues like healthcare, future economy readiness, and climate change. But that’s hardly surprising, especially in these strange times of COVID where jobs are at stake and the economic outlook is highly uncertain. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, right? Yet, scratch a little deeper, and we found many inspiring Singaporean millennials who showed a huge capacity for caring beyond their immediate circle of family and friends. Some have started big movements and campaigns to support vulnerable communities, others have shown heart through small acts of giving and kindness, and show-of-support gestures for our frontline heroes and local businesses. Above all, there is also an increase in our desire to connect with each other.

This COVID crisis has urged us all to quietly (or loudly for some) contemplate our place on this earth and to think about how we can do more to be better, and to create a better world. No matter our personal circumstances and needs, our particular passions and pet concerns, we believe that meaningful action begins when we can connect better with each other - through social distance, generational gaps, class/racial lines and political ideology. Strawberry Generation strives to be that platform for millennial (and non-millennial) voices to be expressed and heard, for ideas to be shared, debated and celebrated, and for the creation of a community that encourages positivity and uplifts each other in our respective efforts to make Singapore a better place for all of us. In the spirit of reclaiming positivity, let’s forget the implied criticisms of the Strawberry Generation and focus on the sweetness of this healthy, vitamin-packed, antioxidant-laden fruit.We may be millennials, but we have a lot to give. For a start, as part of our initial website launch, we hope to inspire you with stories, interviews and IG live sessions with the many wonderful millennial change-makers out there who are doing amazing things. We hope that the deeply reflective letters in our Dear 16 YO Me, and Dear Future Selves series will provoke introspection, and perhaps inspire you to write one yourself! Our greatest desire is for you to think about what you care about, or whom you care about, and to think about how to take action today.

We will continue to update this site as much as we can. If you have any questions, or even better, if you’d like to submit a letter or any content ideas that you think would be cool to include here, please email us at wokeupyouridea @gmail.com

Thank you!

Team Strawberry Generation