In this journey of life, I personally feel that I have come a long way. However, life is never like a bed of roses. Thankfully, in the face of peril, there was always this one person that would lend me a helping hand. Therefore, with gratitude and after promising myself I will write nothing but the gospel truth, I have decided to write about this person, my hero. He is none other than my own brother and if I was to choose another living thing to represent him, it would be a super-intelligent ant. Then again, why of all images, an ant?
I personally feel that ants are very determined creatures. It is not uncommon to see a group of ants struggling to carry a grain of rice towards a destination. However, what fascinates me is the fact that ants never give up. I have never seen ants, thinking that the food is too heavy, drop the food and go home empty-handed. This is somewhat similar to my brother’s character. Everyday, he sets a target on his mind and achieves his objectives. In my point of view, the most impressive periods of time for which he had overcome are his days in secondary school and his army days. However, it is in those days that I see the undying spirit in him. Despite the fact that anything that could possibly went wrong went wrong and the fact that he does not receive all the credit for his achievements, he does not give up. Therefore, in the aspect of determination, he remains as a role model to me.
Secondly, ants are never deterred from a fight by the mere size of their opponent. It is also not uncommon to catch a glimpse of a large group of ants attacking a much bigger creature then itself. This quality of not letting your disadvantages dishearten you is also evident in my brother. He is small in size. Even though five years older than me, he is still shorter than me. These are facts that he himself does not deny. On the other hand, he never lets his small size hinder him. Perhaps the time which epitomizes this quality of his is during his army days. Being smaller in size than his army friends, he naturally faces a disadvantage when it comes to carrying heavy loads. But that never stopped him from doing it. I will never forget the story he had related to me. There was once, before an exercise that required him to carry a missile up a series of stairways, his master sergeant, out of concern, asked my brother whether he could manage the missile because it was very heavy and my brother was small in size. This infuriated him. During the exercise, my brother never stopped running. In his mind was only one objective and that was to make that master sergeant eat his words. I am absolutely certain that it is this quality that has earned him many awards in the SAF.
Lastly, like many of my friends, you must be wondering why not a normal ant but a super-intelligent one. That is simply because I felt he possessed wisdom beyond his age. This is manifested by the advice he gives me. The words that come out from his mouth are always unexpected ones yet these words are the words that I feel are the most helpful ones. Whenever I feel ennui or have a forlorn look on my face because I am facing overly high amount of stress, he will never fail to stop by his little brother to comfort and advice him. He seldom lets his work have a precedence over his family and his wise words never fail to impress my father in worldly issues.
This road of life is full of traps and pit-holes. Whenever I fall into one, my brother, my hero, just ‘flies’ by and pull me out. His determination and the fact that he never lets his shortcomings hinder his road to success enhance his heroic image. In cartoons, heroes have powers to physically fight the villains but in the real world, heroes are people that inspire you to fight your own troubles. My brother is one such hero.