Done By:
NG YEE BENG
Greendale Secondary School
Sec 3E3
Topic: My hero
In my opinion, I think that my hero is a best friend of mine. We had known each other for a very long time. His name is Tom and he is a very friendly and helpful person. He is about the same age as I. he is very hardworking and strive to the best he can do in spite of the difficulty and the hardship after a sad incident a few years ago……
He had difficulty getting out of bed every day despite the time. He had been following this routine for as long as he could remember. It was a chore in the beginning but forcing himself out of bed every morning was a better alternative than facing the wrath of the man he called ‘father’. With only two of them in the house, it was impossible for him to avoid his father. Whenever his father found him ten minutes after he was supposed to have woken up, his father would tie him to a tree outside his house. It was not physical torture that bothered him. It was the eyes of everyone in the village boring down on him that hurt him the most. He wondered why his pleas for help did not bother anyone. Many years later, he found out that his father had told them that he was being punished for abusing his younger sister. He was puzzled why the long time neighbours never questioned the explanation.
His first task was to fetch water from the well. It was an arduous task. He spent more than fifteen minutes going back and forth. The bucket was small but it was just right for him. He was already having difficulty carrying the small bucket. He tried his best to fetch the water as fast as he could. He knew exactly when his father would be waking up and he did not want his father to see him struggling with the bucket. When his father did catch him once, his small frame was kicked severely and abuse was hurled at him.
Fetching the water was the only thing he had to do in the house. After making sure that he had left for work, his father would spend most of his time at one of the neighbour’s house. He spent his time gambling and drinking with the money that he snatched from Tom the minute he returned home every day. Tom’s job in the local town helped to support father’s habits and although his father was an adept farmer, he stopped working when he picked Tom up on the streets one day.
Tom lost both his parents when a fire broke out in the store that they owned. He had no kin and he was foraging in the streets when someone offered him two slices of bread one day. In his eyes, the bread was a scrumptious meal. He gobbled it down and for the next few days waited expectantly for the same man to appear. The man came punctually every day and after a week, the man asked Tom if he wanted to live with him. Tom jumped at the offer of being able to have a roof over his head. However, the happiest day of his life was also the beginning of the saddest times of his life. The man made Tom call him ‘father’ and the man forced him to work on a farm. He was treated like a slave and when word went around that money was quick in the town, the man forced him to make a living there.
He was supposed to work in a factory but his employer made him work in a construction site instead. From dawn to dusk, he was forced to carry wooden planks and transport bags of cement from one place to another. He was ten years old, but he was only one of the many children working in the site. Some of the others were much younger than him. However, they were determined to complete what they had to do, partly because of the consequences of not obeying and partly because of the pittance that they received. For him, he preferred such backbreaking work than being tied to a tree.
Despite the job that he was doing, it gave him respite from the place he called home. He was afraid of his father whenever he got drunk. This was usually in the afternoon. He would be sober by the time Tom returned home. All his father demanded from him was the daily pay that he received. He hated it when his father took away all his hard-earned money and when his salary increased, he kept it from him. He hid all the money in an envelope under his mattress. Over the years, he amassed a substantial amount and was just about to escape when a man appeared at the construction site one day. He was an officer from an international aid agency and Tom’s employer was being charged for making use of child labour. Together with the rest of the children, Tom was sent to a home where he received an education and learnt practical skills. Although the past was permanently etched in his mind, he looked forward to a promising future.
Knowing that my friend had led such a very sad and tough life, that is why I chose him as “my hero”, by the way he persevered and determined in his life. I told him not to feel crestfallen due to the past and told him to start a new life. As he is my best friend, I do not want to see him looking very depressed and I tried to cheer him up by playing games and also talking about the things we are interested in. now I can see that he is a changed person and I am glad to know it. His past taught me of not to take things for granted and also we must work hard to achieve something.
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