My hero is my grandfather. He is always at my side and when I call him he will reply in Mandarin, “Yes Wei Chuan, what do you require?” I will then tell him what I want and he will try his best to help me. Although I have associated with countless of people in my life, no one person could evoke feelings the way he did. When I was young, I always thought that the policemen and firemen were heroes that saved many people of the world, until my grandfather came to stay with me.
My grandfather has a pair of shining eyes on his triangular face, although his eyes are not as sharp as us and uses a magnifying glass to read newspapers, he is still very keen to read the things that is shown on the newspaper. His ears are large and can hear things very clearly, unfortunately one of his ears turned deaf and since then, he can only rely on the other ear to hear. Why did my grandfather turn deaf? That’s another story which you will read later.
My grandfather had always encouraged me in every way. Whether in school or in my personal experiences in life, he has always been there for me. He may be reflected as an old fashioned person, but in my heart, he is a very extravagant person to me. My grandfather will always remind me that we have to do our work with pride and do not bend our head too forward.
My perspective of life somehow changed whenever my grandfather and I had our conversations. He will always remind me how hard I have to work in future, like how he did. I am always proud of him, and always will be. Keeping in mind of his inspiring life stories he had told me, they make me strive harder whenever I fail in something I do, telling me to keep my head up no matter what I do. His conversations were never meaningless and dull, and behind them all was a lesson to be learnt. He always told me stories of the past including the Japanese Occupation and mentioning again and again how he survived through it.
Although my grandfather always plays his old fashioned music in his room, I have never humiliated his decision as he will explain the song’s story behind it to me and will teach me to appreciate it. His personality was admirable, always putting others before himself, he was a selfless person, and because of that, he was well-liked by many. Every weekend or special occasion, he will walk to the market by himself and buy roasted duck and chicken back for the family to feast on. He had friends and they remained as friends till time separates them. He would always create a warm feeling whenever he was around people and his sincere heart was always an attraction. He had his ways with people, and I suppose he had touched many lives with his genuine personality
One of my grandfather’s ear turned deaf last year in June but he will still listen to every word we say. He was using a cotton bud trying to clean his ear when his hand shook slightly and the cotton bud poked into his ear and instantly turned deaf. There was blood oozing out from his ear and the whole household was in a mess. Since that incident, my mother will always clean his ear for him so that his other ear will not be infected and deteoriate.
My grandfather has only a few more years to live thus we, as family have to take care of him and allow him to live his remaining live fruitfully.
BY: Quek Wei Chuan 5 Respect 2008 Pei Tong Primary School