MyStory

My hero!

“A hero is someone who saves the world.”

“I want to be a hero and save the world.”

That is what a lot of little children say and define their heroes. But who is my hero? When I was young, my hero was Hua Mulan, the first Chinese woman warrior. I thought that she was a brave girl who wanted to help her country and the people.

But as I grew older, and started to be more mature in my thinking, I realised that being brave and saving the world does not really define a hero. It is the sacrifice, the love and the determination that makes a person a hero. And that is how I came to a conclusion; that my hero, or should I say, my heroin, is my mother.

My mother is a great teacher, a great person, and a real hero. She is a brave person, not giving up when things go wrong. She is the sole breadwinner in the family when my father died of cancer. But even so, she stayed strong, for me, for my sister, and for my brother. She works extremely hard to give us a good life, sometimes juggling two jobs at one time.

My mother showers me with love and care. When I face any problems, she would be there, supporting and encouraging me. Even when I argue with her over small matters, she did not stay angry with me for long. Whenever things go wrong, she would always be there to embrace me in her arms and tell me that everything was alright. You could say that she was my pillar of support.

My mother is the person who gave me hope. She is the light at the end of the dark corridor; she is the one who lights up the candle. My mother still ‘shines’ even when there are any problems. She still smiles even when she is tired or stressed. She is a person who never gives up easily. I guess that is where I got my stubborn and determine streak from. Whenever she faces difficulty along the way of completing something that she wants, she would push herself and give all her best. Whenever she wants something, she would work hard for it. Whenever she falls, she would stand up again on her two legs and start again.

I learnt a phrase from her, and that is ‘Nothing gets you down. Only you get yourself down’. When faced with a difficulty, I have a choice to either fight on, or I can give up then and there, and just forget about it. If I give up when I fail, then i will not learn anything. I will not know how to improve myself the next time. If I fail and try again, then I will learn something along the way. My mother once said to me, “Failure is not something that gets you down. Failure is a CHALLENGE in life.”

Although she is not the ‘hero’ that little children thought that he or she should be; someone who saves the world, but in my mind, bravery, love and sacrifice is all that I ask of from my hero, my mother.  

(534 words)

Name: Yen Mei Yi

Class: 2E1

School: Greendale Secondary School