Translated…
Through an international call, I’d heard my younger sister, tell me that the child she was counseling was finally on the right tracks, I’m so happy for her. I’d heard that smile, curling up her lips, and that tone of excitement she’d carried, I’d found out, that back then, that baby girl that’d tagged along behind me, crying aloud, is finally, all grown up.
I’m only two years older than my younger sister, and that, was the most awkward age difference. Since I was younger, my mother told me, “You’re older, you must allow your sister to have her ways, set a good example for her.” But, as a child, how can that possibly register? Plus, all of a sudden, I’d gained a younger sister, I’d felt, that my parents no longer loved me as much, and so, I’d done everything I possibly can, to pick on her, causing my mom to develop a serious headache toward the older sister that I’d become.
But my younger sister was extremely gentle in nature, since she was born, she’d treated me very kindly. When I’d moved forward, she’d followed, a step behind me; if I’d stopped, she’d totally wait for me. In middle school, her writing assignment was “My Idol”, and she wrote about me.
I’d often asked myself, “am I, really, her idol?”, not at all. When my younger sister entered into college, she’d chosen the social education majors, since her freshman year, she’d needed to intern at various social welfare organizations, and everything she’d weathered through during those times, I’d taken into my mind.
In order to give the best kind of care to the elderly in the facilities, she’d worked overtime, without a base pay, and she’d needed to make sure, that everything was all right before she’d allowed herself to get off work. As she’d gone to the prisons to visit, seeing how the female inmates with children, she’d often, felt sadder, compared to the female inmates themselves. When she worked with children of special ed, she’d gotten so moved when a child managed to speak in a complete sentence.
More times than not, the people she’d worked with needed a lot of company and demanded a great deal of her time to interact with, and, the results are not immediate, she’d even gone through numerous trials. Seeing everything she’s weathering through in her internship, I’d told her, that if I were in her shoes, I couldn’t have handled it. But my younger sister told me, “Not at all, I think, they’re so very amazing, although the elderly had lost their memories and their abilities to care for themselves, but, when they were able to finish their meals completely, I’d feel, very satisfied. And I’d known, that I’d offered them that sense of security that they’d needed.”
After she’d graduated, she’d become a social worker, and, she’d worked alongside the units, to handle the matters of children from bad backgrounds as well as the children in the distant regions, after work, she’d made the extra trips to their homes to visit. Sometimes, someone needed assistance in the middle of the nights, when the person called her cell, she’d rushed over, without a second thought.
Since when, my younger sister had become, someone that those children who are so alone can rely on. The work she’d handled, and her coming-of-age, is so excellent, that I no longer feel fitting, to be idolized by her, because my younger sister had already, made me proud. The work she’d done had, given assistance to the world around, had given hope to the children who were lost, my younger sister is a social worker, also, my idol!
And so, that, is how the siblings can learn from each other, and, the closeness of the way that these two sisters interacted is amazing, and it’s all due to the right values that they have themselves too.
and no, still NOT my picture…
Life, the Obstacle Course 