On that Night, I’d Made a Wish

Because the family’s economic is strained, and so, you’d VOWED, to study hard, so you can give more earnings back to your parents, for helping to get you the education you’d needed, translated…

It was, in the 1950s, the servicemen were paid very little, and my mother would often worry about the three meals, and, as we’d passed the half-month marker, my father would go around and about, trying to borrow money from others, as he waited, for next month’s paycheck. And, after he got paid for the next month, he’d needed to, pay off the debts, and, as we passed the middle of the month, the rice inside the pot reduced, and so, he’d had to, borrow money again, and, we’d, lived on, borrowing from others.

My father married late, as I was born, he was, already, thirty-six, and, after a serviceman past forty years of age, he will be forced, into retirement, there would still be eighty-percent of what he was being paid were he still in active duty, life became, even harder. And finally, my parents had, gotten jobs as dishwashers, ever since, they’d risen early and turned in late, became tried by life.

And still, in my middle school years, I’d become, very rebellious, as I’d come home from school, I’d not, reviewed over my lessons, and, seeing how the high school entrance exams are approaching, my math grades were still very low. And so, my father sold the rice that the military had given him cheap, to the vendors, and given me three months of tuition for cram school. During the time I was in the cram schools, my grades improved quickly, but the fees only lasted me until the end of May, and, we just, can’t afford, to do the final month’s worth of reviewing, and so, I can only, study on my own. The results of the high school national examinations, I’d scored low in math, and, entered into a private school.

not my art…

The tuition for the private schools were high, my father took his suit, his watch, to the pawn shops, plus he’d applied for the monetary assistance for the education of the children of servicemen, and, I was able to, barely, continue my education. During which time, my mother had gotten hospitalized for her gall bladder, because she’d overworked herself, and the burdensome medical fees put our household economy into a jam

One evening, I’d gotten too tired from studying, I’d walked into the yard, lifted my head, gazed up, toward the skies, made a wish to the heavens above, that from here on out, I shall become, more studious, and, I’d, vowed to use my own two hands, make myself known, so my parents won’t ever have to worry about money again.

Later on, I’d entered into college on the provisions of government, after I graduated, I was assigned to a middle school to teach, and, my pay rate was three times my parents’, I’d begged them to stop working, and, they’d agreed, happily.

So here, you can see, the sacrifices the parents made, to raise their young, how they’d put money into his education, because they knew, that only through getting a good education, can their son make something of himself, and he did.