Having it hard in life when you’re younger, but thanks to all those who’d helped you out along the way, that’s made coming of age easier, somewhat…translated…
I didn’t have loving parents growing up, I was raised in poverty, but gladly, I’d always had people who helped me along the way.
The very first person who’d offered me a helping hand was my school teacher, she was, an instructor at Daja Middle School, with three kids of her own, living in the school dormitories, every time I saw her, she always wore her radiant smile. My mother worked as a laundry lady and a maid in my teacher’s house, so every Saturday, I’d gone to help. In those times, I’d gotten picked on in school by my classmates, and got home, and my mother would yell at me, only she was kind to me, no matter how inefficient I’d worked, she’d always smiled at me, and praised me.
As I got my acceptance letter from teacher college, my mother’s face changed colors, she’d ranted on how she’d put me through five years of school, and I couldn’t work in the factory and bring home more money to her. My homeroom instructor was the only one who was happy for me, and worried, that if I didn’t dress up to my interviews, I would, get scanned out, so, she’d, made sure that I understood the details of the interviews I was about to have.
The winter break before I entered into teachers’ college, I went to the winter training, the school didn’t include room and board, I’d called home to my mother, asked her to send the money, she didn’t want to, and lied to me that she already did, I’d started borrowing money from my classmates, and toward the end, I’d, starved myself, until the end of the winter training sessions.
I’d thought about how I’d given all my wages from my elementary school years to my mother, and, she’d, ignored my one and only requests, as school started, I’d, turned to my middle school teacher to ask for her assistance.
My school teacher, Fu-Mei Lu is a very straightforward, and passionate woman, treated every one of her children as if s/he is her own child. Other than school, she’d also, taken care of the needs of us, little girls, who are out and living away to study, she’d brought a lot of warmth into my life.
And still, would I, a not-at-all excellent, without any special talents student, get any help from her? I’d worked up the courage, and, asked her to help me find a job as a tutor, and, she’d agreed in a heartbeat. That tutoring job, not only allowed me to have real-time experience teaching a student, it’d also kept me from hunger during the summer and winter vacations; I was even able to use my wages, to learn to play the piano, to learn to dance, to live my dreams of learning new things.
These two people who are teachers and mothers to me, became like the stars that lit up the darkened nights, not only did they illuminate my life, they’d also given me the courage, to face the challenges that came my way afterwards.
So, this, is the kindness someone received from her teachers, and, the teachers were more like mothers to this woman than her own, and, it’s with the teachers’ help to this woman, she’d also, become a teacher herself, to carry on the torch, to pass the kindness she’d received from them, to her own students…
Life, the Obstacle Course 