Influence Of A National Hero

Submitted By JessicaQionglin-Guo
Words: 318
Pages: 2

Kimberly Huang
2/8/12
Block C
Read Method I believe that each of you here today, is inspired by someone. The person may be a national hero, a sports star, a sibling. For me, my inspiration is someone, though not well known, who I elevate on a pedestal and hold close to my heart. He lived in Taiwan for all eighty-eight years of his life, as a doctor, but he golfed and played basketball in his free time. He was a man of great wealth, but spent nearly nothing on himself, preferring to spend it all on his family. In the later years of his life, he struggled with glaucoma, a condition that damaged the optic nerve, and he was eventually left with only 1% of his vision, seeing the once vibrant world in dim shadows.

Yet he was also the man who spent hours in front of the TV, watching the DVD’s of my sister’s and my performances that we had sent to him, enthralled by the flickering shapes he knew were us. He was never defeated. When he came to America to visit, I led him through the streets near my house, as he felt the terrain through the soles of his shoes. The second time, he insisted on finding the way himself. And though he suffered from arthritis and constant pain, his positive outlook on life never wavered. He would be the first to share a smile, to offer an embrace. He has taught me to love. A mere year and a half after his wife passed away, he left, saying he would meet her in heaven. I hope to be able to love the same way he did, to have a heart nearly as large