Do you know what a hero is? Well, what I think is that a hero is someone you admire, and I admire my dad a lot. He is always there. I remember the words he told me, "I look at life as a gift of God. Now that he wants it back I have no right to complain." When I look at my dad, it’s like he is living happily and free on his own and doing anything he wants to do instead. My dad is a hard working father. Even though you think he is dumb because he doesn't speak a lot of English, he is still an understandable person. At work, he is really tired but he still does his job correctly. He never gives up.

He is like that because when he was young, he had a very hard life. He was a banded by my grandma and grandpa in 1974 that is why I never talk about them. My dad and my uncle traveled all the way to Thailand from Laos. On the way my dad got hit by a bomb. He still survived because it was only lose. He has a hole on his head but it grew out already. He was still young back then. My uncle sold my dad to a new family. The new family treated my dad so bad, that my dad had to wake up at 3 o'clock a.m. He brings a big basket, even bigger then him and he had to go to the garden and plants rice and corn. When he comes back he has to at least bring cucumbers for the family to eat and he couldn't even bring it. He was a bused by his new family. When I listen to this story it’s like I was there watching him getting abuse and so tired from all those chores. I never knew how my dad was so poor and at an age so young.

My father had been abused and careless when he was young he went to school at the age of 16. When he turned about 18, the people from the United States came to help Hmong people; they came and took my dad. My dad was saved. He stayed with my aunt from the abusive family. He graduated at Oshkosh North High School. He made a lot of Hmong friends in Wisconsin. He met a lot of relatives that is related to him. My dad played soccer in a Hmong team. While there was a soccer tournament in Sheboygan, he met my mom and they got married in 1995. Then my dad started with his new life.

Now that I’m here, I am pretty happy that my father had change from years ago. He is still afraid of his past so never talk about it. I just hope my dad will be my hero and my role model forever. I wish my dad’s life is forever special.