Givology - give to learn, learn to give

My family consists of six members, and both my parents are common farmers. Furthermore, my father is weak and in poor health, so he is unable to heavy labor; therefore he is not welcomed by employers when he travels, looking for work, and he can only stay at home to do farm work. Even though my father is hardworking and frugal, sometimes the economy does not allow us to be self sufficient. However, despite this, my parents did not discontinue their own children’s schooling, but instead allowed us to receive an education like “others.”

This often makes me proud. My parents want me to continue my education so that in the future I can live outside of our village. They had to make sacrifices in food and drink to save every cent for me. For ten or so years, my parents fought for life every day, and even though they were beaten black and blue by life’s hardships, they still shouldered the hoe during hot, summer days and stood stubbornly against the cruel, winter wind.
In order to lessen my parents’ burden and meet their expectations, at home, I do my best to help with household chores; at school, I study hard: when others visited parks, I studied alone, when others slept at night, I worked.

But when I saw my peers living in happy houses, enjoying a privileged life provided by their parents’, I envied them. I began to have resentment towards my parents, but whenever I thought of my father’s busy back, this resentment immediately vanished. I seemed to suddenly realize: I have absolutely no reason to hate my parents. My future life is determined by me- the key to the door between my village and a new life lies solely in my hands. Thinking of this, I became very passionate, like I had seen the light of hope, like I had become a pillar holding up the sky.

And so I walked into middle school with these hopes. I had believed myself to be impressive- as long as I studied like I did in elementary school, I would surpass others. Only through test after test did I understand: in fact, I was as small as a water droplet flowing towards an ocean. At this, I felt like my seed of hope had landed in a desert, without life. But how could I let my parents know… So again I returned to my road of study, throwing all other miscellaneous thoughts to the back of my mind.

I deeply believe that though there will always be tough times, I will always fight against the difficulties and continue. No matter how dark it gets at night, the morning sun will always rise; no matter how strong the cold wind, warm spring winds will always return. Now, I am standing at the starting line of high school.

This seed of “hope” has already sprouted in my heart- as long as I work to nurture it, it will definitely blossom with results in the future.