My Father
The following speech won 1st place in the JHS Prefectural Speech Contest 2008. It was written by Shogo Tawaraya from Nishisemboku Higashi Junior High School.
My Father
My father fears roller coasters, but I love them! Yet my father has my admiration. I'll tell you why.
He lives in China now. He started working there three years ago. I was very troubled back then about starting junior high school, and I didn't know why he had to go overseas. My father could see that I was very worries, so he made time to encourage me with a funny story.
According to my father, he had too many friends when he was my age. He had so many friends that he had trouble talking to all of them. At school, he was greeted with so man "good mornings" that he couldn't reply to everyone. He also had too many girlfriends. He was worried when they asked him to choose only one of them. He sounded really popular. I wasn't to be popular like him. At the moment I have no girlfriend, but I'll keep on trying. I'll never give up!
My father told me, "It is a great blessing to have many friends. The friends you make in your junior high school days will be your friends for life. So go out there, Shogo, and make lots of friends." My worries about entering junior high school changed into hopes of making many new friends, but I was still anxious about my father going overseas.
Soon, life without my father began. Time passed very slowly. Every day, when I woke up and went to the breakfast table, my father was not there. When I came home from school, my father was not at the dinner table. Ordinary life was not ordinary life. I felt very sad, but my father called once a week. These phone calls helped to heal the pain in my heart. But the sadness did not fully disappear. I learned the importance of a father.
At school, I became more friendly to my classmates and even learned hot to make them laugh. Laughing with friends make me feel less lonely and helped me with the pain. Soon I had too many friends, like he used to!
Later I learned why my father had to go away. He went to China to work as the manager of an engineering department because of the great demand for cell phones. Gradually I matured and began to understand my father's job. I'm proud to have such a hardworking father.
After a while, my father came home to visit. He told me about his life in China. Since moving there, he has studied Chinese language every day. He also told me that Chinese people often wear bright clothes, and that the streets are very dangerous because people drive too fast. Maybe people wear bright clothes so cars will not hit them!
My father impresses me very much. Even though he is scared of fast cars, he can cope with living alone. My father's words and the time I have spent apart from him have helped me to mature. The image of him working hard to adapt to his new life in China has given me strength. Thanks to this change in me, I have been able to make many friends and enjoy my time at junior high school. I believe the was a great gift from my father. Now I would like to send a message to him, with deep appreciation:
You can brave the loneliness
And foreign culture,
Yet you fear roller coasters.
Despite this strange mix
Of strength and weakness,
You have my admiration.
Thank you, Dad!
