Someone else in my life that I think I learned a huge lesson from is this guy named Paul. Paul is the son of my mom’s friend and coworker. I want to share his story because it is beautiful, and there are many different lessons to be learned through it. I think I have only actually met him in person a few times, but my mom has told me all about him. And his mom loves to talk about him to everyone, she’s really proud of him. All the odds were against this one guy and he ended up doing incredible things for himself and others.
When Paul was growing up he didn’t have the easiest childhood. His parents were divorced, and he was raised by him single mom. It was him and his sister. His mom was a fulltime teacher, but she was really sick. She had some sort of infection that would eventually cause her to lose her leg. He had to help her through that which isn’t easy. His sister got into drugs and ended up getting pregnant at a young age. Money was tight and his mom wasn’t going to be able to send him to a good school, so he worked very hard and got a a scholarship to Harvard.
He was going to school to be a doctor. He worked very hard, but he was going to have student loans for the rest of his life with the rest of what the scholarship didn’t cover. Harvard offered him a really good gig. He would spend two years in inner city Chicago and teach elementary school kids. They gave hm an apartment and a stipend to live off of for the duration of his time there. So, he did it and he ended up helping a lot of children that needed it.
After that he spent some time in Africa volunteering. He really changed a lot by being over there. My mom told me the main thing that happened to him and its heartbreaking. I guess that there was this little girl that would come to the village he was in and people used to lay food out for her to eat. Paul asked about her and she had no family, she was probably four years old, and nobody could afford to just take her in. Paul decided he wanted to adopt her and take her back to America with him. He talked to all the right people and it was going to happen, and then the day he was supposed to get her she never came to the village. He waited for days, but villagers said that she most likely died from an animal attack. This was hard for Paul, but it is something that is a harsh reality from other people in other countries.
I think that Paul is someone that I definitely admire in a lot of ways. From the way he takes care of his family and then the way that he takes care of others it is a really good quality to have. He is going to be a great doctor one day and I am so happy to see a good person like that succeed in life. The fact that he gives back all the time is so awesome and other people should take some notes from him. He is so smart and he worked so hard to be where he is today it is so cool to see someone work their butt off and for it to pay off so well.