My Father Perseveres

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All along I always thought he was lazy. I thought he only knew how to play sports and to enjoy life. I was wrong, very wrong indeed. There was another side of my father, the side I never knew. He was a very capable and hardworking person. He had suffered much in his childhood in a small village with few people. In the end he was able to overcome all obstacles to become what he is today. I admired him for his courage to take risk and his perseverance.If he did not persevere, I will not exist today!

My father was born in Malaysia in an very sparsely populated village. He grew up in a not very clean( at that time) environment. His family was quite poor. His family consists of his parents, seven sisters and a brother. There were eleven members in the family including him. Every morning, before he went to school, he had to help my grandparents to tap rubber( collecting sap from the rubber tree to make rubber) It was a tiring job I must say. After helping, he still had to go to school. Sometimes after school, he still had to help his parents roll rubber sheets. His family could barely make ends meet as there were so many mouths to feed. Life was indeed hard then. This was something I could not understand.

At the age of 23, he came to Singapore in search of a better life. He worked in an auditing firm as an audit assistant but his pay was low as he did not have a degree. In Malaysia, more Malays had a higher chance to go to the university then. Only the top few of the Chinese race could get in and my father couldn't. This turns out to be a blessing in disguise.

It was in that company that he met my mother.It was there where my parents love for each other blossomed. They dated for years and later got married.It was because he came to Singapore so he was able to meet my mother. My father at that time was studying very hard to pass the professional exam in accountancy( ACCA). It was organised by an accounting body in U.K. If my father passed the exam, he would have a degree that was better than the accounting degree you get in a university. The exam was not an easy one. It was very tough according to my father . Many people had tried but failed.Some have failed so many times that they gave up in the end. Only 20% of the candidates were able to pass sooner or later. The (ACCA) consists of 18 SUBJECTS. Six to be tested in the first year and 4 subjects each for the 3 subsequent years. He had to pass all the subjects in a year in order to move on to the next year. My father passed the first yearbut failed the second year. He took the second year exam again and passed. For the third year he failed twice before he passed on the third time .For the last year, he failed twice more before he actually passed the whole exam. For the four-year-exam, he took 6 years to complete altogether. The exam was very tough.

After he got the degree, he had a much higher pay. It is because of his perseverance that we can have a better life. If not for his perseverance we would not have what we had today. ( I may not even be born come to think of it) He is living a much better life now, relaxing sometimes and still working at times. We are able to have a good life now because of the fruit of his labour.I really admire him. He now owns a small accounting practice, be his own boss.

I feel perseverance is very important in life. Without it, many things will not be completed. Let's take rich people for example. Not all of them become rich because of their rich ancestors. Most actually work hard to earn money. They put their heart and soul, sweat and blood to persevere to become what they are today. Peseverance plays an important part in getting work done. If one does not have perseverance in life, he is a failure in life. He will not have any achievements at all.The lazy streak in you will take over and destroy your life. We must persevere like my father, persevere to achieve our goal, in hope for a better life in the future.

WE MUST PERSEVERE!!!