Akrum

Hero now, that's a very strong word that people use to describe someone. Hero defines someone that you see who has magnificent characteristics and moral values. In the eyes of the people that look up to him/her they are seen as a superhuman, someone they look up to and just want to be like in every way shape or form. People that we see that are heroes in our world are our mothers, fathers, teachers, firemen, police force, and our brave soldiers. These are the people that many look up and see the characteristics that they only dream of having.

Now If you listened closely you would have noticed that every single person i just mentioned is older than us. All these heroes have built their heroic characteristics through the many years that they have lived. But what if I told you that my hero has none of what i just said. You are probably wondering right now who would this be and why would i look up to someone who doesn't even have the characteristics of a hero. Someone who doesn't have great moral values that we see in heroes let alone he is younger than me. Why would i look up to someone who is younger than me? Why would i look up to someone who i have had more experience than in this world?My hero is a hyper-active person who acts in spontaneous ways, where he doesn't realize the consequences of his actions. None of these characteristics lead up to a hero. Yet he is my hero. None of this adds up. But let me explain to you why it does. The hero that i am talking about is my little brother Akrum. And the reason that i call him my hero, the reason that i call my little brother my hero, is because of his determination. The type of determination i have seen in my little brother is like no determination i have ever seen in my entire life. But why would his determination differ him from the people who become the best athletes in the world, from the people who fight in the wars that we have seen, from the people who become the best world leaders? Why am i using my little brother, a 6th grader at middle school, to represent the term determination?

It all started when I was in 7th grade, when my mother told me that my brother has extreme ADHD, a severe learning disability and to top that he was dyslexic and that he would be a special needs person for his whole life. I remember the tears streaming down my cheek as I said to myself that I would never ever have a normal younger brother - nor will my brother ever live a normal life. But as time went by i realized that this so-called abnormal brother is the greatest blessing of my life. But why would i call this so-called curse a blessing? One word: Determination. The reason i keep on using this word determination is because i see it in him every day. My little brother has been on the same reading level since the first grade. He is currently in 6th grade. So imagine being on the same level of something for a good portion of your life only to notice that you are barely accomplishing anything every day. For we get frustrated and give up when we can't figure out a math problem in 10 minutes. But why would i call a special needs child a hero? Imagine that you are writing down the number pi, 3.141519, but instead of trying to write down as many numbers as possible in one day you are writing down one number every day for 6 years. On a daily basis you are barely accomplishing anything, but if you were writing one number everyday for 6 years you would have accomplished a milestone. And that's how i see it in my little brother. He started out every day trying to learn the words "his", "her", "and", "the" - all these basic words. But as time went on he kept on trying to improve. Now i see him read the words "magnificent", "chemistry", "physics", "sociology" -all these complex words. This is why i use my little brother to define the word "determination". Because he had the will to stay on the same problem for the past 6 years and he has never given up not once. His persistence to learn exceeded the disability that he has. Tell me someone that you know with that type of determination. This is why i call my little brother my hero because he has shown me to never give up, no matter what the circumstances are and no matter what happens. As Rocky once quoted, "It's not about how hard you hit but how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward." I always tried to live up to that quote in my life, but as i looked at my little brother i realized he was far more advanced than i was in perceiving this quote. A hero is someone in life that you always look up to and i will forever be looking up at my little brother.