Adolfo de la Rosa

Does your hero have to be a star? I think that that’s not true. Why? My hero has never been in a movie and he never made a million dollars because of a song, but he’s always giving and never waiting for the people to give him something. My hero’s name is Adolfo de la Rosa and he is my grandfather. He is my mom’s dad. He lives in the Dominican Republic on a farm. He lives with his wife who is my mom’s mom. He also lives with three of his grandchildren.

Well, heroes have to do something for other people right? Grandpa helps the poor and he’s not rich. My grandpa cares for everyone. My grandfather has a lot of grandchildren and he lives with some of them. If he doesn’t have money for food, you know what he does? He doesn’t care if he doesn’t eat; he gives his grandchildren his food. My grandpa cannot make a foundation for children because he always helps them from his pocket. In the Dominican Republic, there are a lot of poor children that have to work and can’t go to school. When my grandpa sees them, he gives them money. Sometimes children work cleaning shoes, but he just gives them the money. He doesn’t care if they didn’t clean his boot well or even if they didn’t get cleaned at all.

My hero is strong mentally and physically. Adolfo is 84 years old and he works at a farm. He had dengue fever and he had the bad kind. I felt like I was losing him. My mom had to go to the Dominican Republic because the doctors said, "Take him home, because there is nothing that we can do about it." Each night I prayed; I prayed with all my heart because I wanted my grandpa to live. I wanted him to stay with us. Something happened and I know it was a miracle. When he got out of the hospital he felt real bad and had to go again. Then they said to take him home and with all the love that my family gave him he got better and now he is strong as always. You know what? He battled through it. I know he didn’t do it by himself; God helped him and of course the doctors too.

My hero is lovable and wise. He gives you love and makes you feel comfortable around him. He makes you laugh and make you feel in peace. Why is he wise? He knows how to make good choices. He’s always telling you what to do but not in a mean way. If you have a problem, he always helps you make the right choices. Once I had a hard time with mathematics. I didn’t want to go to school because I didn’t understand it. Grandpa didn’t go to my house and tell me what to do, but he told my aunt to tell me that at the end of the day I will have to go to school and everything will be fine. Then I thought that what he said was true, that at the end of the day everything would be over. That is how he helped me with his wise decisions.

Why did I pick my grandfather? He is important to me. Why? There are a lot of reasons why I picked him. He is my mom’s dad; he loves me and always cares for me. The other most important thing is that he taught me that in life not all would be about you, you, you and you. He didn’t sit down and tell me that, but he showed me by his actions. He showed me that if you give people love, they’d give you love, and that everyone has a mission in this world. God wants us to help each other when we are sad or happy. My grandpa told me that all people are brothers and sisters, because God is yours, everyone’s and mine too.