A wonderful experience of helping others
In Tin Lok village, sounds of cleaning and moving filled the little house. The Lee family is moving because their daughter, Tina’s secondary school is too far away. In a cleared bedroom, Tina found a wooden box with her hand-drawings on it. She opened it and saw an unopened candy lying inside. This brought her thoughts back to three years ago…
Three years ago, Tina was still in primary five. That day, she said to her parents, “Bye mom, bye dad, I’m going to school!” and left home. She hummed songs and walked through the markets. Then, she suddenly remembered something and looked at her watch. “Oh no! I’m going to be late today!” Tina thought and started to rush to her school.
When Tina was near the traffic lights, which were still red, she slowed down and started walking towards the uninhabited roadside. Suddenly, she saw one of her neighbors, Grandma Wong, walking across the road! Grandma Wong has a very serious eye problem that made her nearly blind, but nobody can stay with her because she has no children or husband. Tina was very shocked by what she was doing. She was stunned for a moment, then rushed towards Grandma Wong as quick as lightning. She went through the road, grabbed Grandma Wong’s arm, turned over, and rushed back, dragging her.
Tina looked over and saw Grandma Wong was still okay, and said breathlessly to her, “Oh, grandma, why do you cross that road? The light is still red!” “Oh! Really?! But I can’t really see it,” said Grandma Wong, puzzled. Tina looked at her eyes; it seemed that her eye problems had worsened. Tina said, “Let me bring you back; you can’t cross the road by yourself.” “Thank you so much, Tina!” said Grandma Wong thankfully, as she gave Tina a candy. “This candy is for you!” she said. Then Tina went back to where she lived and returned to school.
When Tina entered the classroom, the lesson had already started. Her class teacher, Miss Chan, looked at her, shocked, and said, “Oh my god, Miss Lee, you’re late by more than twenty minutes!” “I’m sorry, Miss Chan, but…” “You will need to do five times more in today’s penmanship as punishment! Go back to your seat!” Tina went back to her seat, sighing. The grievance and aggrieved feeling from that day was still easy to remember. Five times more penmanship is really hard work. Being misunderstood wasn’t a good feeling. But Tina knew she had done the right thing, not just as a student, but as a neighbor.