mckenzie06’s Blog

     There are many poeple that stand as heroes to me. One inparticular, however, continues to stick out to me more and more as i learn about him. For privacy purposes we’ll call him Kale. To most people, Kale is just another high school student, and if you met him you’d think the same, but when you get to know him as well as I have, you get to know some increadable pieces of his past.
     This junior in high school has lived all over the United States and has been in many scarry situations. He’s been chased down by tornadoes, caught and nearly shot in a drive-by shooting, made it through the gangs in the not-so-great parts of California, and everything in between.
     Kale’s entire family has been seperated and is now scattered throughout the country. He is living here in Oregon with his aunt, his dad and a couple of his brothers are in New Mexico, some of his siblings are in California, and some of them he doesn’t even know where they are. He has even lost 3 of his siblings; two, twins, who died at birth, and a brother who was killed mere days after his 18th birthday.
     Another thing that makes this guy a hero of mine is what he plans to do with part of his summer. As any other average teenage guy, Kale is going to be busy with sports and camps this summer, but one thing that he plans on doing that most other teens may never do in their lives, is risking their lives to save someone they love. You see, Kale’s father is in desperate need of a new kidney to live. Kale loves his father and he doesn’t want to lose him so this summer he is going to New Mexico to see if he is a match for his father and if he is, he will be giving him a kidney.

     I admire what this boy is doing and what he has been through, but what I admire most is his strength to get through it all. Kale is one of the strongest people I know. He’s kept his head up, faught through it, and kept going everytime another obsticle is thrown at him. Sure, many people can do this, but most will never admit that they do break down and cry sometimes. I’ve seen Kale cry and he’s not afraid to admit that he is an emotional person and has his breaking points. But he knows how to handle it. He knows that if he’s having a hard time, he has people he can go to and that he shouldn’t try to get through it all on his own. Now that is strength.

     Heroes arn’t just the men and women fighting for our country, yes they are my heroes as well, but they can also be, as I found out, the person sitting next to you in your spanish class. A hero doesn’t just have to be the firefighter that pulled the person out of the wreaked vehicle. They can be the victim that made a miraculous and speedy recovery and got on with their lives as though the accident had never occured.

     So the next time you see someone laughing in the hall, or sitting eating lunch in the cafeteria, or asking you a question about what the heck your spanish teacher is saying, or when you see a group of friends playing basketball at the park, or walking through the mall, or when you’re hanging out with your friends think to yourself; what has that person been through? Is that person a hero of yours and you just never noticed? You’d be surprised at what you discover.