Artistic Engineer
Joshua Kim
Intro
My dad holding his products
My dad at the front of the company building
My sister holding a cello drawn by my father
Subtitles
Me: How did you meet mom?
Dad: I sent her a letter.
Me: From where?
Dad: I was in the military when I sent her the letter.
Me: Wait what? Did you just send someone you’ve never met before a letter?
Dad: Yeah, so someone told me her address and I just sent her a letter. It was how it was back then. We didn’t have our own personal computers to send emails, and we didn’t have smartphones.
Me: So you met her after your service ended?
Dad: basically.
Me: Oh yeah dad, by the way, didn’t you study art until you were in college?
Dad: Yes. So I studied art mid way through college, then I had to start studying engineering, as I could no longer afford to study art.
Me: Did you like it? Studying art I mean. Were you good at drawing?
Dad: Yeah, I was pretty good at it. My skills in art actually helped me design a lot of my products as an engineer.
Me: How long did it take for you to learn ‘engineering’ enough to start your company?
Dad: I studied for around three years and then I started Nexcon(my dad’s company).
Me: Just three years? Was that enough?
Dad: I didn’t stop learning after I made Nexcon. I studied engineering while I was running Nexcon. The thing is, you can’t just study something for a few years and stop. You have to keep learning. Whatever you decide to seriously study, you have to study your whole life. If you are not prepared to do that, then that courier career is not fit for you. I learned the foundation to build off of in my college, and then I learned the rest on my own.
Me: So you recently had to sell the house at Korea, right?
Dad: Yes. I sold it when the company wasn’t doing so great.
Me: What is it like? How big is the place you are living in right now?
Dad: Oh it has a room. It’s a bit smaller than your room.
Me: *gasp* How do you live in a place like that?
Dad: It’s only me so it’s really not that bad.
Me: Still, it can’t be comfortable to live in such a small space.
Dad: It’s only temporary though. I should be able to get a decent place soon.
Golfing with my dad
My dad also enjoys fishing in his free time
My family on the Willis tower
My Untouchable Hero
Innovator, billionaire, genius, and inventor. These are all words that can be used to describe William Henry Gates III. However, just being successful does not make one a hero. When Bill Gates earned a fortune from creating Microsoft Corporation, he did not just use it for his benefit. When some billionaires spend their money on their personal wishes, Bill Gates took his money and became one of the world’s biggest philanthropist and while he was at it he convinced others to follow his example. Sacrificing his own fortune in the process, Bill Gates changed and saved countless people from different struggles, making him worthy of the title ‘hero’.
Bill Gates is a true hero as he sacrificed his own fortune to help others. According to Business insider, Bill Gates showed a lot efforts to reduce cases of malaria. Malaria is a protozoan parasite transmitted by mosquitos and can cause chills, fever, and sweating, usually occurring a few weeks after being bitten. If treated, malaria can be cured, however, some people cannot afford the drugs and thus fall victims to anemia, hypoglycemia or cerebral malaria, which are second stages of malaria if it isn't treated. To try to stop these fatal diseases from spreading, he started investing in finding a vaccine for malaria and new insecticides (Yarrow). Gates could have invested his money on personal interests, however, he decided to donate his money to help others, which not a lot of billionaires do. Considering helping others a better thing to do than satisfying his personal needs and sacrificing it shows that Bill Gates is a true hero.
Adding on, Bill Gates shows more characteristics of a hero as he changed other people’s lives for the better like my father. Bill Gates has provided a “$22 million grant to the New Schools Venture Fund, which will help find five educational organizations, management firms or public-school systems willing to create 20 charter schools apiece - for a total of 100 schools around the country" (“GATES DONATES $22M TO BUILD NEW SCHOOLS”). By doing this Gates potentially changed thousands of lives for the better by giving children better education so they can grow up to be better than they would have without Gates’ help. Similarly, my father, who is my personal hero, changed my life for the better. He taught me important life lessons, one of them being to never lie. He would always tell me that it is important for me to be a better person. Just that has changed me and how I live my life drastically. People started looking at me as a more honest person and how people treated me became different. Simply not lying has made my life so much better, and my father showed me that.
All this talk about being a hero. But what really is a hero?
A hero is a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities, according to Dictionary.com. However, a hero does not have to be so glorified,famous, or even distinguished, as the definition says. It can be anyone, as long as that person had an impact on someone. A hero is a person who has greatly changed one’s life for the better, and has sacrificed something for the good of another.
A hero is a father who has sacrificed something for the good of his children. Imagine a man who has studied art for his whole life, but has to let go of his dreams for the sake of his children, so he can get a better paying job. Consider how hard it would be to learn a completely different subject well enough to start a business in just years. Despite the stress this would surely build up, the man comes back home smiling and ready to play with his kids. Only a true hero would be able to endure a sacrifice this big and still be a great person.
A hero is a teacher inspiring her student to do better. Mrs. Farris is known to be strict among band members. She is always watching them closely, pointing out every tiny mistake we make, and telling us everything that we could do to do better. Some bandmembers find this bothersome, and even hate the amount of attention Mrs. Farris is giving them. However, because Mrs. Farris keeps pushing the band members, they become better as a musician and also as a person. To meet Mrs. Farris’ expectations, the band members work harder, and thus become a better learner. This effort put out by Mrs. Farris every day very early in the morning just so the band members can do better, even if it is little by little, and ultimately change, shows that she is a hero.