Work hard for your goals

Painful tears rolled down Alan’s cheeks when he looked at his mother’s coffin. Last night, she had had a severe stroke and had died unexpectedly. Alan was shocked over his mother’s death. The sight of his mum lying unconscious on the bathroom floor still gave him goosebumps.

His father, who had abandoned his mum and him an year ago, turned up at his mum’s funeral. Alan looked at him with pain and agony.

Three days later, after all the funeral rites had been performed, Alan still seemed to sulk. He had to move in with his aunt and cousins. His aunt was a pleasant lady; she strongly advised him to get over his past and concentrate on his present life.

Alan was in his class when the bell screeched and all students stood up. Alan also got up and walked out of the class. His locker was filled with the stack of library books which were due today. “Oh, gosh!” said Alan “I better be off to the library” and ran as quick as lightning through the corridors of the school.

He was panting when he reached the library. He carried the stack of books into the library and handed it over to the librarian.

“You are late”, she said. When Alan turned to go out of the premises, she asked, “Aren’t you taking out any books today?”.

“No”, Alan replied.

“I heard about your mum’s death, I’m extremely sorry”, she said sympathetically.

“Yeah sure” ... Alan said with a sigh, tears filling his eyes again.

He turned around and quickly walked away from her.

Suddenly, Alan noticed a sign saying, ‘Help wanted’. He turned and walked back to the librarian to ask whether they were employing people.

“Yes, Alan, would you like to join?” she asked. Alan thought about it for a mument and said, “Yeah”....

“We would pay two hundred rupees a day”, she said.

Alan was able to manage his life now; he had got a part-time job at his favourite place. He remembered his mother’s words, “Work hard Alan”.

He seemed to be smiling more often, and he had got an itch to study hard. Thus he was able to gain higher grades at his examinations.

Alan studied with great effort and earned a scholarship to the medical faculty. He became a doctor in no time. His life changed; he cured a lot of patients and helped many other poor people too. Soon he came to be known as a great doctor and a surgeon.

The moral of Alan’s story is that if you work hard towards achieving your goals, nothing is impossible.

Sent by Sajadh Rizvi, Grade 7B, Amal International School.