This I Wonder Essay.
FINAL DRAFT
THE EAGLE RISING ABOVE THE STORM........
Here I am, standing beside the hospital bed and there laid the most exciting uncle ever. My uncle who is an extrovert, a man with words of wisdom. This time he was mute, he could not move and his eyes were closed. I kept thinking while standing. What's wrong? "What has made my exciting uncle turn so cold and quiet?". The doctor comes in to check on him and I ask
"Doctor what's wrong? Is my uncle going to be fine?"
The doctor smiled and said "I will do my best to see to that"
I asked again "Is there anything I can do?"
and the doctor replied "Just be strong" the doctor left and I continued with my thoughts "I wish I can do something,anything, maybe a superpower to bring my uncle to his normal self". I see sweats dripping down his face, I get a towel and a bowl of water and I start to clean up his face, there and then his closed eyes turned open and he smiled. I felt excitement running through my veins. I was waiting for a word of wisdom maybe but still he remained mute.
My uncle named Henry, was my father's youngest brother and also my best friend, we would play and laugh, most times have arguments. Whenever my uncle was around,boring moments never seemed to exist. A man in his 30's but spoke like a man who had lived a thousand year's. There came a time, my uncle complained of having pains around his body. We took the pains to be normal,maybe from gym workouts.
It was a lovely evening in Nigeria, the breeze blew softly and cool. I walked out the entrance door to the house and at the garden chair laid my uncle as quiet as a new born baby but as weak as a wounded lion amazed at what my sight saw, I went straight to him and said
"Uncle Henry Good evening"
with a fainted voice he replied"How are you Amaka"
Curious enough I asked "are you all right"
And he said "yes I am"
He struggled to get up and I sat beside him,he was about to say something when he started coughing out blood. I ran inside to call my grandma,she came out running with me. When we got there his mouth was filled with blood,I got some water quickly gave him some to wash off his mouth and we washed his face.
My grandma said "we are going to the hospital now Henry"
And he shouted "No I don't want to"
We did not know what to do,take him to the hospital or let him be. Before long he was up and about talking about his high school days,although the story was quite interesting I could not get myself to forget the scene of him coughing out blood, so I abruptly changed the topic by asking a question
"Uncle Henry tell me. "Why don't you want to go get help from the hospital?"
He said with a parabled word"When an eagle see's a storm coming,he doesn't run away instead he goes up to the tallest mountains and spreads out his wings, and when the storm comes it does not blow the eagle away, it lifts the eagle up"
Puzzled I asked "what does your answer mean?"
He said "In due time you will know dear." He then went back to telling his tales. It became dark and we all went to bed.
My uncle was a very different kind of person. You had to always try to understand his words,most times you would never get to understand. He had a little daughter whom he loved very much. Her name is Favour, she was an important aspect of his life. He believed that "children were the eyes of tomorrow" I never understood this phrase, but I knew impacting knowledge in the young ones was his hobby.
I had gone to go stay at my aunties place, because I was taking my high school final exams.
We normally visited the family house once in a while because we were still in the same city. On the 17th of April 2011 we went visiting, when we got there my Uncle was lying down on his bed.
My auntie asked him "Are you all right Henry?"
This time he replied "No I'm not feeling too well"
We were all startled because that was the first time he had ever said that.
My auntie asked "What do you want ? Do you want to go to the hospital?"
As usual he said "No"
My auntie this time refused to that reply and had wanted to take him to the hospital but then he said
"No one should take me to the hospital without my consent or I will never forgive that person"
Hearing that my aunty then asked him "What will you eat?"
he said he wanted some fruits.
My auntie gave me some money and I left to go buy the fruits .I got back and it was time to go home with my aunty, so I bid him good bye.
It was past 3am in the morning my auntie received a call from a cousin of ours who also lived in the family house saying
"Henry is just here saying some weird things he hasn't eaten and he cant move"
This was when we realized it was really bad. My auntie ordered my cousin to take him to the hospital, and we raced into the car to go meet them up. We got to the hospital, and he was already admitted.The doctors kept running test's to find out what was going wrong. In thoughts, I wanted to do something but I couldn't. I went back home and the next morning we received a call which said "the great tree in the middle of the forest had fallen". Chills went down my veins, the eagle had finally risen, my uncle was dead. I kept thinking "Was this what he meant by the eagle rising above the storm?"" was he expecting to die?" Questions filled my heart.
Before his death he was diagnosed with liver failure. My family always went for medical check up, but my uncle was the only one who never believed in it, he was always reluctant. What if he had gone to the doctors earlier? Would there have been a different story?. Maybe if the doctors tried their best enough, he would still be alive. One thing I was sure of was I never wanted to be in that situation again. Where I would see someone in pain and not be able to do anything. Then I made the decision of becoming a doctor. I know I was not able to save my uncle but I can save someone in future. I hope I can become a great source of inspiration to his daughter Favour just as her dad was for me. My Uncle always said "children are the eyes of tomorrow" Maybe I am the eyes of tomorrow in this career that I am embarking on. Becoming a doctor is not an easy task but Like an eagle I am ready to rise above the storm, just like my Uncle did.
- Draft 1 (This I Wonder Draft #1)
FINAL DRAFT
THE EAGLE RISING ABOVE THE STORM........
Here I am, standing beside the hospital bed and there laid the most exciting uncle ever. My uncle who is an extrovert, a man with words of wisdom. This time he was mute, he could not move and his eyes were closed. I kept thinking while standing. What's wrong? "What has made my exciting uncle turn so cold and quiet?". The doctor comes in to check on him and I ask
"Doctor what's wrong? Is my uncle going to be fine?"
The doctor smiled and said "I will do my best to see to that"
I asked again "Is there anything I can do?"
and the doctor replied "Just be strong" the doctor left and I continued with my thoughts "I wish I can do something,anything, maybe a superpower to bring my uncle to his normal self". I see sweats dripping down his face, I get a towel and a bowl of water and I start to clean up his face, there and then his closed eyes turned open and he smiled. I felt excitement running through my veins. I was waiting for a word of wisdom maybe but still he remained mute.
My uncle named Henry, was my father's youngest brother and also my best friend, we would play and laugh, most times have arguments. Whenever my uncle was around,boring moments never seemed to exist. A man in his 30's but spoke like a man who had lived a thousand year's. There came a time, my uncle complained of having pains around his body. We took the pains to be normal,maybe from gym workouts.
It was a lovely evening in Nigeria, the breeze blew softly and cool. I walked out the entrance door to the house and at the garden chair laid my uncle as quiet as a new born baby but as weak as a wounded lion amazed at what my sight saw, I went straight to him and said
"Uncle Henry Good evening"
with a fainted voice he replied"How are you Amaka"
Curious enough I asked "are you all right"
And he said "yes I am"
He struggled to get up and I sat beside him,he was about to say something when he started coughing out blood. I ran inside to call my grandma,she came out running with me. When we got there his mouth was filled with blood,I got some water quickly gave him some to wash off his mouth and we washed his face.
My grandma said "we are going to the hospital now Henry"
And he shouted "No I don't want to"
We did not know what to do,take him to the hospital or let him be. Before long he was up and about talking about his high school days,although the story was quite interesting I could not get myself to forget the scene of him coughing out blood, so I abruptly changed the topic by asking a question
"Uncle Henry tell me. "Why don't you want to go get help from the hospital?"
He said with a parabled word"When an eagle see's a storm coming,he doesn't run away instead he goes up to the tallest mountains and spreads out his wings, and when the storm comes it does not blow the eagle away, it lifts the eagle up"
Puzzled I asked "what does your answer mean?"
He said "In due time you will know dear." He then went back to telling his tales. It became dark and we all went to bed.
My uncle was a very different kind of person. You had to always try to understand his words,most times you would never get to understand. He had a little daughter whom he loved very much. Her name is Favour, she was an important aspect of his life. He believed that "children were the eyes of tomorrow" I never understood this phrase, but I knew impacting knowledge in the young ones was his hobby.
I had gone to go stay at my aunties place, because I was taking my high school final exams.
We normally visited the family house once in a while because we were still in the same city. On the 17th of April 2011 we went visiting, when we got there my Uncle was lying down on his bed.
My auntie asked him "Are you all right Henry?"
This time he replied "No I'm not feeling too well"
We were all startled because that was the first time he had ever said that.
My auntie asked "What do you want ? Do you want to go to the hospital?"
As usual he said "No"
My auntie this time refused to that reply and had wanted to take him to the hospital but then he said
"No one should take me to the hospital without my consent or I will never forgive that person"
Hearing that my aunty then asked him "What will you eat?"
he said he wanted some fruits.
My auntie gave me some money and I left to go buy the fruits .I got back and it was time to go home with my aunty, so I bid him good bye.
It was past 3am in the morning my auntie received a call from a cousin of ours who also lived in the family house saying
"Henry is just here saying some weird things he hasn't eaten and he cant move"
This was when we realized it was really bad. My auntie ordered my cousin to take him to the hospital, and we raced into the car to go meet them up. We got to the hospital, and he was already admitted.The doctors kept running test's to find out what was going wrong. In thoughts, I wanted to do something but I couldn't. I went back home and the next morning we received a call which said "the great tree in the middle of the forest had fallen". Chills went down my veins, the eagle had finally risen, my uncle was dead. I kept thinking "Was this what he meant by the eagle rising above the storm?"" was he expecting to die?" Questions filled my heart.
Before his death he was diagnosed with liver failure. My family always went for medical check up, but my uncle was the only one who never believed in it, he was always reluctant. What if he had gone to the doctors earlier? Would there have been a different story?. Maybe if the doctors tried their best enough, he would still be alive. One thing I was sure of was I never wanted to be in that situation again. Where I would see someone in pain and not be able to do anything. Then I made the decision of becoming a doctor. I know I was not able to save my uncle but I can save someone in future. I hope I can become a great source of inspiration to his daughter Favour just as her dad was for me. My Uncle always said "children are the eyes of tomorrow" Maybe I am the eyes of tomorrow in this career that I am embarking on. Becoming a doctor is not an easy task but Like an eagle I am ready to rise above the storm, just like my Uncle did.