By Zhuanbian, Canada
One morning when I tidied the room, I opened my father’s favorite cabinet and found all kinds of certificates of honor, some of which had turned musty for being kept too long. Once I was very proud of these glories my father gained. However, when I thought about his recent condition, I felt unutterably sad. Looking at these certificates, I lost myself in thought.
My father was a teacher of some note in my hometown. His articles once appeared in local newspapers and on TV and many schools would invite him to give lectures. For the sake of gaining those glories, he gave tirelessly. In order to write a good article, he always stayed up late, coughing from time to time, which often awaked me. Long-term overwork exhausted him, and he got a slipped disk and cervical spondylosis, which made him unable to sit for a long time. Besides, he got a lot of migraines. When we saw him being tormented to be in constant pain by these diseases, we all felt so bad. My mother always advised him not to work that hard anymore, but it didn’t work, for he thought as long as he could gain those certificates of honor, no matter how many pains he would suffer, it was worth it.
