Cycle 18: My Family Story

Our class is going to be starting an English project called: Thousand and One Flat World Tales. Here is an idea of a story i might use. Suggestions are very welcome!!!

I was ten years old and in the fourth grade when I got into the biggest fight about the littlest thing with my best friend at the time. Her name was Taylor, and we were the best of friends ever since we first met in kindergarten.

I remember this story like it happened just yesterday, we were in class on one of the hottest days of the year. My classmates and I were slowly counting down the long minutes until our lunch break. Lunch, where all of my friends would relax under the breeze of the cafeteria fans, feeling the air blow our hair around, listening to the laughter of all the kids around me. But, this day was different, the breeze from the fans above did not seem to be as satisfying and the laughter that I heard in the cafeteria made me want to cry. This was because all the kids were laughing at me. It just so happens that my best friend, Taylor, told another girl in my class named Andrea, who I liked. And by the time lunch had arrived I was the one being laughed at and I was the one being teased.

When I got home that day, my gunggung was at my house just for a visit. And, right away he could tell his little granddaughter was unhappy. He sat me down on my bed and I explained my story. I told him how my best friend stabbed me in my back and how I wish I was never born. My gunggung, being one of the nicest men I ever met, not only made me feel a whole lot better with the story he then told me, but I also learned something about him I will never forget.

After hearing my story my gunggung then told me one of his. He explained to me that I should never wish that I was never born because I almost might not have. “I was eighteen and as handsome as ever,” he bragged. He told me how he lived the best life ever, hanging out with his friends all the time, joking around in school and always frustrating the teacher. My gunggung then told me how one piece of paper changed his life. The piece of paper he was talking about was his draft number, the number that told him if he was going to be shipped out to fight in the Korean War. My gunggung’s aspect on life changed at that moment, he could no longer goof around or do what ever he pleased, because now he had a responsibility to the United States army. His number was so low that there was no chance he could avoid not being in the war.

My gunggung then explained to me how he felt with this duffle bag in his hands, starring at the ship that would that the newest batch of young adults to Korea to fight in the war. He explained every detail to me how if felt to hug his mom for what might have been the last time. He told me how he felt anxious, scared, worried, confused, and shocked all at the same time, not knowing what would happen next. As the military officers called each number one by one, my gunggung stood there in silence, waiting for his number to be called. …84…85…86…87…88…there it was, his number 88 was called. Henry Pang, number 88, please report on deck. At that moment his heart skipped a beat. But, then a message came in. As my gunggung walk to the officer that called his name, his memories of Hawaii flashed though him mind, not knowing when or if he would ever return. When he reached the officer, the officer told him how he was saved. The officer explained how my gunggung had been pulled out of the draft and was exempt from fighting.

It turns out someone in the administration knew my gunggung and pulled him out of the draft. He was informed, instead of fighting in Korea, he was to stay in Hawaii and carry out his duties by working in the office.

After my gunggung finished his story I was speechless. If my gunggung went to fight in the Korean War, he probably would never have met my popo, and they would never have had my mom, then I would not have been born. Because of this story my gunggung told me four years ago I have never again wished I was never born.