The best leader - my mum

THE BEST MOM

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• Approx Pages: 3

The Best Mom

My mother is my favorite person in my life because I can talk to her about everything, she is very blunt, and she is also very dependable.

I can talk to my mom about everything because she is the only person that I ever had that I can express myself to understand what I am saying and where I am coming from. I can talk to her about problems that I am having in my life and in school. I like talking to my mom because she always listens and gives me good advice. For example when I felt like quitting school because I was stressed out and felt like I wasn’t getting anything accomplished she told me to just calm down. She also told me to stop worrying about things that are going on at home and stay focused on my work, because there is nothing I can do about things happening at home while I am down here in school. Another thing I can talk to my mother about is something that most men my age usually wouldn’t talk to their mothers about which is, women problems. When I talk to her about my women problems, she always predicts what is going to happen. Whatever she says is going to happen, always happen. For instance when one of my girlfriends from back in the day was lying about something, my mother told me that if I was to just wait and ask her about it another time that her story would be different and all mixed up. It just so happens that it was true. I caught her in a lie and there was nothing that she could do about it but just sit there and look dumb. My mother also tells me what to do if a girl is acting a certain way and if she thinks it will work if I get in a relationship with the girl and why.

Another reason why my mother is my favorite person is because she is very blunt. She says what she means and means what she says. She will always tell you how she truly feels and give her opinion about something if you ask her. 

She has taught me to always try my best, to treat everyone equally, to not give up when things get hard. She tells me to at all times be honest because in the end, lies always hurt more. She instills the importance of family and of doing well at school in me. When I make decisions and she doesn’t always agree with them, she makes sure that I know that she is behind me all the way because she wants me to always be happy. She has taught me right from wrong and the significance of self-respect. 
She is my mother, the greatest influence in my life. Not only as a mom but also as a friend. A time that is really prominent in my mind, that I hope I will always remember, is the year when I was doing poorly in English class and I wanted to drop it. The “easy way out” as my mom called it. She helped me realize that I was intelligent enough to be in the class that is why I was put in it, and that I could do anything I put my mind to. The talk with my mom helped me tremendously. Not only because she gave me good advice but because she was talking to me like a friend would, being understanding of where I was coming from and about my feelings.
Once when I was at a party with some close friends, a really good-looking girl I didn’t know came over to me. “Hey what’s your name? Would you like to come smoke a cigarette with me?” The first thing that popped into my mind was how my mom always taught me never to smoke because it is bad and could cause serious health problems. After I remembered that “no thank you” was quickly spoken out of my mouth. I was kind of afraid that the girl wouldn’t talk to me after that but I still held my ground. In the end, she and I became good friends.
First and foremost, my mom has taught me to be happy and true to myself because I can never not face myself, and the choices I make. “Think before you act,” “you will always have a choice to be happy or sad, to do what is good or bad.

That is my great leader - my mum....

“Who do you most admire?”

Without hesitation, I knew my answer would be my mother. When I was asked to talk a little about my mom and why I chose her, I found that expanding on it was a bit more difficult to put into words.

My mother didn't have to overcome impossible obstacles, nor does she have an astonishing success story. Despite that, she is still my hero.

Because of my mother, I became one of the first people in my family to attend college. I learned the value of the dollar at an early age. My mother instilled practical life skills within me. She never sugar-coated life, but she always believed in me.

From an early age, I knew my family was different than most.

First off, It was an accident. My mother and father had both been married and divorced before they met each other.

My father, who was more than 20 years older than my mom, had five kids from his first marriage. My mother had one other child, my brother, who is 12 years older than me.

My parents found out my mom was pregnant with me before they got married. In fact, I was the only guest at their wedding. I'm told I was just learning to walk and kept falling on the church's hardwood floors.

My family never had very much money. As a child, I never knew quite how poor we wereAll I knew was I never upgraded from a Super Nintendo. even though most of my friends were getting Nintendo 64s and PlayStations. I knew most of my clothes came from garage sales and Walmart.I didn't know until adulthood that, when I was young, it had gotten so bad we'd lost electricity at one point.

When I was a baby, we even lived with my adult half-sister and her family for a time.

Our money problems stemmed from my father's inability to keep a steady job. My father was an excellent handyman and a great mechanic.

He had the type of mind that could figure out how to fix pretty much anything.

For most of my childhood, he worked for himself by purchasing wrecked cars and fixing them up to sell at a profit.

My idol leader

Praise to Allah for still keeping Malaysia in harmony. Today, i felt like writing about my take on what is happening in Malaysia. 

I love my country, Malaysia. We live in such a wonderful country, we live in harmony despite having 3 different races in one country. I'm proud at the fact that most Malaysian respect other races and religion as they are. I love the food in Malaysia, I love the people and in general, there's so much to love about Malaysia. 

Growing up, I wanted to be a politician, because when i was a kid, i remember my late grandfather, Mohd Jiwa, he told me, 'Ap, kalau ap besar nanti, ap kena selalu tolong orang, ap kena 'Jiwa' besaq. ' For some reason, i still remember that, and i was in the impression that politician help others. 

At that time, Tun was the Prime Minister, and i was in awe of him. 

When i was a kid, i loved helping out in the surau near my house and i was quite famous among the surau people. I was only like 5 or 6 when i started doing that. Also, I always carry my teacher's books in school and when i come in the class or go out of the class, i would go and Salam my teacher as a sign of respect and to get their blessing. 

I remember when i was in Kolej Tuanku Jaafar, i went to my teacher to salam, and my teacher was shocked, and when i offered to carry her books and bags, she was even more shocked and soon i became the teacher pet. People thought i was sucking up to the teacher when i was just doing my responsibility as a student towards my teachers. 

When i was a kid, it was a normal thing to do those things. My mom and dad taught me when i was younger to always help others and in one way or another you will get the help that you need when you need it. 

These are some normal culture then. I'm sure if you ask the teachers today, they would tell you how many rude students they have. Before, we used to just respect someone who is older than us, but now, the concept is different, it is, 'Why should i respect you if you don't earn my respect?' Respecting other should be in everyone nature, not just when you get respect. 

It is sad to see what our country has become. We have people like Tun Mahathir, who has built the nation, being disrespected. It is really sad to see. 

Let me just put things in perspective on what Tun has done for us. We have experience extraordinary economic growth during his tenure. In 1975 before Tun was a PM, Malaysian GDP percapita was USD 1750, and in 1998, almost 15 years after Tun took over, It was at USD 4251.

He Eliminated extreme poverty and hunger with his policies such as the NEP(New Economic Policy) and the NDP(National Development Policy) which complement the Vision 2020. The vision 2020 was formulated in the year 1991 and actually projected a vision for 3 decades to come. 

Tun formulated our core development philosophy policies and plans suited to our circumstances and needs. 

From those policies, with his strong leadership, the people became smarter and stronger, he made education accessible and asked us to look east instead of the west. If you look at Japan, they are actually more islamic than us the islam when it comes to their behavior. They respect everyone, they word hard, they have real good values. 

As a result of his leadership, my very father became a successful businessman. He didnt help my father directly, but his policies made it easy for people like my father to become successful. There were a lot of business oppurtunities back then for people to grab. 

As a result, Malaysia progress so fast, like never before. We have skyscrapers, we have our own national car, we have our own people being an astronaut, we lived in a harmonious condition and everyone was happy and grateful. We have to thank Tun for all that he has done. 

EVENT FOR " DEAR MR. KILMER "

On the last day of school he finally reads his poetry in front of the class. Working at the farm with his Pa that summer helped them get closer. Richard and Mr.Kilmer exchanged a handful of letters during the summer.
Mr.Kilmer left to go to Europe for the war.The school is putting on a patriotic program to help finance the war. There was two main people for the play, but in order to get the parts you had to write poetry. Richard got the main part for dough boy and Hannah got the main part for lady liberty.
Students and parents where mad when Hannah got the part for lady liberty because she was from Germany. Hannah decided to decline the role for lady liberty. Richard decided not to do the play either.
Richard talks to his dad about why he turned down his part in the play. He got a letter back from Mr.Kilmer from the war. In April, they forced the British to retreat.
Gus (Richard's brother) joined the army after his graduation. Pa and Gus get into an argument about the war. Hannah tells Richard that Mr.Kilmer has been killed in the war.
Richard reads in the newspaper how he died. Mr.Schermers wants Richard's poems to be in the newspapers.The Americans win the war against Britain.

TIPS FOR SPM POEM

POEM 1 : THE LIVING PHOTOGRAPH
                         (by Jackie Kay)

My small grandmother is tall there,

straight-back, white broderie anglaise shirt,

pleated skirt, flat shoes, grey bun,

a kind, old smile round her eyes.

Her big hand holds mine,

white hand in black hand.

Her sharp blue eyes look her own death in the eye.

It was true  after all; that look.

My tall grandmother became small.

Her back round and hunched.

Her soup forgot to boil.

She went to the awful place grandmothers go.

Somewhere unknown, unthinkable.

But there she is still,

in the photo with me at three,

the crinkled smile is still living, breathing.

Stanza 1

Line	Meaning
1  My small grandmother is tall there,	The persona’s grandmother looks tall in the photograph.
2  straight-back, white broderie anglaise shirt ,	She is standing with good posture, wearing an embroidered lace blouse.
3  pleated skirt, flat shoes, grey bun,	She wears the blouse with a pleated skirt, non-heeled shoes and her hair in a bun.
4  a kind, old smile round her eyes.	She is smiling kindly.
5  Her big hand holds mine,	Her big hand is holding the persona’s hand.
6  white hand in black hand.	The contrast of their skin colours can clearly be seen in their linked hands.
7  Her sharp blue eyes look her death in the eye.	Her grandmother’s blue eyes suggests that her death is near.

Stanza 2

Line	Meaning
8  It was true after all; that look.	The persona’s reference of death came true.
9  My tall grandmother became small.	The grandmother became thinner and more fragile.
10  Her back round and hunched.	Her back became hunched.
11  Her soup forgot to boil.	She became forgetful.
12  She went to the awful place grandmothers go.	Soon, she passed away.
13  Somewhere unknown, unthinkable.	Upon her death, she went to a place that no one knows.

Stanza 3

Line	Meaning
14  But there she is still,	However, in the photograph, her grandmother will always be alive.
15  in the photo with me at three,	The persona was there years old in the photograph with her grandmother.
16  the crinkled smile is still living, breathing.	Her grandmother’s smile is still so alive and real.

Moral Value

1  We must treasure our loved ones when they are alive.

• We must spend as much time as we can with our loved ones while they are still living
• When they pass away, all that will be left are the memories, as is illustrated in the poem.

  2  It is difficult to lose a family member.

• It is always difficult to deal with the death of a loved one.
• The persona loses her grandmother when she was younger but she will always remember her.

3  We must never forget the importance of family relationship.

• We should not forget to love and care for our family, especially our grandparents who are the pillars of a family.
• When they are old and sick, we must continue to take care of them.

Summary of Stanza 1

The persona is looking at an old photograph of her grandmother and herself. She describes the photograph – her grandmother is standing tall and straight, dressed in a white embroidered lace blouse with a pleated skirt, and flat shoes. Her grey hair is pulled neatly into a bun. She is smiling kindly while holding the persona’s hand in hers, giving her the security and comfort. As the persona describes their linked hands – white hand in black hand – it is clear that they come from a mixed race family. The last line seems to suggest that the persona knows that her grandmother’s death will come soon.

Summary of Stanza 2

While the first describes the photograph, in the second stanza, the persona is remembering her grandmother later, when she is older and has become ill. The persona recalls how her grandmother soon grows thinner and more fragile. Her back is hunched and she becomes forgetful as is illustrated in the line, Her soup forgot to boil. Eventually, she passes away and upon her death, she goes to an unimaginable place.

Summary of Stanza 3

However, in the photograph, the persona’s grandmother will forever be alive. She is still there, holding the hand of her three-year-old granddaughter, with her smile looking so alive and real.

Themes

 1    The everlasting quality of a photograph                                                               

• A photograph immortalizes a person or a moment. What  is captured in a photograph will remain alive forever.
•  In the poem, the persona’s grandmother  has already  passed away. However, in the photograph, she will always be healthy and alive.
•  A photograph also allows us grandmother passes away to reflect on what happened  in the past and relive our memories.

 2    Death

• Death is a definite  outcome for all of us.
• In the poem, the persona recalls how her grandmother was once strong and healthy but soon grows older and  becomes ill.
• In the end, the grandmother passes away and the persona is only able to relive her memories with her grandmother through a photograph.

LOTS OF THANKS TO NOTA SPM & TATAPAN MINDA