Growing up, we are often asked who our hero is. People want to know who it is that we look up to. For me, the answer is simple: My father is my hero.

When you think of a hero, you might think of someone in a movie who can face a world of disaster and make everything OK again. This is what my father does for me. When there is something wrong in my world and everything feels disastrous and insurmountable, my hero is always there to get me through it and to make everything OK again. I never feel like I have no one to turn to. Even when I don’t want to talk about the troubles I’m having in my life, my dad can find a way to make me feel better simply by talking about something else.

My hero has taught me how to work hard. My whole life I have watched my father leave for work before the sun has come up and return home at the end of the day exhausted. I have watched as he has put every ounce of energy he has into making it possible for my siblings and me to have everything that we could ever need. Sometimes it is hard to tell him how much this means. How do you thank someone for always putting your needs in front of their own? I have always told myself that I will do just fine in life if I can be half the hard worker that my father is, and I aspire to have even a fraction of his dedication.

My hero has taught me how to appreciate the world around me. Some of my most cherished childhood memories are the walks that my brothers and I would take with my father. He would take us through trails in the woods and teach us things about nature that we had never heard before. He would name every type of tree that we would walk past. I remember being amazed at how smart he was and again, I wanted to be just like him.

My hero has taught me how important family is. My dad never ceases to remind us how much he loves us. He is dedicated to our family and to making sure that everyone is healthy and happy. He is the kind of person to bring home a stray kitten because he does not want to leave it without a home. He has taught me how to care for others and how to put others before myself.

My hero has taught me how to be myself. I have now ventured out into the real world and I have to figure out how to live on my own. Being away from my family and my father has been the most difficult thing I have ever done in my life. Sometimes I find myself missing my dad so much that I can’t seem to get up the nerve to call him because hearing his voice makes me miss him that much more. Despite this, I know that I can do it. I know that I can get by on my own, and I know this because my father taught me everything that I need to know to be able to do it. I know how to be strong because my father taught me how to be strong. I know how to work hard because my father taught me how to work hard. My father has been teaching me my whole life. From how to ride a bike, to how to shoot a basketball, to how to be my own independent person, he has been teaching me. My father has been, is, and always will be the most important man in my life, and he is forever my hero.