Апр
8
The Most Important Lesson My Life Has Taught Me
Delivered by Nigina Sangova, 3rd Prize Winner, 10th grade, school 1738
Once I read in a magazine for teenagers: A 5-year-old girl says ‘My mum knows everything’. A fifteen-year-old girl says ‘My mum doesn’t know anything’. A twenty-year-old girl says ‘Oh, my! I should have done what my mum always told me’.
Of course, you may say that when you are twenty years old, you are an adult, not a boy or a girl. But… It happens so that only at the age of twenty or thirty most people understand that their mothers are right and usually give us good advice.
One of the most valuable life lessons I've learned from my mum is how to be a good mother. Although she was very strict with me in my early childhood, she was an amazing single mother of three daughters and during that time she was able to take care of us without receiving help from anyone.
I remember how once I asked her, “Mummy, are you kind?” because I wanted her to buy me something pretty that all kids had. But she answered, “I can’t afford being kind today and buy you something unnecessary”. I understood what she meant and stopped begging for treats. I understood that there were more important things than buying another toy because my mum always gave me her helping hand when I really needed it.
Moreover, my mum never gave me pocket money. She wanted me learn about the value of money and that it needs great effort to earn it. She often talked about her hard work (she is a doctor) and what she had to do to earn money to pay for food, clothes and our holiday travels. This way I have learned that money doesn’t grow in trees or in my mum’s wallet.
I am someone who tends to worry about everything, but not my mum. She feels that there is no need to borrow trouble by worrying about things that you can't control. Of course, you can plan for the future, but you can't control it. There are words of wisdom, which she told me, “My Lord, give me strength to change things that I can change, give me patience to accept the things that I cannot change. And, please, Lord, give me enough brain to distinguish one thing from the other”. I learned that we should improve and care about our lifestyle, education and health. But there is no need worrying about matters of politics or bad weather which are in God’s power.
So many different people provided me with both inspiration and valuable life lessons. They were people I read about, my teachers, friends, or total strangers. Anyway, my family provided me with the best life lessons. Usually, teenagers like to protest and argue. I am a fifteen-year-old teenager, but I will never say that my mother doesn’t know what life is.
Who has inspired you or influenced your life?
Learn from others. Never consider yourself so above someone else that you can’t learn something new from them. And your life will change if you appreciate that trait.
