Personal: Defining Actions

The motivation

This portfolio website is not just an advertisement it’s a page of my achievements, something not just for everyone else but also for myself, something that I take great pride in. And there’s just this side of me that just isn’t captured by everything else I’ve included thus far. It’s a part of who I am and a part of me that I hope to continue to be.

The deeds

Forgave someone who tried to murder me

When I was a kid in like middle school, I was walking back home from the bus stop. When another kid (who I never talked to) took a soccer ball sized concrete block from a nearby crumbling wall, ran up behind me, and threw it at my head clipping my chin but otherwise missed. It swung my head around and obviously nearly killed me. And the scene was grim the other kids were cheering, but there was one girl who I didn’t know who ran up and asked if I was okay, and god bless her soul. I felt relatively okay, and I went home put on some band aids and continued on. Then the next day at the bus stop he came to me looking scared as hell begging for forgiveness. And I forgave him, for three reasons: 1. Because I thought he was from the house where I heard his parents screaming at each other as I was walking towards the bus stop, I came from a broken home myself and understand how it can break your soul. 2. If I didn’t forgive him and reported him, I knew he’d have an attempted murder charge on his head ruining his life forever. 3. If I didn’t forgive him but also not report him, he’d have this hanging over his head for the rest of his life, which morally is not very nice but also practically is not what I’d want to do to someone who already took one pass at me.

Defended my mom from my abusive father

I came from a broken home, in particular, my dad had a foul temper. He’d get angry over nothing. How do I know? Because when he’d start screaming and cursing at my mom, I’d get in between and try to calm him down and explain to him that there’s no reason to be angry. And he pretty much never had a good reason for being angry, I was a 4.2 GPA student in high school, so I could tell the difference between a good reason and a bad one. And I pretty much was never able to calm him down even though I was calmly explaining to him that he either doesn’t understand or that’s not a thing to get upset over. Hell he’d get into a cursing fit even when we’d miss a turn back when I was a navigator with a paper map, and everyone whose used those maps knows you almost always miss a turn. But you know what, it’d still set him off like a flare. Either way overall, this defending my mom business turned me into a target. He started calling me useless, that I should become homeless, that I’m not worth the rice I’m fed. He even started bursting into my room in the middle of the night to scare me; when I locked the door, he picked the lock; when I barricaded the door with a chair, he’d push hard to break it, and I’d have to get up and push back the barricade from the other side. Can you imagine that? I spent years living like this.

Saved a kid from getting run over by a truck

I took afterschool chinese language lessons surprisingly at the same high school I went to. Then one day during a break, I noticed there was a kid who was playing near the parking lot tip-toeing on the edge of the sidewalk, and I also saw a truck coming towards him on the road next to the sidewalk. Worried he might fall onto the road in front of the truck, I dashed over and yanked him out of the way. But when I yanked him out of the way, I got pulled closer to the truck which clipped me and had me fly a few feet away. The truck left the scene. I got my shoulder popped out, but I was able to pop it back in (like a g), and the kid was okay.

Saved two girls from being assaulted in one incident

Also at high school during a break in chinese school, there were two girls who ran out of the girls bathroom screaming for help being chased by two other guys who also ran out of the girls bathroom. At this point, the situation is obvious. I fought one of them till I realized it won’t be long till the other guy who was just watching jumps in, which in a 2 on 1 I will probably lose. So I started yelling to attract attention, since we weren’t all that far from where everyone else was at during the break and like I thought they ran.

Saved one girl from being assaulted in another incident

Also at high school during a break in chinese school, I was just milling around by myself a ways away from everyone else till surprisingly a girl ran up to me screaming for help while being chased by another guy. I proceeded to fight him, but the sun was setting behind him making it very hard to see, but the girl was behind me so I couldn’t reposition myself and I was slowly losing. So I just kicked him in the groin, and he was done. I grabbed him to get him to the police. However, when I went inside the classroom to call the police, the person I left in charge of holding onto the culprit let him slip away. So that was the end of that.

Saved my younger brother from bullies

Also at high school during a break in chinese school, I was walking around until my brother popped out of the door crying for help with two other guys grabbing him. Guy asked me if you wanna fight, and I said yeah. Guy proceeds to run towards me head first like one of those cartoon ninjas, and I just literally stepped aside with a slight parry, and he ran headfirst into the wall behind me (it was a wood wall). Anyways he is obviously out of commission, and the other guy begs for forgiveness while taking the other guy away. Easiest fight ever

Rushed someone who had what looked like a rifle in college

One day during college while I was walking between classes, I saw someone take out what looked like a rifle, and this was when mass shootings were in the news. He was about 25 feet away. I immediately dashed down low towards the ground using the concrete tree planters around us as cover and closed the distance on him. Then I got right up in his face, grabbing the rifle, and he was like woah. And then I realized that he wasn’t going to shoot everyone up, I told him he needs to be more careful with things like that, and he apologized and then we went our separate ways.

Saved a baby and her mother from an oncoming train

One day I was taking the BART just waiting in the crowd for the train to come into the station when I noticed a woman with a baby swaddled on her back falling backwards towards the train tracks. She lost her balance and couldn’t recover. So I quickly weaved through the crowd and got behind her to keep her and the baby from falling into the train. When she and the baby fell onto me, that pushed me back and I got hit by the train. This kind of squished the baby, since getting hit by the train pushes me away from it and the mom was still falling backward. But at least the baby didn’t get hit by the train or god forbid they fall onto the tracks and get run over. But yeah, after I got hit by the train, I was launched several feet; again my shoulder popped out, which I popped back in. And I didn’t see her afterwards, because it was my train to get on and I didn’t go looking for her, I did my part and that’s all that’s needed. Definitely a proud moment of mine, I still remember the guy who saw what happened smiling at me while I popped my shoulder back in; I smiled too. Although in retrospect, I have to say it’s one of my close calls, because if the train came just maybe 5 seconds later, I could’ve fallen onto the tracks and been run over and be super dead.

Volunteered as a big brother mentor

The reason why I choose to become a big brother mentor is because I had a tough time growing up and I wanted to spend some time helping some one who was going through the same thing. And looking back, it was a good choice. I was paired with a young man who saw his parents go through a divorce and he kind of withdrew from it and became very lonely. But I still have the photos of us on our outings. Often times we’d go geocaching, which is when you search for little treasure chests people leave behind based on a GPS location and some hints. Some of them are very cleverly hidden, for instance one was held two stories up in the air in a forest of trees by a fishing line attached to the base of the tree. Other times, we’d just go hiking and be on the lookout for cougars since there was a sign warning about them. And sometimes, we’d spend time at his home looking at his rock collection or playing with the bow and arrows. But overall, I’m just really glad the time we spent together gave him some wind in the sails for him to get to where he wants to be.