Aunt Naomi- Taylor Hirano

There is no greater joy nor greater reward than to make a fundamental difference in someone's life.

 - Mary Rose McGeady

I did my hero project on my Aunt Naomi. My aunt is a hero to me, because of her occupation as a social worker. In that field she has changed many lives. As a social worker, she had many jobs. Her first job was at a half-way house where she worked with people who had been recently released from prison. Her most interesting client was a woman who had killed her husband because he was abusing her. She said you wouldn’t have suspected the lady to be a murderer as she was very kind. A scary event in that job was that a large, 6 foot man (pimp) who had cornered her into the wall looking for his “woman”. This was very intimidating as she is only 5 foot.

Her next job was working for an adoption agency where she worked with single woman who decided to place their babies up for adoption. Another job was working as a school social worker, where she worked with troubled kids and their families. Her most heroic job was worker for social service where she worked with families with abusive and neglected parents. An interesting client was working with a 5 year old child whose mother would abusive him with a wet belt. After, she started a drug and alcohol prevention clinic for Asian teens, mostly who were in gangs. With the variety of jobs that she worked, she had benefitted many lives.

According to our creative writing class, the requirement of a hero is that they are inspirational, willing to help others, overcome a trial, sacrifice something, and is dedicated to help society. My aunt fits the requirements of being inspirational and is dedicated to help society. She doesn’t fit the requirements of sacrificing something because she does have a family to protect and would protect them over anything. She doesn’t have to overcome a trial. Even though she doesn’t fit all the requirements, she is still heroic to me.

I learned many things from my aunt. I learned that even a normal, petite, Asian woman can benefit society. She has taught me to always try your hardest and to follow your instinct. I can apply her teachings to my life by always trying to help others and to do what you think is right.