Sometimes life is just not what you want it to be. For Paul Cho, it was the exact opposite of what he wanted and dreamed of. It started off very well for him, growing up in the middle of Cambodia with his family. He had two older brothers and one younger. His mother stayed home to take care of the four boys, and his father was a well paid factory worker. Everything that could be imagined went the right way for him. He had many friends around the neighborhood. He went out with them every night. They did all kinds of activities and even made their own baseball field. His family could afford for him to go to school and get an education and after a long day, Paul would come home and go straight to the field with his buddies. Their favorite Major League team was the Los Angeles Dodgers because the small radio, that they all shared, broadcasted all the Dodgers games. Whenever they would play, they would name themselves after the Dodgers players. It was an amazing 10 years. But then life hit…

After Paul turned eleven years old, his father came home one day with some bad news. “I got laid off. I have no job now,” he said, trying not to cry.
“What does this mean for us now?” Paul asked.
“We have no money. We can’t afford for all four of you guys to go to school. We can barely afford food. Our lives are starting over.”
In that moment, his heart dropped. Paul didn’t know what to say. He started to cry too. He had never seen his father cry before. Paul was speechless. He was trying to comfort his father as much as he could, but he never thought this could happen to his family. He thought his family was above all and would always be happy. It was not that he realized that he was wrong. Things were about to get a lot worse for him.
After six months of struggling for Paul and his family, things did not get better for them. His father got a new job; however, he was at the bottom of a factory. He had to work long hours every single day and the pay was very low. His brother, six years older than Paul and Paul’s closest friend, got drafted to the army to go to war. Paul was devastated. The thought of losing his role model was unbearable. Every time he would think of this happening, he would cry. His other older brother, three years older than Paul, had to get a job at a nearby farmer's market to help support the family. He could not go to school. Finally, Paul, who was then 12, had to stay home and help his mother with all the housework and take care of his five year old brother.
After many months of hard work, his family was still struggling and had little money. Paul was thirteen and was very behind on his education. The only thing that kept him going was his will. He never quit anything. He would do anything that would help his brother and anything that would allow his other brother to come home. Paul would try to take his mind off things and go out with his friends and play baseball, but it would never work. He would go out, but after about ten minutes, he would be thinking about his family. He would think that he was doing the wrong thing by going out and that he should be home with his family getting stuff done, but he also felt like he deserved some time with his buddies.
With all the factories around the town and the war going on, the air was very polluted and it was very hard to breathe at times, especially in the long, hot summers. It was always very humid. There had been no rain for many months, and the ground was as hard as concrete. Paul’s mouth was very dry. His family could not afford lots of water so he had to share it with all his siblings.
Two months later, he heard possibly the worst news of his life. One day, while Paul was at home, while he was doing some chores with his mother, the phone rang. His mother answered it, and after about twenty seconds, she dropped the phone, dropped to her knees and started balling. Paul ran to his mother.
“Mother, Mother! What happened?! Is everything ok?? Please tell me!!!” he said screaming.
She looked at him, still balling her eyes out. “Y-y-y-your-your,” she couldn’t even get the words out. But after a couple tries, she said, “Your brother, he was killed today.”
Paul stared into his mother’s eyes and burst out into tears. They lay in each other's arms on the ground for many hours, neither of them wanting to get up. All they could think of was their lost love all the memories they had with him. He taught Paul everything he knew: how to work hard and never give up on anything. He taught Paul how to be a nice young gentleman and to treat people with respect. To Paul, his brother was his hero. As Paul was sitting on the floor, he remembered what his brother’s last words were to him before he left. “I love you buddy. Always remember what I taught you. I am so proud to call you my brother, and to have seen you grow up and become the person you are. I will always be in your heart, I promise.”
This gave Paul lots of motivation. For many months after this tragedy, Paul remembered his brother’s last words each day. Paul worked his ass off around the house and went out and got his own education. He would go for runs by himself to get in shape. He would go to work some days with his father to help him so that he could maybe come home earlier. He was the son that everyone wanted. He did not stop working.
The day he turned 18, he went right to his parents. “I am joining the army and going to war. I need to finish what my brother started and I will not take no for an answer.”
“I don’t care. No. No. No way. There is no chance I will lose another son in this damn war. You guys are my life. One-fourth of my life is already done and gone and I will not lose another one. No,” his mother quickly snapped.
His father had no words.
“I have to. It is my job. I will not be able to live the rest of my life if I don’t. I am going no matter what you say. I have to do it for him,” Paul explained.
“I support your decision. You are the hardest worker I have ever met. I am so proud to call you my son and so lucky to have you. I don’t feel comfortable because I cannot lose you too but I do support you,” his dad said crying and giving him a hug.
It was then that his mom started balling and joined their group hug. His older brother, also crying, gave him a big hug and said, “I know he was your hero, but you’re mine.”
A couple weeks after, on the day Paul was leaving, he woke up and said, “This is the day. I am ready.”
He got up, got ready and soon it was time to go. He said his goodbyes to his family and gave many hugs. Tears were running down all their faces. He went to his brothers grave, which was right outside their house, and kissed the tomb. He turned around, gave one last hug to his family and said “I will be back. I promise.” He started to walk toward the bus.
His family watched him, walking away. They didn’t know when they would see him next, or for that matter, ever see him again. Paul turned as he was getting on the bus, waved, his family waved back, and then, he was gone. For good.