Sam was only 10 years old when his father died and his whole world fell apart. Even though his own family tried to crush his dreams, one helping hand changed his whole life.
Sam couldn’t say in one sentence what his dad meant to him. The man was the boy’s father, his mother, his hero, his best friend, and the only person in the world with whom he felt safe and connected.
And when fate suddenly took that child’s soul away, he was an 11-year-old boy who was lost and distant from everyone and everything. The boy was never seen or heard talking or crying again like a “normal” child would.
But when he was alone, Sam turned to writing, which was the only way he knew how to express himself any more.
Sam’s English teacher at school was the only other person who knew how good a writer his son was.
“I can’t believe this is my kid, because I couldn’t read or write like him if my life depended on it!” Curtis was very proud of his son and told everyone he met about him.
The man had never gone to school and had worked as a janitor for most of his life to make what little money he could. But he encouraged his son’s love of books, saw it as the most important thing in the world, and helped it grow.
“Can you believe that the son of a cleaner became a millionaire?”
Sam couldn’t remember a time when his dad didn’t take him to the public library after school. Some nights he didn’t eat dinner, but he never went to bed without a book.
But after Curtis died, Sam couldn’t read a single page without crying after every sentence. So he turned to writing. Two months after his father died, the boy had filled up half a dozen notebooks with notes and poems about his feelings.
Not that anyone was interested in reading it. Since his father died, Sam had been living with his father’s sister and her husband. From what Sam had seen, his aunt Cassie wasn’t a very nice person, her husband was a loud, cocky man, and their two misbehaving boys weren’t very nice either.
“In my opinion,” Sam’s aunt’s husband said as he sipped tea and watched Sam clean up the neglected backyard, “you need to be a man and get a job that pays.” You should know that I don’t have extra money to spend on you. So there will be no school starting Monday! And no library!”
“But… the library is free. And Aunt Cassie, I want to learn and become—”
“I don’t care what you want to do with your life, boy!” The woman didn’t care and just threw her hands up in the air. “You could read every book in the world, but you can’t get the apple far from the tree, can you? You’re a loser, like your dad! “It’s best if you accept that as soon as possible,” the woman said in a cold voice.
Sam quietly put his things in his bag and walked out the door. It was his last day of school. But the boy had different ideas…
Sam never went home again, not even that night. Aunt Cassie was more angry than worried, so she didn’t call the police for help finding the boy. She was afraid that the police would find out about her own shady past, so she decided that her brother’s worthless son wasn’t worth the risk.
It had been two days, and no one knew that Sam had been walking the streets during the day and sleeping with a few homeless people who he and his father had helped in the past.
Sam’s English teacher, Mr. Murray, was the only person at school who had seen him hiding.
Mr. Murray was very upset when he saw one of his best students sitting outside of a cafe, crying because he was hungry and holding his stomach.
The kind voice that said, “Sam,” startled the child. “Come along, kid.”
The teacher was kind, and after raising two adopted boys for years, he knew how to make the troubled boy feel safe and at ease.
Sam went home with Mr. Murray, where he fed him, helped him clean up, and put him to bed for a nap. Then he looked in Sam’s bag to see if there was a phone number he could call. He found Sam’s diary instead.
While Sam was sleeping, his teacher read page after page about what the 10-year-old had been going through and tried not to cry.
When Sam woke up a few hours later, his books were neatly stacked on a shelf, his clothes were in a laundry bag, and a picture of his father was in a nice frame on the study table.
“You’ve been hiding for too long, son,” Mr. Murray told the boy as he walked in and sat down next to him.
“No, no longer. You can live here for as long as you want. You can eat, play, and read as much as you want. I’ll take you and my boys to and from school every day. “I promise that no one will ever step on your dreams again,” Mr. Murray told Sam as he embraced him with tears in his eyes.
Sam’s life was never the same after that day. He worked hard at school and became a confident, nice person. In less than a year, Mr. Murray became Sam’s legal father.
Sam’s dad had died, but he now had someone else to look up to and lean on. He also had two older brothers who loved him.
Sam finished high school with the help and love of Mr. Murray. He also got a scholarship to one of the best universities to study literature.
By the time Sam was 30, he owned a successful publishing house for independent writers from all over the world that made him a millionaire. Sam was on the cover of every business magazine, and his new office couldn’t hold all of his honors and awards.
And aunt Cassie? She had grown old in the same small world she had made for herself. Her husband left her for another woman years ago, and the sons she used to be proud of left her as soon as they turned 18. Now, she has to do odd jobs to make money.
When she finally got a stable job, things began to look up for her. She started working as a cleaner in a downtown office building.
She was just starting to like the job she had once laughed at when she saw a young man in a suit who looked familiar walking through the lobby. When she got closer, the mop slipped out of her hands, and she was so shocked and embarrassed that she couldn’t move.
“Look, there he is!” “That’s Sam, who owns this publishing house,” another member of the cleaning crew told Cassie. “Can you believe that the son of a cleaner became a millionaire? What an inspiring human being!”
Cassie’s shame grew with every word, and she had no choice but to hide from the nephew whose dreams she had once tried to kill.
What does this story teach us?
Your success is something you make, not something that happens to you. Sam showed that he was a great example of someone who came from a poor background but did well in life.
Rich or poor, every child needs people who believe in them. Aunt Cassie and her husband chose to make fun of Sam’s goals, but his late father Curtis and his adoptive father Mr. Murray were there for him.
Tell your friends about this story. It could make their day and give them ideas.