The Wise Man "Coley Woley" my Teacher by Stephanie

The Wise Man "Coley Woley" my Teacher by Stephanie - July 2016 Scholarship Essay

The Wise Man gained knowledge through his years of being in the Military. He was in the Marines and the Army many years ago. Before he joined the military he was a country boy in Gary, South Dakota and his family owned a local bar and has two brothers and a sister. He grew up hunting and fishing, so with these skills, he knew how to eat in the wild if he needed to. Coley Woley was also a forest ranger and loved taking care of the trees and helped put out fires if need be. Coley was a very hard worker and never asked for anything from anyone. If he wanted or needed something he would get it himself. I consider this man a strong survivor that never gave up.

This man is my father, he is my teacher. He is my teacher because he taught me to never give up. He helped make me strong and yet have a good heart at the same time. He taught me many lessons throughout my life and I will always be thankful for the advice he gave me. The lesson he taught me was to "never give up". It didn't sink in until I found out he was diagnosed with ALS. I was scared and confused and I've only known him as the strong mountain man. When I moved to South Dakota to take care of him, I built a stronger relationship with him. At the time, he couldn't see himself being taken care of by his daughter. After awhile, he and I knew how important this was for the both of us. Taking care of him helped me become a stronger person. We would talk about our dreams and talk about what we wanted out of life. We talked about everything and that is what I enjoyed the most.

The lesson I learned from "Coley Woley" is to never give up. He still had dreams and due to his diagnoses, there were dreams he would never be able to do. Our relationship blossomed and gave me a lot of wisdom. If I want to go to college and have a career, then I should do it. If I wanted to invent something to make the world safer, than do it. If I want to travel the world to see new places, then do it. It is so easy to say I'll do it soon or someday. That soon or someday will fly by so fast and 30 years will go by if you end up living that long. If there is anything I want to do in my life no matter what it is or how hard it will be to take me there, he said, "Just don't give up, never give up".

I promised myself to "Never Give Up"