The Mistake of a Hero

The Mistake of a Hero

Everyone has a hero in his/her heart. My hero is my uncle, and my grandfather’s hero at first was Mao Ze Dong, who was a hero in China. Many old generations, like my grandfather’s, respected Mao Ze Dong as if he were a God and did everything correctly. From 1966 to 1976, Mao Ze Dong initiated the Cultural Revolution to punish the people who he thought would damage the government because he was trying to keep the society safe. However, the revolution was a catastrophe for the whole country. It made the country lose a lot of money and killed many people who were patriots. Furthermore, the revolution of my grandfather’s hero made a strong impression on our family that we will never forget. The impression consisted of disappointment and indignation.

First of all, in the revolution, my grandfather was betrayed by a friend whose name was Jian. Before the revolution, my grandfather used to leave home early and come back late. He finished his work, and then he helped Jian who could not do heavy work but needed to keep the job to raise his family. Nevertheless, one day Jian told the officials that my grandfather was against the revolution. Thus, he got monetary award for that information and retired. In his eyes, money was everything even if it meant betraying a good friend. For my grandfather, the revolution showed that friendship between him and his friend was so fragile. At the same time, all of my family realized that people would be extremely selfish in order to get money. Our family could not forgive my grandfather’s friend because he indirectly killed my uncle even though he begged for forgiveness.

In addition, the Cultural Revolution took away a family member from us, and caused permanent damage to my grandfather’s right side of his leg. In the revolution, there were two perspectives. The left side, which the government called completely correct, was legal; the right side, which damaged to the country’s safety, was illegal. If the government suspected a person was supporting the right side, he was criticized and imprisoned. At that time, my grandfather was considered as partial to the right side just because he liked reading books. Nevertheless, my grandfather pleaded not guilty. However, when he was arrested, the officials physically punished him. Nobody came to help him even though they all knew my grandfather was innocent. My family realized that my grandfather would die if no one helped him, so my uncle who was my grandfather’s nephew went to the prison and rescued my grandfather. Unfortunately, my uncle was physically punished and he died from his wounds. It seemed like the officials just needed to kill one person no matter who he was. Therefore, my uncle went to heaven and became our whole family’s hero.

Finally, our family tried our best to reduce my grandfather’s guilt and let him know it was not his fault. All my family did not mention my uncle or the revolution in front of my grandfather. However, many times I saw he sat behind a door and his eyes filled with tears. Before my grandfather died, he referred to my uncle. He said he would prefer if he had died instead of my uncle. I knew that he blamed himself for my uncle’s death. Furthermore, I also blamed myself because I could not help my grandfather reverse the punishment. I knew he was going to apologize to my uncle in heaven.

There were thousands victims who died like my uncle during the Cultural Revolution. The Cultural Revolution was implemented by a country’s hero, Mao Ze Dong, but none of Chinese citizens could stand up and say that it was an inane policy. Fortunately, after the revolution, all Chinese people learned that heroes are also human beings, and they can also make some mistakes. They understood the Cultural Revolution was a mistake which passed through killing lives and cost ten years of suffering.