Uncle 4

All of my childhood friends know uncle 4, whom I lived with together with my granny. He is called uncle 4 mainly because he's the 4th boy in the Ho family (mom's side).   Mind you, the numbering starts from the 2nd boy. So in my mom's  family, we have boys number 1 to number 11.   He was the smartest boy in the family who was sponsored to study law in the UK in the 60's but was sent home after a few years due to depression. To some, uncle 4 is ‘crazy’, because he talked to himself , he smiled to himself, he walked thousand miles a day... But to us, he is a special uncle whom all of us love.  He taught me lots of things , random things which I remember till now.

Today, uncle 4 can't walk anymore, he weights half of what is seen in the picture and can hardly talk because of a fall and side effects from the medication. Visited him over the weekend back home in Penang and he cried when he saw me.  I'm not sure if they were tears of joy or sadness.  But I'm glad I made the trip to see him and I know Jesus is watching over him.

Random things that I will always remember about uncle 4 :-

1. He walked miles with me to a public telephone to  call my friend to chat (during the days of zero technology)
2. He walked me to the bus stop every morning to ‘protect’ me from stray dogs
3. He wrote all my debate speeches
4. He was my walking English dictionary
5. He taught me the quotes from Julius Caesar – I came, I saw, I conquered
6. He told me who Martin Luther King was
7. He explained why Japanese did the Kamikaze
8. Uncle 4's own quote: “ Use your eyes and see things far far away”