The Courage of Children: Boston and Beyond XXXIII

SUNG TAO HOUR
PHALLA OL, TEACHER
The Cambridge School, Kampong Cham Province, Cambodia
When I was eight years old, I started to study at primary school. Sometimes
I went to school with an empty stomach, and sometimes I ate very little
breakfast because my family couldn’t afford to make enough for everyone.
Even though that happened often in my childhood, I still pushed myself to
go to school every day.
At school, the teacher always began class with the previous lesson and asked
some questions. Some of the students raised their hands to answer, but I didn’t,
because I wasn’t good at learning, so I often didn’t know how to answer. When
the teacher asked me why I didn’t raise my hand, I replied that it was because
I didn’t know any of the answers. And everyone just laughed out loud at me.
When recess time came, some students looked down on me. I told myself I must
not give up. When I arrived home, I asked my mother, “Why do people like
looking down on me?” My mother told me not to care when people say bad
words to me. Since then, I have told myself that I must overcome my laziness
and try to remember all the lessons every day at school. Even though I went
through many obstacles at school and faced many more after that, I told myself
that I wouldn’t give up!
“I BECAME SKILLFUL
IN LEARNING THE
DHARMA AFTER
THOSE EARLY DAYS OF
STRUGGLE. THIS IS
WHAT MY COURAGE
WAS AND IS.”
I have tried to study the dharma prayers for four years now. I became skillful in
learning the dharma after those early days of struggle. This is what my courage
was and is. Courage made me exert much effort, try hard, and beat all the
obstacles, no matter how big or small they were. I know now that I can
overcome anything with my effort for sure.
When I turned thirteen years old, I decided to become a monk and live in a
pagoda, because I wished to be grateful to my parents and honor them in this
way. After a few days of monkhood life, the head monk taught me and the other
monks how to say the prayers. He limited the number of days we had to
memorize the prayers, and when the day came to speak them, I couldn’t
remember them all. So the head monk hit me three times. I was so ashamed in
front of the other monks. I got punished every day until I could remember all
the prayer lessons.
I went to ask my mother if I could quit monkhood at the pagoda, but my
parents didn’t allow me to do so. They said, “Joining the monkhood has to be
like this, my dear.” I thought a long time about all of this, and then I
understood something about myself. I told myself that I must not give up! I
must overcome this obstacle, I must overcome my laziness no matter how great
the obstacles, I must be brave, and I must make great efforts to study in the
monkhood for a long time.
THE COURAGE OF CHILDREN: BOSTON AND BEYOND
VOLUME XXXIII
170 171