THE FIGHTER I LOVE THE MOST

Fighters come in all shapes and sizes. Earlier today, as I was driving I heard the song "Fighter" by Gym Class Heroes on the radio. I had my dad next to me and at that moment, I couldn't think of a better song to describe the man next to me.

My job with MMA organisations such as ONE FC and MIMMA gave me the privilege to meet some of the best fighters in the world, Ann Osman, Adam Kayoom, Gianni Subba, AJ Pyro, Bashir Ahmad, Roger Huerta. I love it really because there is so much courage and discipline in what they do and it inspires not just me, but I think many.

People worship these fighters because of their courage. But in this post, I want to credit the warriors who fight daily challenges outside the cage. One of them, my favourite, is my dad.

Of course, we all have arguments with dads. They always have a way of thinking that gets to you. But to me, and many knows this, my dad is a real hero to me.

Personally, I feel that my dad has went through so much, even now that he is 57, I see so many challenges thrown in his way. I can't share too much but I am just saying, he has gone through a lot.

Just recently, when he is already busy with taking care of my sick grandma, he has to deal with the fact that we need to return our house to our landlady. Dad has to plan for us moving to our new home and he basically does everything because we are, yeah, quite useless kids. What I am saying is, dad takes care of everything so that we don't have to worry and so that we can focus on our jobs. He always takes care of things.

I can see how tired he is sometimes but he charged on with so much strength and patience. I can see how much effort he put in to make sure that my grandma is comfortable and feels good. From him, I learn so much about being filial, love and care.

My mum too, in fact, is the heroine. From her, I see how hard she tries to give up her own needs for everyone.

Being able to witness how dad cared for my grandma - ensuring she takes her medication on time, doing physical exercises with her, eating with her so that she eats, and even changing her diapers once - is a very meaningful experience that has really touched me and my siblings' hearts. I think from dad, we know what it means to really love and care for someone. It is not the riches that matter but more importantly, having someone to show you that much of love at the end of the day. I don't think many can see it ... but I do and I hope my sibling does.

Dad has taught us to appreciate the simple blessings in life, that we might not be able to see. Blessing is as simple as having loved ones around you that care. Blessing is as simple as having a choice to eat your favourite ice-cream or drink your favourite Mocha on a bad day.

My grandmother, in a way, she is lucky because she has all her children and grandchildren going through this with her. Of course, if there is one huge favour I can wish for from God, is that she suffer less. I've never seen my dad complain, because he always sees things from a positive perspective. And has always reminded us to do so. He never judge, he never will.

I learn a lot from the people around me.

And these recent events, I learned what "sacrifice" and "love" means from my family.

I've seen how my dad and my aunts worked so hard to care for my grandmother, who is diagnosed with cancer. And these are all real life fighters who have dedicatedly love their mother and go through a lot to provide the best for her.

This is why dad is a fighter and is awesome:

Money cannot bring him down 

He is rich.

No we don't have a lot of money and although I think dad does have a stash of cash somewhere...we are not Paris Hilton rich. We don't own huge cars and we are still complaining about how small our rooms are. But we are rich in happiness, rich in spirit and we are all blessed babies because of our dad!

Dad is financially savvy and he fought through one of our family's toughest financial setback when he was retrenched a few years back. We were all still in college then, can you imagine? And he got us through with his savings. And let me re-emphasize how strong dad is. When he was retrench, we were also forced to move out of our current house, but to cut a long story short, he managed to negotiate for us to stay in the house, and that saved us a lot of hassle. He went through all that.

One thing that he taught me, which I treasure the most is to learn to earn your own money to buy things. He never bought us a lot of toys (in fact, I don't think he bought any), and he never reward us with iPods or Walkmans when we did well in school. He wants us to learn to work for it. He always say that if you don't work for it yourself, that thing doesn't really belong to you. If your dad buys you a car, the car is technically your dad's, because it is his money. I'm glad that he never buy me stuff (well, I do have mum on the side providing us with some stuff), because now I treasure (well, sort of because I suck at taking care of things) the things I can afford to buy with my own money. Makes me feel so proud.

And more importantly, dad bought us education and food.

My laziness does not bring him down 

He is a teacher. 

Did you know that we had classes with him at 8.30pm, every night when we were kids? 

I hated that - spelling, homework, daily timetables... urgh!

But looking back, that is what really made a difference in our lives. We became NERDS and are loved by the rest of the kids! :D Okay, only kidding but you know what I mean.

If it weren't for dad's strictness with us and for his intelligence to see through those times I try to fake my sleep to escape from his "tuition" classes, I don't think we will be where we are today (not that we are that far of anywhere but at least we know our ABC and Ds).

Oh and thanks to him, I can drive like a pro now. My driving coach sucks so bad, it was technically my dad who taught me how to drive. And now, I can reverse park and do all sorts of "stunts" (credits to myself) on the road because of him.

Life cannot bring him down 

He is the light. 

Nah, he is not God, but he can produce some wise words. Not all that I agree with but mostly I do. And his words have always got me through. Always, well, 98% of the time. Sometimes, I wonder who gets him through.

He told me once that looking back, we all went through all the challenges, didn't we?

And he always sees things on the bright side, and while some people are just annoying when they do so, dad does it so inspirationally.

In my case, my dad doesn't have to worry. I'll never be taller than him.

He can withstand my "adventurous" life stories

He is a listener.

Tell him everything. Well, not everything but you can try. He listens. Sometimes, I wish he will open up more like us. Because I too want to know if he is really happy. He is not like me. I am an open book. A book that is too wide open. I laugh when I am happy. I laugh when I am sad...

So ya, this is to all the fighter dads out there who has been their children's heroes!