My Hero: Homme Hellinga

                                                                     by Robert H.

     Homme Hellinga, my dad, is my hero. My dad had a childhood full of travel. He was born in London while his parents were on a sabbatical. Right after he was born, he was whisked back home where he belonged: Amsterdam. My dad’s parents were both historians of print (they studied the history of print and writing), so he commonly was dragged along to see famous books. By the time he was eleven, he saw almost all of the most famous Bibles in Europe. Throughout his earlier childhood, he lived in Amsterdam, enjoying school whilst he was there and loving the time spent on these trips. When my dad turned fourteen, he moved to England. About a year afterward, his parents followed up and joined him. For that year, he stayed at a nice family’s house until his parents showed up. Throughout his school times in Britain, he was a top student. He consistently received high grades, and learned many languages, like Latin and Greek. No matter how well my dad excelled at everything else, his passion was always Science.

      My dad attended the famous Edinburgh College in Scotland, where he adpted to the Scottish accent and took many advanced classes. After graduating from Edinburgh and collecting his Bachelor’s degree, he moved on to his next college, Cambridge, where he earned a PhD in biochemistry. My dad decided that the best place to pursue a career in biochemistry was in America. Therefore, he went on into Stanford, leaving his parents behind. After working for a while at Stanford, he decided to continue his work at Yale, where he met my mother. Here I am, I came along ten or eleven years later. My dad had a very educationally focused childhood, but always had time to sit down for a laugh. He is still in touch with his friends from both the Netherlands and Britain, along with all the brilliant scientists he met up with along the way. In any case, my dad is a likable guy. If you don’t believe me, just keep reading.

      My dad is a very creative and patient man. Whenever I have a crazy idea, he listens and turns it into something rational. It’s how I learn to think through problems. For example, I say something about how it smells on the highway. He asks why, and I answer because of the gasoline (it happens to be what I’m smelling). We end up talking about the disadvantages of gasoline over other forms of energy, which quickly moves on to a discussion about alternative energy sources. My dad is the main reason that, whenever I come across a problem, I don’t ask a question immediately and instead try and push through it. These conversations are also one of the reasons I love the wait in restaurants and long car rides: we do our best thinking then.

      One of my dad’s most prominent traits is his cheerful and energetic attitude. He can make any problem into a joke, and although sometimes you wish he was serious at times, in a minute you are laughing along with him. From his funny responses to the average question of a middle school-er: “What’s for dinner?” to the many ways he can cheer you up when you’re down. If you’re having a bad day at school, or you tripped and hurt yourself, he can make you laugh and joke with him. I really love this about my dad. If I had a bad day, I look forward to seeing him, either for him to give me advice or to laugh about it.

      One of the most important things about my dad that I love is his individuality and uniqueness. I have never met anyone like my dad. Although I haven’t met many British or Dutch people, I have a feeling there is no one like him. From this essay, you may think that my dad doesn’t seem like anything besides your average dad, and maybe he isn’t. That doesn’t mean he isn’t something special to me. The way he listens to me and laughs with me, the way he jokes around, the way he waves goodbye to me when I go to school, no one is exactly like him. Of course, everyone thinks that about their dad, but my dad has that sort of energy about him that says, “I may be an older man, but I still have a couple of tricks up my sleeve.” I’ve never seen that energy leave him.

      My dad, because he is my dad, is a big part of every decision I make. Because I seek out my dad’s opinion on so many things, I don’t make many incredibly stupid mistakes. Not only has he had an impact on the people the people closest in his life (my mom, my dog, and me), he has also made contributions to the rest of the world with his research. He has designed a program that can detect proteins that help cure diseases. My dad is my hero in every way.

This is my hero book