I Am Special

      Guess why I’m special? Well, it’s because I am adopted. My birth certificate bears testimony for it and my parents did not hesitate to tell me so only when I am old enough to understand.

      During the years I was in Yu Hua, I was asked many times about how I felt being an adopted child. People could not understand why I don’t have any hang ups and I don’t understand why they expect me to feel so resentful.

      I don’t have any problems with being adopted, but I do have problem with how some people perceive adoption. News about who has adopted who and who is an adopted child used to be passed on from one person to another in whispers as if it was a scourge.

      When I am going through my troublesome teen-years, people asked me why had my parents stood by me and supported me when I was not their biological child. Some of my friends said that ‘blood is thicker than water’ but love is much stronger and more binding in a family than blood ties.

      No one can possibly replace the relentless care and support my adoptive parents have given me. My biological parents gave me a life. It is because of them that I am who I am today and I wouldn’t want to be anyone else.

 Tey Jun Ren