By Hasti K

For as long as I can remember I have been working to provide for the people I love. It started when I was as young as three years old, I’d sell cigarettes to the workers on my family’s farm. That was until I was old enough to pick tea leaves. I remember looking through my sisters’ books and try and teach myself some of the stuff since none of the boys in my family went to school. That was until my sister’s 6th-grade teacher saw my potential and let me take the grades final exam. And what do you know, I passed. By that time, my family had enough money to send the boys to school instead of work so my brothers and I went and became normal kids. Unlike my brothers, however, I kept working because I actually liked it. It made me feel useful. In a blink of an eye, I graduated high school and went on to do the 2 years of mandatory military service I had to do after graduation. I enjoyed being in the army so much that I ended up joining the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force, and that’s where I met my wife. Not long after meeting her we got married and about a year into the marriage we had our firstborn. After our son was born, I decided to go to university and study Geography. I got my degree and went on to work in the Shilat Fisheries Research and Training Organization. By this time I had three children, a boy and two girls and I wanted the best for them. So, I started my own shipbuilding company, which ended up being quite successful. I’m 66 years old now. I have been working non-stop for 63 years, and I am loving it. I could have retired by now, but there is nothing like seeing an empire you built from nothing.

#YourWorkPaysOff #DoItForLove