L’Observateur / May 11, 1998

DeShauna Nathan, a 15-year-old freshman at St. James High School, recently submitted the following essay to L’Observateur when freshmen around the River Parishes were asked about their heroes in history. Nathan said then she knew she wasn’t exactly following contest directions, but she was following her heart instead. She wrote about her hero, her grandmother, Odessa Batiste Nathan, with whom she lives in Vacherie.***

The person that I admire most is a part of my own history. For as long as I have known her she has taught me just about everything that I needed to know. She is sort of like my hero. No one can amount to how much this woman means to me.Her name is Odessa Batiste Nathan. She is my grandmother by my mother. The reason I admire her is because she is the person that I have had to rely on for the past 11 years. She has a positive effect on me, yet sometimes I still act a little contrary.All the times that I have done things wrong she forgave me. Sometimes I couldn’t understand why she did.I have lived with her practically all of my life and I have always looked up to her, so it’s easy for me to say that I admire her. She has such a sweet spirit and I love to be in her presence. She may not have a fancy education or a decent job, but I’ll aWhenever I see her smile I think of all the times she’s preached to me to make sure that I was doing things right. Every time she cries I can feel what she feels almost. Of all of the trials and tribulations that she has faced she still goes on every day Sometimes she overlooks her health and well-being to see that others are being kept up properly. Every day she goes to her father’s house and brings him breakfast, lunch and dinner and sometimes a little snack. She does this out of the bottom of her heartEvery day she’s pushing me to make me see that life is not a game and that I don’t go to school to associate but to learn. She didn’t get a chance to finish school, so I’m going for the both of us.Someone could pay me a million dollars to write about somebody famous and I would pick my grandmother over any person with money or talent and all for one reason, just because I know she loves me just as much as I love her.

I am going to close this essay saying this: Anyone can be a hero, but only one person can be my hero. My hero is the person who shows me double the love that I show them.

Return To News Stories