If you say that someone deserves a medal, you mean that you admire them for dealing with and putting up such a difficult situation or person for so long. We asked three people who they thought deserved a medal.
Charlie: Hi, I’m Charlie. If anybody I know deserves a medal, it’s my sister. She’s three years older than me, and I’ve always been her baby brother - which has annoyed me at times. But recently she’s been star! Three weeks ago, I tore my Achilles’ tendon when I was playing five-aside football. I had to go to hospital and have an operation. The lower part of my leg is in plaster and I can’t walk. So what did my sister do? She hired a wheelchair, and she pushes me everywhere. I thought I’d be stuck in the flat, but no. My sister puts me in the chair, wheels me to the lift and then off we go. She’s wheeled me around the shops, to the park and even to the cinema. You deserve a medal, Sis! Thank you!
Rose: My name’s Rose, and I don’t have to think twice about who I think deserves a medal. My colleague Jenny has just helped me through a very difficult time. Two months ago, I got home one evening and my flat was flooded. The shower in the flat above had been leaking without anyone knowing and the water brought my ceiling down. My flat was a complete mess. Jenny invited me to stay with her until I got it all sorted out, and helped me find workmen to repair the damage. I had to get the insurance sorted out as well. I thought that was going to take forever. Phone calls every day and lots of forms to fill in. And insurance companies are not the easiest people to deal with. Jenny was great helping me with that. She is one of these people who is very cool in a crisis. She just gets on with it. Thank you Jenny!
Mark: Hello! I’m Mark. My neighbour, Brian is amazing! I moved into a new flat three months ago, and last month I bought a new bookcase. I knew I had to ‘assemble it myself’, but didn’t think it would be difficult to put together. I am not good with D.I.Y, and I will admit that I am pretty useless with jobs around the house, but how difficult could it be to put a bookcase together? I had it delivered to the flat, one big box. I got all the pieces of the bookcase and the screws and the brackets out of the box and arranged them on the floor. But the instructions were all in cartoon form. Useless. I simply could not work out what to do. I tried for three hours, and then gave up. I was going down in the lift the following morning and Brian was in the lift as well. We had spoken before. I told him about my bookcase troubles, and straightaway he said he would come round that evening and help me. And would you believe it? He had the whole thing built in ten minutes? Brian, you are a genius! You deserve a medal.