Hi everybody! My childhood might shock you, but at the same
time, it might help you change your mind about how your life, in general, is treating you. When you complain about how little you have,
or just take pity on yourself, you must always remember that there are many people in this
world that have way less. And that you can still succeed with a little
self-determination… and maybe with a tiny amount of luck. Well, just listen to my story. Let me start from the very beginning of my
life. I do not remember it, of course, but when
I found out, I was sad and happy at the same time. You will soon understand for yourself, let
me explain. You see, my family was so poor that when I
was born, my mother and father could not afford to pay the doctor who helped my mother give
birth to me. Can you imagine? And you know what happened next? The doctor suggested that they leave me with
him… as payment for his services. I can only imagine what use he would have
had for a newborn child. Luckily for me, my father managed to make
some money and also borrowed a dollar here, a dime there, and raised the amount I was
worth. I grew up as an abundantly energetic child,
and to put this energy to use, my father would wake me up at dawn to practice martial arts. We practiced Kung-fu together and he also
taught me to do simple acrobatics like somersaults and back flips. But as my fighting and acrobatic skills began
to take shape, my academic skills fell short. I was dyslexic and never could write properly,
so I failed my first year at Primary school and when all my classmates were already entering
third grade, I was left behind. So, instead my father decided to enroll me
in the Drama Academy at a local theatre school. Sounds miraculous, doesn’t it? I still remember walking into the musty halls
of that school, tightly clutching my father’s hand. My fears (if there were any fears at all)
disappeared as my eyes gazed upon the dozens of kids, my age and older, somersaulting and
playing with swords and sticks. It looked like “Disneyland” to me, my
own version of a magical world. So I very quickly let go of my father’s
hand and put my little palm into the hand of my new "Master." But the magic soon wore off and the true colors
of this Academy began to show through. I later on learned that when a child was enrolled
in this school, a contract between the parents and the administration was drawn up. According to this agreement, signed by both
parties, one of the main clauses was that the parents wouldn’t have any recourse in
the case their child was injured or even… died. But my parents still signed this agreement,
as did the parents of all the other children at the school. There was no miracle for me neither at school
nor at home. Unemployment in my home country rose high
and in order to keep their jobs my parents, who worked for the ambassador of one foreign
country, had to move to Australia as their employer was relocated. Do you think that they took their 8 year old
son with them? No. For you it might seem terrible that parents
would even be able to leave their child behind. But for my family, it was simply a matter
of survival. So, my parents left and I stayed at the Drama
Academy where we had all kinds of training in performance, acrobatics, music, and different
kinds of martial arts. It sounds good, but we had to get up at 5
AM and train for 15-16 hours a day. Exercises were sometimes brutal, sometimes
simply exhausting - like, for example, we were performing headstands and somersaults
for hours on end. But nobody complained. And also, we could not show that everything
was okаy either, because if the Master thought that somebody was taking the training for
granted, they would increase the intensity until we fell down from exhaustion. Corporal punishment and psychological pressure
was commonplace at this school. Both from our masters and from our own schoolmates. At that time, I wasn’t as brave and was
often picked on by the other children at my school. There was no single day that went by without
something bad happening. I was very angry. I allowed it to happen because I was scared
and didn’t know how to defend myself. It continued until I stood up for a new student
and defended him. By standing up for him, I learned how to stand
up for myself. Our school was a good place for movie companies
to search for young stars for their movies. After a year of school, I got lucky to be
chosen, too. At the age of eight I was already an episode
actor, and by the time I finished school, I had participated in seven movies already. But I still hardly knew how to read and write. This, however, did not prevent me from getting
a job as an episode actor and a stuntman at a low-budget action-movie studio. "I was eighteen by that time. I took any kind of stunt job, and soon I earned
a reputation for being fearless. Unfortunately my good reputation did not make
me rich. At least, not at that time. The stuntman fees were so low that I started
to starve again, and what could I do? I could have quit this job and moved to Australia
where my father and mother still lived. They might have been surprised to see their
son, who they left behind some ten years ago... but I did not blame them, I knew that it was
the way life was. They helped me at the beginning, and soon
I was working in restaurants, on construction sites, and I took any job I could to earn
enough money to make a living. At one of the construction sites, a fellow
worker took me under his wing. His name was Jack, and I got the nickname
Little Jack, which was soon shortened to Jackie." "This was one of the unhappiest times in my
life. Construction work was difficult and boring. So can you imagine how happy I was to receive
a telegram from a guy who was looking for someone fearless to star in a new movie. It turned out that he had seen me a while
ago, when I was working as a stuntman, and had been impressed. This was the time when my reputation for being
a fearless guy had finally worked out for me! I called him and we talked. Soon I was on my way back home to star in
an action fighter movie. I was 21 years old. This guy later on became my best friend and
manager, and I will always remember to whom I owe my success. We made many movies together. A great part of them were comedies. Why? Maybe because I prefer to smile in this life,
no matter how hard it hits you." "I told you already that my name is Jackie. Jackie Chan. I can say that now I am one of the best known
Asian actors in the world. I took part in more than 100 movies where
I did most of the stunts myself - thanks to the hard training I received at school. And when I have to shoot with younger actors,
I share my stories of hardship from my life with them. I constantly remind them that they should
always appreciate all that they have, because so many have so little." What do you think about my story? Tell me in the comments and don't forget to
share this one with your friends.
