“Dale, Dale, Dale”

Throughout the course of time there has been a tradition that may lead to recognition of someone becoming a leader. In my case I didn’t do a hundred mile pilgrimage or fight a fire breathing dragon. This looked more like a salamander. A salamander which turned out to be made of cardboard and covered with orange and yellow Chinese paper was brought upon to me in my 5th birthday party. This beast was known as a piñata that I was suppose to break open with a stick and the help of my cousins same age as me.

Tradition says that the kids in this case my cousins and I had to line up in front of the piñata while two men in a high place with ropes in their hands tied to the piñata where to pull from this ropes and raise and move the piñata around making it a challenge to hit it. While the kid aimlessly tried to open the piñata, people who were invited to my party, where suppose to sing, “Dale, dale, dale, no pierdas el tino; porque si lo pierdes pierdes el camno. Ya le distes una, ya le distes dos, ya le distes tres, y tu tiempo se acabo”. ( Go, go, go don’t lose your aim; because if you lose it you will lose the path. You hit it once you hit it twice you hit it three times and your time is finished.) So my cousins and me went at it one by one only to fail one by one miserably as the two men that turn out to be my uncles, move the piñata out of the reach from my cousins and I with no mercy mocked us from their high standing places.

As my cousins where started to give up little by little and the mocking of my uncles grew, I knew that there was something that had to be done. Being next in line, something inside me came out for the first time, the reckless side in me that always wants to help those in need even if it means risking my well being finally bloomed. In an act of valor I threw the stick aside leaving everyone in the party gasping, and charged the piñata only to grab it as tight as my little self could and pulled against the two pulling forces of my brute uncles. Seeing this act of recklessness my cousins charged the piñata as well in effort to save or even help me in my mission to get the piñata in our possession. My uncles from fear of falling off and injuring themselves, let go of the ropes leaving only to leave the pulling force of my cousins acting upon me making me fly across the air and landing hard on my back leaving me with a few scratches. 

We had obtained control of the piñata leaving us free from the tyranny of my uncles. My cousins surrounded me and praise me even though it was a reckless thing to do, they knew I would grow up to be a great leader. Up to date I still do reckless things that remind me of that day, guess some things are started with a simple tradition, and who knows maybe reckless leader is what this world needs.