El Cinto

A quote from Joseph's message to Natalie:

"Now Natalie, who exactly are we talking about? Can you email me
privately? I think it's time for the Cinto"

Reading about "El cinto" brought back memories of the time when I was a "Muy travieso" little boy and the harsh discipline administered by my parents.

It has been a long time and I don't remember all of the details of what I did, but it must have been something really bad. I remember playing with two cousins, two older sisters, and some neighborhood friends. We were all around five to eight years old. We were playing in our backyard when all of a sudden I heard somebody say: "Here comes your Mom" I turned around and I didn't like what I saw, my Mom, walking rapidly toward me, with the meanest look in her eyes and a rope in one hand. I looked around for a place to run to or a place to hide, no such luck. I knew that was it and I was about to have a new experience in life.

My Mom grabbed me by one arm and dragged me to a tree while she was saying: "I am going to teach a lesson you'll never foreget, I am going to hang you! " I started to cry as I looked around, hoping that somebody would come to my rescue, no such luck. All the other kids were also crying and scared, frozen stiff in place, just waiting to see what was going to happen to me. She took the rope and wrapped it around my WAIST, tied a knot and threw the other end over a limb of the tree. She pulled on the rope, lifting me about a couple of feet off the ground. That's when I died! Of course, at the age, I had no idea that people didn't die hanged by a rope tied around the waist. She must have held me up in the air for a full five or ten seconds, but for me, it was an eternity. The last thing that I remember is seeing the other kids running away in panic, crying out loud. I guess they also thought that I was going to die.

I wasn't physically hurt, just emotionally, which is worse...Was it cruel? Funny? You be the judge.

That incident made quite an impression on me, to the point where I have never forgotten it. My kids laugh out loud when I tell them abou it. It probably shaped my behavior for the rest of my life. From that point on, I was a well behaved and responsible person.

ps: This incident took place in Mexico in the early 1940's.

I have a feeling that this little true story will open a new subject for discussion... Discipline of Hispanics. Who hasn't felt the CINTO ?
or some other object on their bottom?

John Gonzalez
Wildomar, CA.

1gnzlz@verizon.net