Below is a birthday greeting I posted to my larger-than-life big brother, Luiz. I never told this story before today, and I get a good chuckle out of this one of many moments I tried to be like him. And for all you little siblings out there: that’s totally ok.
When I was a freshman in high school, I tried to run for class treasurer. I had no desire or knowledge of handling money, but my big brother had the position with his alma mater.
I was severely uncool in my first few weeks, but I had to present a campaign speech to the class of 2003 anyway. My big brother offered his speech totem: an orange hazard vest with the motto C.R.E.A.M. taped on the back. I didn’t know what whipped dairy had to do with managing accounts, but he helped me plan a speech and rehearse.
Came speech day, I grabbed the mic from my opponent, and I said the words “CASH RULES EVERYTHING AROUND ME,” in the most suburban of inflections.
And the class of 2003 went wild.
I used to get a lot of shit for trying to copy my big brother, but first of all, IT’S LUIZ; everyone wants to be him. But most of all, because everybody has a hero.