Ramón was the school’s tough guy because his dad was also a tough guy. If anyone dared to disobey hm, they received a good beating.

Then Victor arrived. No one believed that Victor or his dad was tough as they were skinny and had no muscles. However, one day Victor went up to Ramón and said,

“Hey new kid! You should know that I am the leader, and I am the toughest guy here.”

“You might be the leader but I am the toughest guy here,” said Ramón.

That was when Victor got his first beating. The second was the day when Ramón tried to take a girl’s sandwich from her.

“This girl is a friend of mine and I am the toughest guy in the school. So, she will not give you her sandwich” were Victor’s last words before the blows started raining down on him.

His third beating came when he did not want to hand over his own sandwich.

“Tough guys like my dad and me don’t steal from others, and you are supposed to be a tough guy too?” he replied.

Victor got hurt regularly, but he never backed down. His bravery in defending those weaker that him, began to impress the rest of his classmates, and he soon gained admirers. Lots of other children began to play with him, so Ramón had even fewer chances to beat Victor and his friends, and now fewer children feared Ramón. New brave boys and girls emerged who copied Victor’s attitude, and the playground became a better place.

One day, at the school door, Ramón’s giant dad asked him who Victor was. Pointing to Victor, Ramónsaid, “That skinny rake is the tough guy who’s the new boss of the playground.” You are useless! I am going to hit you and show you what a tough guy really is,” said Ramón’s dad.

That was not the first time that Ramón got hit, but it was the first time that Victor’s dad was there to stop it happening.

“Tough guys like us don’t hit kids, right!” said Victor’s dad, placing himself between them.

Ramón’s father thought about hitting him, but he noticed that the small, thin man was very sure of himself, and that lots of families were there to stick up for him. After all, he was right. Hitting kids did not appear what tough guys did.

That was when Ramón’s dad understood why Victor said that his own father was a tough guy. His father was brave enough to put up anything bad that came in his way, to stand up for what was right. Ramón’s dad wanted to be that tough too. And so, that day, they chatted all afternoon and left as friends, having learnt that being a tough guy is about what’s inside, because that is where tough guys get their strength from, to cope with and fight unfairness. And so – thanks to a boy who did not seem very tough – Ramón his father and many others ended up filling the school with though guys, real tough guys, capable of putting up with anything that comes their way in standing up for what is right.