The Road To Greatness - My CONA Essay

(Why the hell is this formatted?)  I simply believe that a really good piece of writing should not be kept away from others who will potentially appreciate it.   Therefore, I put this essay out, as I probably will have a good use for it in the future... or something like that.

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An unknown author once said that “seeing yourself as you want to be is the key to personal growth”, and I couldn’t agree more.  It is my dream to be "The Next Iron Chef", as having this title signifies that I am one of the best in the culinary world, much like a CONA delegate is when representing one of the twenty five best delegates in California’s Youth and Government program. These worlds are parallel to each other in their base concepts, but they become perpendicular when one examines the means to the end of greatness.

The road to greatness begins with speed and artistry: butchering.  To me, breaking down a piece of meat and a proposal share many similarities; they are both complex chunks of material that, to the inexperienced eye, look like a mound of odds and ends. A more experienced individual, like myself, sees not the collective whole as much as the individual parts, parts that I cannot help but scrutinize, one by one.  As a speaker, not only am I very comfortable on the podium, but I am willing to raise my hand and speak on a topic, even when no one else chooses to. This helps showcase the beauty of Youth and Government, the idea that my opinion matters, that even when my opinion gets lost in translation, others opinions and questions can clarify, be their intention to support me or oppose me I believe that my opinionated and talkative personality stimulate my hunger to be in CONA even more, since I know that if my opinions already matter to California, then they should also in forty-nine other states.

The next challenge is dubbed Simplicity, where chefs make six "one bite" dishes, and Innovation, where molecular gastronomy (the use of advanced chemical and physical processes within cooking) is involved, where both challenges require their style of cooking to be applied. I find my life similar to food, where the topic is so broad that there are many variations of it. Since there are many variations of food, it takes something innovative, something unique, to make this a certain variation of a certain dish unique. Variety is the spice of life, and I took my chances seven years ago in coming here to the U.S, to spice things up, and that it did. Despite cultural shocks at certain events, my life has been nothing short of desirable. If variety is the spice of life, I don't want to be stuck in California, or the Phillipines alone:  I want to move around the world, and discover the wonders of the world.  It's what a chef does:  Go to other countries to apply those concepts that they have learned into their style of cooking.  Given that CONA gives it's delegates to travel to a new place, and testimonies from other people that it was the best time of their life, I want to experience it as well.

Another challenge was named “Lead and Inspire”, where the chefs are flown to Paris to create a meal for a party being thrown by the United States Ambassador to France. Each potential Iron chef got a Sous chef, and were forced to simulatenously delegate responsibility while trusting a stranger to be responsible. I know that responsibility increases exponentially with power. As Westchester’s Tennis Team Varsity Captain, I feel a responsibility to be both a strict mentor and a gentle friend with them, going from enforcing drills to telling stories of the multiple mishaps the team has experienced.  By doing this, I inspire these rookies to be more sociable to us veterans, as we were once like them, and can understand what we are going through. By being this brotherly figure, I earn the intangible and irreplacable virtues of respect and trust, which helps creates a powerful bond.  This is the kind of bond that I want to achieve with whoever I meet at CONA, knowing that me and a certain group of people will not be stuck in the past, but will be stuck in a lifetime: the past, the present, and the future.

If an Iron Chef is much like a CONA delegate, then I am the Iron Chef, my heart is the kitchen, and I cannot wait to show off the world what I have to offer: my skills, my flair, and my product.  With these three, I believe that I am a force to be reckoned with as I am ready for anything that comes in my way.