Rising Above the Modern-Day Witch Hunt with Moral Courage
An Inner Child’s Cry for Belonging in the Face of Labels Like “Repugnant” and “Pure Garbage”
When I was in third grade, I announced to my mom a new idea for a Halloween costume: “I want to be THE NIGHT.”
She paused and questioned: “Like a knight who fights?”
“NO,” I asserted. “THE NIGHT. That shines.”
Relieved, I imagine, that her flower child did not want to bear a sword and shield, we set to work on making the costume. She sewed glow-in-the-dark star, moon, and planet stickers on a cape and helped me make the staff and headband pictured above.
Meanwhile, I told my teacher and my class that for the parade at school I was going to dress up as “the night”…but I forgot to clarify as I had with my mom that I would be the night that shines, not the knight that fights.
So when I showed up to the parade, fully costumed, my teacher grew frustrated with me. Even just the smallest deviation caused this authority figure such angst. She perceived me to have been lying and twisting my words, but the truth of the matter was, she hadn’t considered that “knight” sounds just like “night.” Maybe she felt foolish.
