Mermaids... and Quirkiness

At the Farmer's Market this morning, Bill called me quirky. I like it.

Then this afternoon, I opened All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarden from my shelves that I haven't read in over a decade... it's of short anecdotes, so I opened to the middle-ish and found the following story:

"Giants, Wizards and Dwarfs was the game to play
. Being left in charge of
about eighty children seven to ten years old, while their parents were off doing
parenty things, I mustered my troops in the church social hall and explained the
game. It's a large-scale version of Rock, Paper, and Scissors, and involves some
intellectual decision making. But the real purpose of the game is to make a lot
of noise and run around chasing people until nobody knows which side you are on
or who won.
"Organizing a roomful of wired up gradeschoolers into two teams, explaining
the rudiments of the game, achieving consensus on group identity - all this is
no mean accomplishment, but we did it with a right good will and were ready to
go.
"The excitement of the chase had reached a critical mass. I yelled out: "You
have to decide now which you are - a GIANT, a WIZARD, or a
DWARF!"
"While the groups huddled in frenzied, whispered consultation, a tug came at
my pants leg. A small child stands there looking up, and asks in a small
concerned voice, "Where do the Mermaids stand?"
"Where do the Mermaids stand?
"A long pause. A very long pause. "Where do the Mermaids stand?"
says I.
"Yes. You see, I am a Mermaid."
"There are no such things as Mermaids."
"Oh, yes, I am one!"
"She did not relate to being a Giant, a Wizard, or a Dwarf. She knew her
category. Mermaid. And was not about to leave the game and go over and stand
against the wall where a loser would stand. She intended to participate,
whereever Mermaids fit into the scheme of things. Without giving up dignity or
identity. She took it for granted that there was a place for Mermaids and that I
would know just where.
"Well, where DO the Mermaids stand? All the "Mermaids" - all those who are
different, who not not fit the norm and who do not accept the available boxes
and pigeonholes?
"Answer that question and you can build a school, a nation, or a world on
it.
"What was my answer at the moment? Every once in a while I say the right
thing. "The Mermaid stands righ here by the King of the Sea!" says I. (Yes,
right here by the King's Fool, I thought ot myself.)
"So we stood there hand in hand, reviewing the troops of Wizards and Giants
and Dwarfs as thy roiled by in wild disarray.
"It is not true, by the way, that mermaids do not exist. I know at least one
personally. I have held her hand.