Today I saw a little boy walking along the street, dressed up in a jaunty pirate hat, black make-up scar on his face and a stripy t-shirt. He had a sword in one hand and he was holding the hand of his mother (in a hijab and duffle coat) in the other. The two were looking at each other and smiling.
I thought, "OH NO. He's got the day wrong". Then I thought, "No, Maybe it's Purim, or Dress as a Pirate Day". But as I drove past the school, a minute further on, I could see children in normal clothes crossing the road, and children in normal clothes entering the gate. No one else was in fancy dress.
And all day I've felt awful for him, as if I witnessed his one defining humiliating moment of primary school.
My hope for the day is that 1) he was meant to be a pirate today or 2) that his classmates were kind to him or that 3) his teacher made him a hero, and let him read a pirate book to the class.