Mamasan and grandboy went to a public outing downtown to participate with the hundreds of other parents and children taking part in Halloween festivities.

Unfortunately, amongst the swarm of zombie, slasher and fake-blood-stained children’s outfits, his outfit was met with other children shouting at him and parents who questioned mamasan’s judgement.

Not everyone there was in “horror theme” mode but those were the ones who’d react negatively to his choice.

So what was this terrible outfit that would make even the most killer of clowns recoil?

He dressed up as a police officer.

Being five years old, he has no clue about social media videos and posts, the reports of controversy on both sides of the thin blue line. The idea of corruption in the police force is as weird to him as rocks that float on water.

All he knows is 1) people choose to do bad things to others and 2) some people stop those folks and warn them or take them away to stop them from harming others.

He admires that ability, and to him, these are real-life superheroes. After all, isn’t that the essence of a superhero? Stop the bad guy and save others?

Mamasan didn’t think about the potential for conflict either. She simply wanted to encourage his love for what is true and honest and helpful.

All went well in the end. Litteun had no clue that there was an undertone to the “stop don’t shoot! my hands are in the air” catcalls and simply played along with them. Mamasan focused on the boy’s joy, and not on the stinkeye stares and comments by other “offended” parents.

She was keenly aware, however, that her son was in the distinct minority in that there were no other support-role outfits to be seen. No soldiers, doctors, firefighters, police officers, etc. I told her to keep on fighting the good fight. We can’t save the world on our own, but we can change the life of those who interact with us. Perhaps if each of us works our little garden patch well, we’ll start seeing these support roles becoming en vogue again.