Capes

When I was a child everything seemed larger.
The sun wasn't just a sun but a giant glowing ball of awesomeness in the sky that hurt your eyes if you looked at it for too long.
Its presence meant being outside and playing
and despite my lack of understand for how things worked, I knew that it brought life.
Grass grew taller like when all the boys in the fifth grade suddenly became tall and lanky over the summer and I was no longer the tallest person in class.
Hair grew brighter in the sun so I would actually look blonde instead of the "dishwater blonde" my mother called it but I referred to my hair as golden.
The sun was life and love and summer time.

When I was a child I used to play pretend.
Whether it was sword fighting or dragon slaying or cookie baking or dog chasing
there was no end to the ideas in my infinite imagination.
An empty wrapping paper roll became Excalibur while a piece of rug began a magic carpet and a hammock a motorcycle.
I could travel to Narnia or Tattoine or under the sea or in the jungle, go wherever I pleased and always make it back in time just for dinner.
Nothing had to be simply what it was.

When I was I child, I thought like a child and everything was magical.
The only evil in the world wore black capes and red masks and cackled as they laughed.
It was so simple to identify every villain and so simple to vanquish them with one wave of my wand or slash from my sword or one bite from the poisonous cookie they were destined to eat.

As an adult, evil doesn't wear such bright colors.
It hides in subway stations and parking lots. Underneath flowerbeds or regular beds, blending into the bleakness of the floor below.
It mixes the good with the bad so well that it turns into a gray blob that no longer holds any color but disguises itself as a well positioned rain cloud.

Sometimes I wish I wore a cape.
Bright red with a large letter M embossed on the back so people would know that I fight against evil.
But only kids wear capes nowadays, just like kids are the only ones to wear the illusion that they can make a difference anymore.
I put away that costume years ago.

Sometimes I wish I wore a cape so I could remember that I too can make a difference.