A couple weeks ago, my oldest son’s elementary school had a “say no to drugs” week where everybody wore red and they had activities that were intended to raise awareness of drugs (presumably in a negative way).

One of the activities involved a fire truck. Everybody filed out of their classrooms and into a big field. The fire truck pulled up, and a fireman stood on the ladder as it was raised. The teachers then arranged the kids to spell out phrases like “say no to drugs” with their bodies. The fireman took pictures from the top of the ladder.

That’s the point at which my son took over the festivities. Looking up at the guy on the ladder, he followed his most fundamental instincts and shouted out “Higher! Higher!”

The kids around him took up the shout and it immediately turned into a chant. “Higher! Higher!”

The chant spread rapidly through the crowd. “Higher! Higher!”

Kids pumped their fists in time to the words. “Higher! Higher!” Some stamped. Others danced.

From what I’ve been told, it took the teachers quite a while to hush the crowd.

Why did I wait so long to share this particular daddytale? Well, the teachers never did find out who started the chant, and I didn’t want to get the big guy in trouble. This is not his first experience being a community organizer, and I don’t want to squelch his instincts.