Where do the Mermaids stand?
From Robert Fulghum of “Everything I Ever Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten” fame:  
Giants, Wizards, and Dwarfs was the game to play. Being left in charge of about 80 children 7 to 10 years old while their parents were off doing parenty things, I mustered my troops in the parish 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 know which side you are on or who won.
 
Organizing a roomful of grade-schoolers into two teams, explaining the rudiments of the game, achieving consensus on group identity -- all this was 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 pant leg.

A young child stood before me, looking up. She asked, in a small concerned voice, “Where do the Mermaids stand?”

A long pause. A very long pause. “Where do the Mermaids stand?” I repeated slowly.

“Yes, you see, I am a Mermaid,” replied the child.

“There are no such things as Mermaids,” I answered.

“Oh yes there is. I am one!”

This young child 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 the loser would stand. She intended to participate, wherever 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 do not fit the norm, and who do not accept the available boxes and pigeonholes offered them. Answer that question and you can build a school, a nation or a kingdom on it.