"The reality, I realize, is that I am not the only member unworthy of Cross and Canoe. None of us are worthy. Cross and Canoe is an impossible standard. I live and work among amazing people in the summer, but not a one of us is perfect. I see their flaws as well as their great virtues.

The paint, the disguise, if you will, is an outward sign that we march as symbols of an ideal, not as that ideal ourselves. We represent something that our bare skin and usual attire, our true selves, are not worthy of. For the brief duration of the fire, we will symbolize something that we are not. Something that we can only aspire to."