Tempest Smith Day is February 20th. Tempest Kayne Smith was intelligent and creative. She played the flute, wrote poetry, and sometimes showed an intelligence and sensitivity beyond that normally associated with someone her age. She died on February 20, 2001. She died by her own hand, after the harassment, taunts and teasing by her classmates had become such torment that she could take no more. They harassed her because she was a Wiccan. She was a Wiccan by her own choice. After she passed, a diary was found in which she wrote about the daily torments. Crowds of her classmates singing "Jesus loves you" at her were among the few that I can describe here and retain my "general audiences" rating. And this was in a school in the United States, where schoolteachers talk about how the United States has religious freedom. It somehow did not work that way for Tempest Smith. And so, we commemorate her. And think of the others like her whom we might not know about. And so that we can resolve that it not happen again. Blessed Be!