People had strong opinions about what Lily did. Some believed she was completely right, arguing that the woman had probably gotten away with similar behavior because everyone around her preferred to avoid confrontation. Others thought a ten-year-old shouldn’t have addressed the situation in front of an entire cabin. They argued that she could have quietly handed the boarding pass to Bex and achieved the same result without creating a public scene.

I understood that second argument, and I have thought about it many times. But I also kept remembering that I had the receipt on my phone the entire time. The flight manifest was only eleven feet away at the galley. I could have asked someone to check it. Instead, I gave up the seats I had paid for because I was afraid of being seen as difficult. My daughter had done what I couldn’t bring myself to do. She stood up for what was right without forgetting that the other person was still human.