The Truth Trap

hile applying for a volunteer position last week, I wrote myself into a corner and a confession.

The position is at a local animal shelter. I didn’t want to be too cliché and say I love all animals—largely because it isn’t true. (Back when I was a hiring manager, countless applicants for editorial positions wrote “I love words” in their cover letters. I believed them, but I also grew weary of the repetition. I assume it’s the same for hiring managers at shelters.)

I told the volunteer coordinator that I had a reverence for most animals, with the exception of clothes moths. I didn’t tell her just how much I loathe the little critters. Even writing about them gives me a serious case of the heebie-jeebies. Makes me want to burn the clothes they light on and take a bath.

I have, in fact, killed clothes moths. We had an infestation of them one year in our apartment and lost countless cashmere sweaters and woolen goods. I’ve held it against them ever since.

Do you think I blew my chances at the position? Can a moth murderer be accepted in the animal welfare community?

[Drop cap by Jessica Hische.]