It's Either One Extreme Or The Other...

Okay, here's the situation. Last night we saw the little trick or treaters come to the door to receive their bounty of free cavities candy. What I saw will scare the pants right off of you, and it has nothing to do with the costumes.

The scariness was not consistent, so you couldn't even prepare yourself; it just kinda walked up and knocked you for a loop. Here is a scenario of the most memorable encounter:

Me: "Hi there! Don't you look cute."

She: "Yes, and you can give me two."

Uhm...what? And if that didn't slap you in the face and call you Hazel, the little imp actually came around to my house for a second helping.

Imp: "You only gave me Smarties and Starbursts but you gave my brother a Tootsie Pop so I came back for my Tootsie Pop."

I was too dumbfounded to refuse. Worse still, there was her father at the end of my sidewalk ~ again ~ waiting for little precious to finish her return visit.

What is happening in our world? Just because you see adults calling names and being rude to one another in the name of politics doesn't give you little ones the right to forget your manners. What happened to please and thank you? What happened to saying "Trick or Treat" as opposed to "Can I have more?" Where are the parents and why aren't they doing something about this?

On the opposite end of the spectrum are the little ones who are so polite and well-mannered you wanna scoop them up and hug them. They said thank you for the candy and some actually told me to have a nice evening! Now, that's what I'm talkin' about! Sadly, they were also the ones pushed to the back of the porch by the monsters ill-mannered grubbies grabbin' for the candy bowl. Back, heathens! Back! Before I set the pugs on you!

Anyway, I hope this is a lesson to us all. These little ones are watching what we do, what we say, and they are taking it all in. If this is any indication of what lies ahead, we are all doomed. I don't care how educated one is, without manners they will go no where. And I don't want to hear about economic divides ~ it doesn't cost anything to be polite.