Halloween Anecdotes or Why it is wrong for today's youth to attempt to streamline the candy acquisition process.

Tonight being that spookiest night of the year, when all the little ghouls and goblins are out chasing their dreams of massive amounts of candy, I thought I would share some observations that I made while I was handing out candy tonight.

First off, Trick or Treating in the city is way different from what it was like for me in a small rural village.  Namely, when I was a kid, everyone knew each other, so once you had recieved your candy, the game was always to see if the people could guess who you were. Really this was just an excuse to shoot the breeze with the neighbours, and your friends parents, while they tried to figure out which one of your cousins was dressed in the gorilla suit this time.  Sure this was a dumb game, and usually having one kid with you who didnt have a mask on was enough of a clue for the people in question to figure out who everyone in your party was. A mild case of guilty by association.  Still, it was fun - and because everyone did it, everyone played along.  Now, likely because I have moved to a different larger small town, and don't really know anyone outside my immediate neighbours, no one cares. Kids knock, say trick or treat, get their candy and leave. Gone is that sense of community. Secondly, I remember Halloween being a pretty big deal, I mean come on! Costumes, AND candy! What's not to love? I saw evidence tonight that today's youth are bored with the whole premise of having to work for their candy. Point in case. One young lady (12-14 years old, so still young enough to have every right to be out, but old enough to know the rules...) dressed in a pink princess outfit knocked on my door, then just stood there with her loot bag open waiting for me to give her candy. She failed to deliver on her part of the bargain as the treater. As the treatee, when I open the door, I expect to hear the magic words "trick or treat". This informs me, that I had better give the treater candy or else I run the risk of being subject to some heinous adolescent trick. These words form a formal verbal agreement between treater and treatee. I give you candy, you don't tp my lawn. Those are the rules. It is just what is done. Instead she just gazed at me with her bored, glazed over, just-give-me-the-candy-already eyes until I reluctantly deposited some smarties into her loot bag. I felt cheapened. And when she then said thank-you, I was a little taken a back, as this proved that she was not too shy to speak to a stranger, just that she was looking to streamline the whole candy acquisition process. Of course there are exceptions to every rule, and the last experience I want to share, proves that I am not a kooky candy nazi with unrealistic expectations on the youth of today. Late in the evening I opened my front door to find a very young (18 months) little guy dressed as a lion. His dad was standing at the door as well, prompting him to say trick or treat. But all the little lion would say was "roar" in an adorable, tiny little voice. So darn cute! I had no issues giving him a double helping of candy, especially since I know that his dad was likely going to get a cut of the action. It's what we do after all.