Monday, November 2, 2009
I think I have made it pretty clear, my neighborhood, and street, are not the best. Normally for Halloween, we drive to a cute little neighborhodd in Niles and go trick or treating there. This year though, the kids were sick so we were stuck home. I got to see first hand what a VERY sad affair Halloween is on my street. There were two brave souls out trying to trick or treat with their children, but no one answered the door for them. Almost every single porch light up and down the entire street was turned off. Couple that with the mostly malfunctioning street lights, and our street was quite dark. To top it off, after the trick or treaters gave up, there wasn't a soul in sight. The place was deserted all night long. It was just sad. I have never lived anywhere that you simply couldn't go trick or treating in such a populated neighborhood. What's truly sad is that I KNOW there are many families with children living here. Everyone has simply given up. It is symbolic. It is symbolic of how we have all given up on this neighborhood. The good families here COULD decorate their homes and give treats. We COULD go trick or treating if the neighborhood wasn't deserted for greener pastures each year. But sadly, I can't blame them. We do it to. As a parent ( a responsible parent anyway ), you have those silly fears of what if I knock on the wrong door? What if it's a sex offenders house? What if the person answering is high? What if the person handing out treats is armed? What if? What could you do? Run background checks on all possible homes and sign them up for trick or treating if met with approval? I don't think so. Nope, I guess we just keep going to greener pastures.... Oh, and to those that have a problem with strange families and strange children showing up to trick or treat each year (and trust me, I have heard it) - What's the most you're going to give away to the non-neighbor kids? $2 in candy? $3? Consider it a random act of kindness. Anyway, Halloween this year sucked. I haven't the first clue what our street could do to pull together to make it better for our neighborhood, but that too is symbolic. If you can't make Halloween work, how do you tackle the rest?
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