Okay, so you know what really bothered me last night? Seeing child after child dressed in all black, out after dark, no flashlight, no glowstick, not a single strip of reflective tape to be found. And worse, their parents didn't even have flashlights - I can forgive the kids being clad in black, etc. if there's an attentive parent following close by with a lighting device suitable for landing aircraft...
I don't get that. You're escorting your children on Halloween. They're dressed in dark clothes, wearing masks that obscure their vision, and your job as parent is to make sure they don't wander out in the street and get hit by the teenagers speeding around looking for houses to egg. And yet there you are, more interesting in gossiping about the neighbor down the street who's going through a messy divorce than watching your own kids.
Don't even get me started about the folks in the subdivisions walking around with open containers of alcohol...
It's Halloween. It's something we do for our kids, not ourselves (although we do reap the dividends of free candy...). We need to collectively act like grown-ups, so that our kids actually get a chance to grow up. There's simply no excuse for me having to guess if the dark shadow in the road is a dog, an errant piece of trash, or a future Heisman trophy winner about to limit his career to breathing through a tube...
Just because you live in the suburbs doesn't mean you have to live in Condition Less-Than-White...
That is all.
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Seeing child after child dressed in all black, out after dark, no flashlight, no glowstick, not a single strip of reflective tape to be found. And worse, their parents didn't even have flashlights
You're joking.
You're not joking? Then my mind just done got boggled. As I recall, most of the towns around where I used to live in Ohio required trick-or-treaters to carry some sort of lighting, whether reflective or active. It was one of the few busybody ordinances I ever saw a valid reason for. And you're telling me that in Massachusetts, the Heart of Darkness of nanny-statism, that is not required?
The stupid, it burns...
I can't imagine what moronic parents would allow their kids (or what independent teens would) go out dressed all in black. We saw a few of these morons; we called them "Cloaking device kids" as they darted into the road past us. (We drive very carefully when we go anywhere on Halloween....)
Couple this with several test-pilots who saw no problem whatsoever hauling ass down crowded sidestreets at their usual "far-faster-than-legal" speed, and this will eventually escalate to one of the following:
1) One or more children struck and killed by an irresponsible driver.
2) Pro-active parents drag the driver from his car and beat him to death with a pumpkin basket filled with MARS bars, preferably before he impacts a child.
Too many people have been lulled into a sense of false security. Actually, conditioned into a sense of false security is probably more accurate. The media, the government, educational institutions all indoctrinate people with the false knowledge that the world is safe and that people can rely on the someone else to take care of their needs and their safety.
This is why I try not to drive anywhere after dusk on October 31.
SCI-FI, I think you are wrong. The parents will immediately reach for their cell phones, call 9-1-1, and then use the video cameras to record the emergency responders for use during litigation.
No one is responsible for their actions, it's always someone else's fault.
Witnessing people around here during the day on Halloween convinced me to stay home and keep to myself. I was out driving for an hour and saw two accidents, was cut-off several times, witnessed people yelling at one another for no reason... I didn't think it was possible, but I think this entire state collectively checks it's brain even MORE on Halloween. Scary.
Maybe those parents where looking for an easy way to get rid of their children. A "halloween accident" sounds quite harmless yet effective.
I usually make my kids wear a distinctive lightstick color just so I can pick them out of the rest of the crowd. What annoys me is the parents that slowly drive behind their kids along the streets of the subdivision. Not only is this unspeakably lazy, but they are also adding unnecessary traffic to an already chaotic neighborhood. Get out and walk with them!
Don't even get me started about the folks in the subdivisions walking around with open containers of alcohol...
HEY! I resemble that!
We had one Dad on our street keeping an eye on his kids from the comfort of his tractor.
We're not in Boston anymore, Toto.
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