I consider myself a person who finds many things annoying. I have rules for driving and expectations for how people will conduct themselves at an ATM when we used those quaint machines. I’m not even an official curmudgeon although I look forward to my initiation in a few years.
However, even my grumpy self finds the latest Halloween outrages on the Internet over the top.
Halloween Habits
As it turns out, many people have developed rules for trick or treaters. Age limits — no teens allowed. Neighborhood limits — only if you live here. Even attitude limits — don’t cry or take too long choosing the candy bar. It’s not just the multitude of articles and memes on the subjects, but whenever one of these is posted, thirty comments from appear from friends and acquaintances with another one hundred opinions on the subject.
Why does the meme even need to exist?
I didn’t even know someone could have an opinion on the proper way to trick or treat. It’s never even occurred to me to give out candy only to polite kids or young kids or kids who can verify their street address. That is not what Halloween is to me. I just decorate my house, provide candy until it’s all gone, turn off my lights go out, and go to sleep. Maybe I’m too busy embracing the joy of dressing up, eating free candy for weeks and fog machines in my front yard, but I don’t even understand the concept of getting angry on Halloween about any of ideas like age limits or parents driving in cars instead of walking with their kids. Are sexy costumes for children and cultural appropriation too last year?
There are so many things to be mad about in this world. Trust me, I embrace most of them. Our lives are often unfair with many aspects out of our control, but being upset about holidays not being “done right” is too much even for me. Maybe Halloween was feeling bad about all the attention Christmas and not saying “Happy Holidays” was getting. The plus side is that the last month of the Internet make me feel less like an obsessive pessimist and more like a regular person, who is too busy wondering why self-checkout lines make me want to steal all my groceries, to complain about kids taking free candy the wrong way.
