To “trick-or-treat”, or not to “trick-or-treat”, that is the question.
As we all know, Halloween fell on the same day thousands of New Yorkers were still recovering from Hurricane Sandy. Personally, I was surprised that I didn’t get hit at all, but this isn’t about my home. It is about the homes of all New Yorkers. Some homes were flooded so bad, that people threw away their belongings and don’t even compare your problems after you hear the horror at Breezy Point.
Halloween is considered a happy holiday. Children go house to house for candy. Then, they come home and eat it all up. The argument is that is still too soon. Not everything is back to normal. The Governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, even moved Halloween to Monday. What did I see in my neighborhood? I saw kids going around and eating their candy. Then I went to my grandma’s neighborhood, which had no streetlights at all, no kids were there. In Brighton Beach, it was the same story as in Coney Island and Gerritsen Beach. It was an interesting disparity to see.
Some people who I have talked to argued that children are innocent and they should understand that the world isn’t perfect, but taking them “trick-or-treating” is a sign of hope that everyone will be okay.
Others say that it is not right. How can your children go “trick-or-treating”, when so many other children have no access to electricity, hot water, and have their homes flooded?
It is an ethical issue, if you ask me. What would you do?
Then, my sister asked my mom if she could go “trick-or-treating”? I immediately voiced my disapproval. My sister was trying to convince my mom to let her.
My mom came up with a solution. “If ten kids come to our home and ask for candy, we will go ‘trick-or-treating’,” my mom said.
Only seven kids came.
By: Blair Academy
I agree with you. Trick-or-Treating post Sandy is not a wise choice. There are so many trees on verge of falling onto the road. It’s safer to stay indoors.
I can see the ethical issue that comes with this problem. I think that your solution of ten kids was actually pretty clever but I agree with you that trick or treating shouldn’t have been done. It still was unsafe and there were so many other problems to worry about that maybe people could have helped out with.
I find it a little strange how Christie postponed it to Monday. I wonder how many people will actually go along with that. During Halloween, only one trick-or-treater came to my house! With my power and internet out for four days, the last thing on my mind was getting candy for the little kids. However, I felt so bad because I had to tell her that we had no candy after she looked so excited that we opened the door. I saw that her basket was empty, but I’m not surprised. Staten Island got hit really, really bad and I highly doubt that anyone around here was in a Halloween mood.
Nice post by the way :)
I never thought Halloween by itself would represent a sign of “hope that everything will be okay.” Even though I understand that celebrations are meant to show cheerfulness and that everything is great, it didn’t occur to me often that the termination of a celebration would bring out the opposite: fear and anxiety. Traditions and routines seem so volatile as it can bring both happiness and sadness depending on the situation.
It was definitely unsafe to be Trick-or-treating after what the hurricane did to so many neighborhoods. However, I understand why children would want to still celebrate Halloween. It’s a holiday that they look forward to every year, so it must have been disappointing when they found out that the weather did not permit them to leave their houses.