A long time ago when my daughter was out with the throngs of other young trick or treaters, there was a bit of drama on the Halloween route and I needed to vacate my candy-giving duties at our front door to go run interference. It was those tricky few years when they were too old for a chaperone but too young to always have the world situations figured out on their own.
Having no choice, I simply left the bowl of candy on the front porch with a sign: Happy Halloween! Please take one and leave enough for others.
This created a stir of conversation at the office the following day, with everyone comparing how their child would respond to such a sign. Many were like me, knowing my daughter may take more than one, but would also be thinking of others and leaving enough for them. Some admitted their child (or they themselves as youngsters) would have dumped the whole bowl into their collection bag (I may or may not have fallen into that category myself). One lady was adamant that her son would just take one, ‘Because that was the rules’. He is a doctor now, so his early exposure to rule-following paid off!
Way back then, I returned home to find there was still a handful of candy left in the bowl. It measured more than I expected, truth be told, but had less left than the amount I would have typically handed out in the 15 minutes I was away from my post. Which meant the middle of the road response (taking a few more than suggested but still leaving enough for others) was likely the biggest response category.
With that in mind, there are many Halloween evenings now when I simply put treats out on the porch, with exactly the same wording on the sign, to support little ghosts and goblins in their fun when I’m not able to hand out candy myself. Without exception, there are always treats leftover at the end of the evening, even when I know streams of children have come by. Reason, consideration and manners have followed children through all these generations and that fills me with a sense of wellness.
Wouldn’t it solve many of the world’s problems if we all made our choices based on consideration for those around us? To think of others and the impact our actions will have on them? What a treat to imagine people in a position of power choosing kindness over greed. How sweet it would be!