I’m writing this on the day after the elections here in the US. I’m wondering, with some satisfaction, how she is feeling today. Many threatened and a few actually did move to Canada when Bush won. I wonder if there is any country that would take Ms. Nagel.

As someone with every intention tomorrow of going into the balloting box tomorrow and voting for the McCain-Palin ticket, this news article disgusted me.

It’s enough that we have to walk around the political signs or knock on doors with them on just to trick-or-treat, but this act of wanton assholery is unforgivable and pathetic.

This kind of treatment of children gives the political system and the election process an even worse name than it has by its very nature.

The biggest question I had when I read the article for the first time was… “How did she know?”

Seriously? Does she know everyone in her neighborhood, and monitor who has which signs? Does she have access to some sort of polling information? Does she ask?

The more sinister and cynical part of my thinking was that she might live in a neighborhood similar to mine. A decent, middle-class neighborhood with safe streets that are well-lit, with little to no crime to speak of that happens to be close enough to the interstate so that people 15 miles down the road who live in a, for lack of a better word, ghetto bring their kids to our neighborhood to let their kids trick-or-treat some place safe. And I don’t blame them, and make sure that I have plenty enough candy not only for the kids in our neighborhood, but also the Halloween visitors.

If she lived in a neighborhood like ours she might just automatically assume that just because a child would have been African-American that 1) they didn’t belong in her neighborhood, and 2) their parents were going to vote for Barrack Obama. In my neighborhood, neither of those assumptions would be valid. Period.

I call out to the media, don’t just sensationalize this story. Tell us.

How did she know?

How many years without affection did she suffer through to come to place where she finds joy and satisfaction denying children in an attempt to be right?

Is this the result of personal connection to other human beings and fundamentalist religion?
Having a voice but being heard?

Years of domination and control from those entrusted with her emotional development?
It seems so.

When the only way that you can feel confident in your choices is to degrade the powerless tells more of her than anything else.

I hope she finds a place where she finds love and acceptance.

Or at the least a good shagging…

Awesome points, Tee.

It took me years to break out of the Nagel-esque mold my own parents formed me into and develop the sight that allowed me to see how little Freedom that view actually left.

Halloween is a holiday for candy and the upkeep of the family dentist, not a soapbox for mean people who need a social circle of people that don’t look like them. But striking fear in the hearts of small children is in keeping with the situation. Maybe we can cut her slack on that point and realize that us getting all lathered up over a situation like this and vilifying the woman for a personal choice makes us just about as closed minded and hateful as she is.

And we don’t want that, now do we?

Again, bravo, Tee. I appreciate your time and effort. Thanks.