There were a couple things I saw and heard over the past week about Hallow'een that really agitated me. No, not about razor blades in Apples or anything nutty like that. (Though I will be disturbed if I hear about kids getting poisoned or razored up candy! Don't get me wrong!) Over the weekend I did see a post of Facebook that my cousin shared about inappropriate costumes parents dress their children in. For example, a little girl that wasn't old enough to walk dressed in a baby bikini with a gold pole in front of her. Yep, they dressed her as a future pole dancer... I'm very liberal when it comes to most things, but it just screamed trashy to me. Another was a kid dressed as a mini-Hitler... Another as a Hooters girl... Another as a Pot Leaf... Another yet as a Middle Eastern "Terrorist". An adult was dressed as Superman but was in a wheel chair... There's a fine line between clever and being down right offensive.
On the other side of the coin, late last week, I heard something that really bothered me though... A few schools here in Edmonton are not allowing kids to dress in "scary" costumes. Why? Not everyone "celebrates" Hallowe'en and the School Administrators don't want anyone to be offended. In my mind, one of the main staples of being a child is Hallowe'en and wearing a "scary" costume to school, or at least being allowed to be something Hallowe'en inspired.... Way to rob a kid of their child hood! Why not just cancel Hallowe'en all together then? Seriously... I've gone many a time as kid to school dressed as a vampire, black cat, witch.... But if I wanted to be a zombie, goblin, mummy, ghost etc I had the option. The kids aren't even allowed to say Happy Hallowe'en! They are expected to say "Happy Black and Orange Day"! This leaves me with one last question, what is deemed as "appropriate" for a kid to wear costume? A princess? A cowboy? A hippie, or would this offend people, too? I've just got one thought on the whole sugary holiday.... Let kids be kids... If they want to dress as a zombie this year, let them... If it's not offensive, let it goooooo! Kids grow up way to fast in this day and age, don't ruin yet another fun time for them. I'm all over not being offensive, but the political correctness is getting out of hand... First it wasn't "politically correct" to say "Merry Christmas" anymore, it's now "Happy Holidays". Now it's not "politically correct" to say "Happy Hallowe'en"? Give me a BREAK!
I'm 30 years old, I'm sitting here at work writing this on my lunch hour... I'm dressed completely in black and have a fake pair of cat ears on top of my head... People older than I am came in dressed in Hallowe'en garb. I saw a devil co-worker, a grim reaper, a jail bird, a witch, a bloodied doctor and a plain old moo cow... The Jailbird happened to be the General Manager for "Satan's Sake"! No one was offended by any of the costumes, and those that don't "celebrate" Hallowe'en weren't forced to show up in costume and participate... Live and let live people!
It's not always about me... I tell you what,though, this switch offends the hell out of me! And I don't even have kids!!!!!!