A friend posted on Twitter tonight how some brat (my choice of terms) came to his door, “sees candy in my hand, says ‘I can take bigger handful.’ I tell him, ‘but that would be greedy’- so he digs in & grabs a big handful anyway.” And all this, with his father silently watching on!
My initial reaction (now immortalized on Twitter) was to say that I knew who his parents were voting for! But, while I was initially thinking of the recent “wealth transfer” headlines, and the looming possibility that people will feel entitled to whatever amount of our hard-earned goodies they want to take, I soon realized that this was not an isolated party or class issue.
The greedy idiots who ran major financial institutions into the ground are just as culpable. By lining their pockets with millions while adding negative value to the economy, they are no better (whatever their party affiliation) than those who would rejoice at punishing the successful by confiscating their wealth through taxes. People at both ends of spectrum are thieves, whether a or not a gun is used for the holdup.
And political figures (of either party) who take donations in order to maintain the status quo are no better.
The good news is that, as my friend mentioned, the vast majority of the kids coming to the door were polite and grateful. And whatever your political affiliation, if you’re polite, grateful, sincere, and thoughtful, we can very likely enjoy a glass of wine (and a candy bar) together. The jerks, though their influence is outsized, probably are in the minority…
Yes, there are those greedy CEOs who ran the financial institutions to the ground, and the greedy Congressmen/women who pass earmarks that benefit them, and that greedy kid who wanted a handful of Halloween candy from you. But thank heavens that majority of the kids who came to your door, trick or treating, were polite and grateful. And that’s what we must remember, that the glass is half full, not half empty. It helps us stay positive in life.