This was posted on the Next Door Newton site….

All, I posted last night about my disappointment in our first West Newton Halloween that the whole basket of candy we left out while we took our young kids trick or treating was taken in one swoop by two boys around 7:30pm last night. (FWIW, later our kids’ carved pumpkins on our door pathway were also smashed in the street.) It wasn’t about the candy per se, it was about my disappointment at the lack of decency. Many of you responded with similar experiences and disappointment and many others chose to use the post as some kind of platform for general Trump-related grievances and other personal attacks. I don’t post much on social media so that was quite an experience in and of itself.

Nevertheless, I’m posting again because, as a result of the first post, the parents of one of the two boys in the picture identified their son and wrote me personally, sharing the disappointment in their son’s judgment on that particular occasion and indicating that they spoke with the parents of the other child as well. The honesty and candor from those parents alone restored my faith in the neighborhood and our shared belief that – yes it’s OK to leave candy out on Halloween and NO it doesn’t mean you should expect it to be all taken at once. Out of respect for their family I’ve taken down my original post.

I hope I can be as direct and honest as those parents when I will inevitably face a similar situation at some point in the future on their side of the table.