This was the entire message, “Black pickup going trick or treating who can’t be in the neighborhood!!! I yelled at them and they waved.” Wouldn’t an English teacher have a “heyday” with this note? No punctuation. Was the truck “trick or treating?” Was the truck waving?” Obviously, the truck could be in the neighborhood or the sender of the e-mail would not have been irritated. Why was the neighbor yelling at a truck? Were the occupants of the truck causing harm or injury to anyone or their residence? I feel quite certain the truck was transporting children desiring to have an enjoyable evening. I assume most reading the e-mail immediately realized the intent of the sender.

The neighbor sending the e-mail found the truck and its’ occupants to be an irritant to her. I too was annoyed, but more deeply saddened.  How did the sender know who owned the truck? Were the truck and its’ occupants friends or relatives of someone in the neighborhood? Living in a gated community does not preclude others from visiting. The truck was obviously transporting young and innocent children out for an enjoyable evening with other children. For me the exasperation from such an insensitive person brought vivid memories of my own childhood.

My siblings and I were most often the “outcast or outsider” children. We were reared in a poor home-often the poorest in our neighborhood. For one day per year, we could “be one of the gang.” Even though we didn’t have the fancy costumes handsewn or purchased at the local store. We designed our own costumes from what we could obtain in our home. We didn’t have fancy little Halloween pails or monogramed bags, but recycled and often tattered, brown paper bags. Yet, when we walked out of our door to join the other children, we “blended in.”  For one day a year, we were just like the others.

We delighted in receiving treats which were unbeknownst to us for the remainder of the year. Occasionally, we would “trick or treat” in the “good” neighborhoods-the ones known for handing out the “best” treats. For one night a year, the community opened their doors to the children of our community. Regardless of their ethnicity, race, address or financial status, they were just “one of the many.”

As I read the e-mail from this neighbor, I realized she most probably never was an “outsider” child. She might have been reared in an affluent home, never realizing that times such as “trick or treat” provided children with “nothing”, to have “something.” They were not mocked for being on the “other side of town”- for in costume and walking with the other children one could not distinguish the “haves” among the “have nots.”

How blessed it is that Jesus wanted all the children to be accepted. It didn’t matter where they lived or the profession of their parents, they were welcomed into all the neighborhoods. Jesus loved them all.  Matthew 18:5 NIV “And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.