What touched my heart – the aftermath of hallows eve!

It’s November 1st, the day after that day where kids roam the streets, looking for candy.

I hope you all had a great Halloween last night. The kids here in Norway have embraced the US tradition of going trick and treat, so I prepared myself for an invasion. I was right to be prepared, because by the time the night was over, 50 kids had visited me, and I only had one very very tiny bag of candy left.

In this day and age, where a lot of people mostly look out for themselves, we are no stranger to the kids following suit. And part of my evening was filled with a bunch of kids who showed up in one “horrible” costume after another, with blood pouring, heads chopped off, almost “running” me down for some candy 🙂

But… there was a moment, that profoundly touched my heart. A moment that showed me that there are compassion among kids, that they care for each other, and want the best for each other!

Riiing… the doorbell rang, and I opened up to a pile (8 or 9 of them) of young “men”, most likely in the age group of 9-11 (a bit hard to tell considering they were wearing masks). Who very politely took turns to get their bag of candy handed to them. They thank me nicely and I closed the door.

Riiing… I opened again and I look into the blood dripping face of one of the kids that I just closed the door on. He asked if he could get one more candy bag for a friend and he pointed to a kid with a yellow reflex vest standing a bit in the shadows. “Yes off course, just tell him to come over and I’ll get him one..” Mr. Yellow vest was at that time turned and slowly walking away..

“He doesn’t want to, he’s afraid, because he has no costume”, I feel my heart breaking as I hand the candy over to one of the other kids who run over to Mr. Yellow vest with it, and I ask Mr. Blood dripping face if they want a small bag for Mr. Yellow vest to collect his candy in. “Yes please, that would be grand”

Then I suddenly hear “He is crying” and I look up and the kid that handed the candy to Mr. Yellow vest is beckoning the group. My heart drops and I rush to give the plastic bag to Mr. Blood dripping face and he hurries over together with the rest of the group to comfort Mr. Yellow vest.

I felt so sorry for Mr. Yellow vest, and I just wanted to go over and give him the biggest hug ever..  But his group was already taking care of him and the only thing I could do was “shout” (ok not really shouting but a raised voice since they were a few feet away) over to them that a costume didn’t matter, that the candies are for everyone and that people wouldn’t care if he was wearing costume or not…

After a moment Mr. Blood dripping face turns towards me and waves at me saying that “He is ok now” and they start to move slowly down the street.

This group of young men have stayed with me since last night. In the middle of times where bullying is a real problem, it is heartening to see that there are kids out there that care, that care to stay by their own, to rally around a sad kid and help him out. It would be so easy for a group to “jump all over” a kid that sticks out and beat him while he is down. But this group choose to include and help and do anything they could to cheer him up and make him feel better.

These young men will forever stay with me, for they truly touched my heart.