Sympathy for the devil

My town on Halloween could be featured on a postcard depicting small town New England.  I live right on Main Street, up on the 2nd floor of a downtown building, so every year I enjoy watching all the kids trick-or-treating from my window.  (....and every year I plan to go down to the street and pass out candy next year, but that is a whole other blog.)

This year I got a whole lot more of a show than I paid admission for.  I heard a crash, and then I heard a LOT of screaming profanity... a LOT.  So I ran over to my open window to see what was going on.  Right in front of my window there was a kid in a car who had just rear-ended the car in front of him, getting screamed at by the guy he hit, and by the guy behind him. The screaming guys seemed completely oblivious to the fact that they had dozens and dozens of small children in audience trick-or-treating and gaping at what was happening.  Other than the screaming, the town seemed silent as everyone just watched... frozen.  Mostly because I was starting to worry that they were going to rip that kid out of his car and beat the shit out of him while all the town's children watched in horror, I finally yelled out my window, "STOP WITH THE SWEARING!  YOU ARE SURROUNDED BY CHILDREN!!!"  (thinking back.... I have to laugh because as I was inside up on the second floor, I may as well have been the voice of god the way the yelling guys stopped and looked around trying to locate where the voice was coming from LOL)

Nutshell:  This kid was driving erratically.  Car in front of him stops for trick-or-treaters crossing the street.  Kid rear-ends car, then tries to leave the scene and go around the car he rear ended, and almost hit trick-or-treaters.  Kid continues to try and leave the scene, but the car in front and behind have him blocked in (and also traffic probably backed up into the next town by now), and are screaming at him about his actions and are certain that he is drunk or high.  Police come deal with it all. Colleen gets to watch her first field sobriety test.  Kid gets handcuffed and hauled off to jail.

Why am blogging about this?  Well because the whole thing made me feel SO EMOTIONAL!  I could feel then sting of tears the second I saw those men screaming at that kid in his car.  I could feel the kids fear as he pleaded with them to just let him go.  I could feel his parents disappointment.  His panic about the police getting involved.... losing his license, transportation, job..... maybe his parents kicking him out of his house.... everyone knowing what he had done shaming him....  A life ruined so young because of one dumb teenager mistake.

When they handcuffed the kid and put him in the truck (Yup... we are in Maine... it's police TRUCKS up here...lol), I was mad at MYSELF for continuing to feel for this freaking asshole who was OBVIOUSLY under the influence and easily could have killed several children while several other children watched.  WHY DO I FEEL BAD FOR THIS PERSON!????  WTF is wrong with me!!?  Lonnie and I talked about it and came to the conclusion that because I was a punk teenager who never had bad/evil intentions, that I think that all punk teenagers are good underneath just need someone to care and understand them. This makes sense I guess.  But it's still annoying.