The story in the link above came into my news feed this morning and no it's not in regard to autism but it is a huge look at judgment and setting a very bad example for kids trying to learn what the world is. Something all kids are doing. Here is the letter this concerned woman has decided to hand out. I assume she will open her door and do a quick 5 second assessment of children standing in front of her to decide if they need to take home a treat or a letter, they will without a doubt read before handing to a parent.
This woman is concerned about the health of kids and has decided Halloween is the time to step in and send her words into the homes of parents who need her guidance. Now, she could have decided to hand out pencils or fruit snacks for the evening, in fact she could have handed out a huge number of things that don't involve candy but no, this letter is necessary to get her point across. A letter she will pass to those who she feels need it by way of a child who might struggle just a bit with self image. (Insert extreme sarcastic tone now) Sounds like a really well thought out plan to contribute to ensuring her place in the village is to get these kids on track.
Judgment is a nasty thing and we all feel it at times in life, over and over again. When you take a child and tell them what they are, they feel it. You take a parent and tell them they aren't doing enough or they are doing it all wrong, they feel it. Everything we say to each other is felt no matter what way you spin it and we are all guilty in some way of judgment but this is an extreme no one should feel is justified. It truly blows my mind that an adult would write this letter and feel that it is OK to put in the hands of child with zero thought to how the people on the other end will feel receiving it.
We are seeing more and more of this lack of empathy in society every single day and all we can do is try to hang onto that empathy that seems to be slipping away from people. It's to important for all of us and especially kids who are trying to manage growing up in an already confusing world. Helping people truly starts with empathy and kindness. I have no understanding of how this concept is leaving people and they don't even see it, or seem to, but this letter is the perfect example of someone who has not one clue how words on a paper might cause some harm and that is scary. The interesting part of this letter from my point of view is, my son is underweight and has an extreme sensitivity to sugar. Sugar in the form of candy makes my son sick and causes meltdowns from how it effects him so he doesn't get to eat 98% of the candy he will collect. He won't even want it and if my son knocked on this woman's door she would take a 3 second look at him and decide by appearance it is perfectly acceptable for him to have some candy.
This letter landed this woman on the national news and it might take most people about 5 seconds to read it. For that she is going to face her own quick judgment from others and that is an entirely different topic called Karma.
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