The cruelty of kids

Halloween, in theory, is supposed to be 'fun' for children...and I know that as a child, it was for me. Times have changed though. Halloween is no longer the safe, carefree night of the year for children, it's now one where dangers lurk...and children can be cruel.

My 12 year old niece, who loves this holiday, so looked forward to going out with friends trick or treating. Days before, she and a few friends, made plans to meet at a specific place at 6 p.m. and from there, walk through our little town.

She had decided early-on in November that she wanted to be a dead bride...and so we spent the time to acquire a dress, and all the things we would need to make her look somewhat real. We 'shredded' the dress, made a veil out of an old slip, which I then hand sewed to a headband. We bought the fake makeup, complete with 'blood' (fake, of course) and proceeded to splatter it all over the items...even the little bunch of flowers she would carry.

On her own, she put her makeup on...and then we got her dressed. All good. At 5:50, we got in the car and I drove her to the place she and her friends (and a mom) were to meet. There we waited, as we were a few minutes early.

6:00 came. And went. 

6:10...still no one. 

6:15 we decided to drive to an old store just in case the information was mixed-up. No one was there. 

6:20. She attempts to call the friend, it goes to voicemail. She starts crying and doesn't know what to do, and I had a bad headache coming on from hunger.

I called her dad...he said go ahead and take her around, but she wanted me to walk with her, and I knew that I couldn't physically (I am disabled), nor was I dressed to do so. (I expected to just drop her off and then go home.) She cries and carries on...so I got upset and came home to grab my cigs (yeah--I know, bad habit!) and while here, her dad decided to take her out  so that I could fix supper and eat.

She walked around by herself for a little bit, then fell in with some other friends that also had been stood-up...so from that point on, she was okay. She came home with a modest amount of candy for an hour's worth of trick or treating, but it's all she needed. She was happy.

The point in telling this story is to vent a little. I don't understand the cruelty of kids...and she seems to be getting a lot of misuse by her so-called 'friends'. When she went to school the next morning, she confronted the friend that had stood everyone up, and the excuse was that the friend's sister had been on the computer so they didn't make it to our town till sometime later. Lame.

So why didn't she call my niece and let her know? Where is the common courtesy there? These kids are 12-13 years old (going on 20, I swear!) and if it had been anything else, OMG--they'd been on the phone in a heartbeat!  

I realize that bullying and kids being cruel to each other has been going on for hundreds of years, but in the last few decades, it's ramped-up to where it's as common as breathing, and these kids have no conscience about each other's feelings or about what they do wrong.

Why? Why? Why? 

I don't understand. What is happening to our kids?

Thanks for reading...