Dear Editor,
The theft of our Halloween pumpkins off of our front steps has prompted me to draft a first-time letter to your paper.
Upon arriving home after grocery shopping, I notice our plastic, bright orange pumpkins were missing from our front steps. Some were jack-o’-lanterns that you plug in and some were just plastic decorative pumpkins.
I realized that they were stolen the night before and I was perhaps only feet away, sitting on my couch when it happened as I could not sleep last night. Along with the feeling of being violated, knowing thieves and vandals were that close to my home, I had irrationally started crying over the loss.
It may sound like an overreaction, but I had inherited many of the pumpkins from my mom when she passed away a few years ago. She loved Halloween and bought a new one each year. I am sharing that tradition with our two-year-old son and he is very excited about Halloween and Nana's pumpkins.
The most disturbing thing I found was the total lack of regard for our personal space and property. It may sound stupid, being upset over some plastic pumpkins, but their importance was based on what they meant to our family.
Presumably the thieves were young vandals out for the night. I am asking that the pumpkins be returned, and I hope the young people involved would think about the theft of people’s property not based on their perceived value or importance, but of the owner’s value.
I am saddened to see this is not an uncommon occurrence, scanning the articles in this paper. I hope to raise a thoughtful, honourable and kind son.
Heather Pryde,
Sylvan Lake