We Can't Even Have A Simple Easter Egg Hunt Anymore

When Malcolm X was interviewed and questioned about his thoughts on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, somewhere in his response he said "the chickens came home to roost" meaning according to him that the president's assassination was the result of the climate of hate.

Like Malcolm, I must say that much of the craziness that is going on around the world today is another example of the chickens coming home to roost. Not only are we in a climate of hate, but a climate of total disregard, disrespect, and a spirit of defiance regardless of what it is, even when it is something as simple and traditional as an Easter egg hunt. An annual event sponsored by the PEZ Candy company had to be canceled not due to the behavior of the children, but the deplorable behavior of their parents. The article from CNN appears below.

(CNN) PEZ Candy abruptly canceled its third annual Easter egg hunt Saturday after parents stormed the field in Connecticut, according to a company news release.

Children as young as 4 were pushed aside by parents eager to grab as many of the 9,000 eggs hidden in three fields.It was originally advertised to be three separate events, to be broken up by age groups, beginning at 10:30 a.m ET, before a visit from the Easter Bunny, according to the PEZ Company.

Instead of waiting for their designated time, people chose to enter the first field before anyone from PEZ starting the event, the release said."When it came time, at like 10:30 a.m. ET, the parents just bum-rushed that area," West Haven resident Nicole Welch told CNN affiliate WFSB. "When my son left, he had a broken basket, and he was hysterically crying." 

The general manager and other staff quickly responded to the situation, letting visitors know if someone didn't get an egg or candy, they would be compensated, the release said."We made efforts to get everyone something before they left and passed out tons of candy and coupons," PEZ said. "Due to the actions of a few, the good intent turned into a mess."

Following the events, disgruntled parents took to the PEZ Candy Facebook page to complain."This event was a joke to put it mildly," said Susan Kristie Nadori DeRose. "We have a 3-year-old. The parents first of all were letting their uncontrolled children pick up eggs prior to the start. Then when the event started all the parents rushed in and we're picking up the eggs." CNN reached out to PEZ but did not receive a response.
Police made no arrests and reported no injuries.

If you are a regular reader of THE CRITICAL THINKER, then you know I often write about where we find ourselves as a society based on the actions or behaviors of the young and the not so young. What I mean by the chickens coming home to roost is, the things we are experiencing are the consequences of one or more generations not having been taught respect for authority, rules, decor, etiquette, work ethic, and manners. We are truly in a society now where anything and everything goes, where there are no holds barred and no boundaries and we are paying for it.  Vulgarity and profanity has become the norm on television and radio and even in our current presidential campaign for the party nominees.

Suicide bombers terrorized Brussels and Pakistan not long before the parents barnstormed the Easter egg hunt in Connecticut. Meanwhile, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are off insulting each other's wives. What type of display and modeling are our adults showing our children? What did the children of those parents learn at that Easter egg hunt? What are our children learning as they watch the presidential debates? What are our children learning when all they see around them are suicide bombers, guns, and slashings (and we wonder why they don't learn 2+2=4)?

I know I cannot be the only one observing and questioning where we are going with all of this defiance of rules and authority. If parents at an Easter egg hunt are not going to follow the directions of the event sponsors, what can we expect their children to do?  If our presidential candidates can go on worldwide television and call each other names and talk about each other's body parts and family members, what do we expect our children to do?  More importantly, what type of chickens are we setting up to roost in the future? The sad truth is, it does not seem to be getting any better, but worse. We are not only seeing a decline in the United States, but we are seeing it around the world.We are in a death spiral.

I do not write this as one with no hope, but to make more of us aware that more of us need to be working to turn this thing around. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever that children as young as 4 were pushed aside by parents eager to grab as many of the 9,000 eggs hidden by PEZ that they could. The event was for the children, not the parents. What on earth have we become when a child leaves an Easter egg hunt with a broken basket and hysterically crying because he was bum rushed by adults?

Yes, the lack of respect and disregard for rules and authority are tearing the fabric of our world apart and we are seeing the manifestation of those chickens coming home to roost every day and in every way.  Something to critically think about.

I invite you to listen to me live each Saturday at 6 a.m. ET via world wide web stream on gobrave.org and locally in the northern NJ area on FM radio WP88.7 FM as I host The Reading Circle with Marc Medley. I also invite you to follow me on Twitter @thinkcritical01 and @readingcircle01.