Gutsy move on Hallowe'en

Tonight we went through the Hallowe'en ritual.  Elli got really into it and was rushing ahead, desperate with excitement.  She mostly behaved herself though we did have to discourage asking for seconds and remind her to say Thank You regularly.  The obligatory shot of the loot gathered in 1 hour and 15 minutes:

She made her Daddy proud and still had just a couple leftovers from last year's candy when we went out tonight - I did the same thing when I was young.  Good thing she plans to spend the whole year eating this stuff because the amount of candy she has here is completely ridiculous.

One thing I found really interesting was that we met up with a group of Trick Or Treaters who had a couple members passing out cards and speeches instead of begging for candy.  They were campaigning for people to not give out gummy wurm type treats due to them containing animal parts (gelatin) and talking about making Hallowe'en vegetarian friendly.  Their other talking point was asking for people to not give out Nestle products on the basis that Nestle relies on child labour in poor countries to produce their goods.  A cursory internet search bears out this claim and even Nestle doesn't deny it - they basically use the defence that they don't employ children but that the only places they can get their resources are places where children are used and abused by the local institutions.  I don't like the idea of child labour one bit but I wonder if this is a fight I want to get involved in.

We were Trick Or Treating with another family and their reaction to this was along the lines of "Wow, it is so sad to see kids being politically active so young instead of just enjoying the holiday."  I don't see it that way at all.  A 10 year old who is aware of these issues and has the guts to go out on Hallowe'en spreading the word and making their protest known peacefully gets a huge thumbs up from me.  None of them need a sack of sugary crap and missing out on that is nothing compared to the experience of getting out there and trying to make the world a better place.  I don't buy into the vegetarian argument personally but that doesn't diminish my admiration one bit.  Mad props for having the guts and initiative to go out there and do that.