Every halloween I take my kids trick-or-treating, and every year one of them finds some way to embarrass me.
This year was the worst. We were out doing my thing, the kids are all a year older and I was thinking it's going to be event-free this year. Halloween is also my sister-in-law's birthday, so we were visiting her and took the kids otu in an unfamiliar (but nice) neighborhood.
We came to one particular house and the door was answered by a well-off older Persian or Indian man who looked, although taller, almost exactly like
The Sultan from Disney's Aladdin, clothing and all. (British Columbia has a large Middle Eastern population and a lot of them wear their native clothing). He was very friendly and seemed to be greatly enjoying the costumes and passing out the candy; he had the jovial air of a Santa Claus about him.
Everything went fine until, as we were out of his yard and just into the next one my son says, excitedly, "Dad, Mom, did you see that guy's costume? He was dressed up like a terrorist!"
The guy was still standing at the door and was looking straight at us. I wanted to crawl into a hole in the ground but there wasn't one handy; instead (after scolding my son) I had to go back and apologize for his cultural ignorance... Still, I can't help feeling like we ruined the holiday for someone who was really enjoying it.
I feel dirty.