A post on my local Nextdoor site grabbed my attention  in a Twilight Zone kind of way. It was a few days before Halloween and a woman was conflicted whether she should answer the door to trick-or-treaters because last year, her first year in town, she had a terrible experience when kids bullied her on her own front porch as she handed them candy. The woman explained that she was born with facial abnormalities and has had several corrective surgeries during her life. She had grown used to the looks and stares children often give, but the brazenness she experienced from these children had left her “still shaken.”

When she opened the door to the trick-or-treaters– two small children and a teenager—without pause one of the younger ones fired off a chain of, “Why do you look like that?”

“Why are you smiling?” the teenager repeatedly barraged her with as well.