This story makes me really angry.
Apparently the girls baked cookies for their neighbors and dropped them off, accompanyed by cut-out colored hearts and anonymous notes. They did this sort of late at night, but only at houses with lights on. Most people, I think, would be charmed by this, and would get over their grumpiness at the hour once they realized what was going on. I like to think I would.
But one of the neighbors claims the knocking terrified her, leading to an anxiety attack that put her in the hospital. So she sued for medical expenses–and won.
Sometimes, I think there are people in this world who simply hate children.
Either that, or the neighbor has a serious anxiety condition that needs treatment. Because anyone who can be that frightened by a 10:30 p.m. knock on the door isn’t acting rationally. Yet, at the same time, this women has no tolerance whatsoever for a bit of irrationally executed kindness from her young neighbors. Apparently, she’s the only one allowed to make errors of judgment.
In more heartening news, the thousands of dollars that have been contributed to the cookie defense fund will cover the cost of the suit.
Because we need more random cookie baking in this world, not less.