Go Back To Your Own Country

On Friday evening my neighbors and their two girls went to see “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” at the Mahoning Valley Cinema.  The kids in the row behind them kept crinkling their candy wrappers, and my neighbors asked them politely to stop doing that.  

They did, but after the movie the mother of the kids confronted my neighbors and said, “That was very rude of you.  My kids eat candy at the movies, and they can make noise if they want to.”

My neighbor, an immigrant from India, said, “No, that’s why there is an announcement to turn off your cell phones before the movie starts.”

At this the woman said in a very loud voice, “Why don’t you go back to your own country.”  I think she was expecting support from the people around her.

Now, here is the good part.  A woman behind her said, “That is unacceptable.  We are a small community here, and that is not the way to behave.”  Other people stated agreement and apologized to my neighbors for the woman’s behavior.  She left the theater in a hurry.  The manager heard about the incident and offered my neighbor free tickets to another movie.  A local clergyman added his apology.  

All right, Lehighton.  My neighbor said he was quite surprised by the support, and quite touched.  So am I.